Posts tagged AFSCME
Op-ed: Who Are Unions Really Fighting For?
June 20, 2025 // Let’s not forget: Weingarten’s AFT represents 1.7 million workers, including educators, healthcare professionals, and public servants across the country. Many of them are not Democrats. Many are centrists, independents, or conservatives. And yet their dues continue to support a relentless stream of partisan causes, political campaigns, and social crusades that often run completely counter to their own values. In fact, more than 90% of union political contributions go to Democrats – despite the fact that union households are politically diverse. Roughly 41% of union members voted for Donald Trump in the 2024 election, while 57% supported Kamala Harris. The disconnect is undeniable: nearly half of union members are effectively subsidizing political causes and candidates they do not support.
Commentary: The Flight of the Unions from the DNC
June 18, 2025 // Only a few short months ago, Weingarten and Saunders both enjoyed plum speaking spots on the stage at the Democratic Party’s presidential nominating convention. There, along with ridiculous figures like the National Education Association’s Becky Pringle, these labor officials presented a united front against Donald Trump’s GOP. Today, they are defenestrated — either by their own hands or Martin’s. Why?
The Buckeye Institute Charges OCSEA with Coercion in Unfair Labor Practice Case
June 17, 2025 // “Few would contest that workers are both legally and morally entitled to make a free, uncoerced, and informed choice as to whether to join a union,” said David C. Tryon, director of litigation at The Buckeye Institute. “But coercion is just what the union employed when it had Mr. Smith sign and turn in a union membership agreement before providing any information about the union, and then refused to return the agreement at the end of the orientation.” As outlined in the statement of facts, at Mr. Smith’s first-day orientation, Tim Federkiel, president of AFSCME/OCSEA Chapter 2200, had new employees sign and turn in union membership agreements before providing any information about the union. Throughout his presentation, Mr. Federkiel made political statements, and when Mr. Smith asked for the union application back and told Mr. Federkiel he did not want to join the union, Mr. Federkiel “replied aggressively, ‘No,’ it was too late, he had it now.” Indeed, Mr. Smith has not received a copy of the application despite his repeated requests.
Pa. Worker Sues Union, State Over Mishandled Promotion
June 13, 2025 // Veteran state employee Todd Burns was in line for a well-deserved promotion until state officials allegedly violated his employment contract to promote someone less qualified but who had close ties to management. Burns turned to his union for help, only for AFSCME, Council 13, to refuse to defend the contract, despite his many years as a dues-paying member. Now, Burns is suing his union for violating state law by failing to provide him with fair representation and his employer, the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC), for breaking his employment contract.
Opinion — Medicaid Is A Slush Fund For Labor And The Left
June 10, 2025 // Stripped of this Medicaid-funded, taxpayer-underwritten war chest and forced to support their failed candidates and causes solely through voluntary donations from people who actually agree with them, unions and their pet politicians would face an even bleaker future than the one already confronting them. The law has always intended for Medicaid payments to be made directly and in full to Medicaid providers, but government unions have figured out a way to use it as a slush fund for Left-wing politics. President Trump has the ability to end this scheme by implementing a rule change to uphold the integrity of federal Medicaid laws and stop the diversion of Medicaid funds to unions.
Former CA labor leaders charged with wire fraud to buy luxury clothes and shoes
June 9, 2025 // Two former leaders of a public sector labor group appeared before a federal district court in Los Angeles on Thursday to face wire fraud charges that involved using union credit cards to purchase clothes and shoes from designer labels such as Jimmy Choo and Louis Vuitton. In an April indictment federal prosecutors alleged that Shukimba Carlis and Sofia Herrera collectively embezzled $270,000 from AFSCME Local 2620 through a fraudulent scheme, which included suspending a trustee from the union who became suspicious of their activities.
‘We’re losing doctors every day’: As Mass General Brigham primary care doctors vote on union, effort is slowed by Trump
June 2, 2025 // The health system says the NLRB regional director in Boston erred by allowing 237 primary care doctors at 29 practices to vote on whether to form their own union. In fact, MGB says, as many as three-quarters of those physicians were ineligible to vote under NLRB rules because they work in practices that are integrated into acute-care hospitals with other kinds of doctors. Under the rules, MGB contends, the proposed union would have to include all physicians at those hospitals, an argument the regional director previously rejected.
The Crucible workers are unionizing
May 22, 2025 // O’Neill was also part of the safety committee, an elected faculty representative, and a lead organizer with the union. They had been raising the alarm about safety issues at The Crucible due to insufficient staffing. The Oaklandside reviewed numerous emails from employees sent to the board and Steward during the past few months that cited ongoing safety and staffing issues. “Over the past year, The Crucible has struggled against financial hardship, affecting faculty and staff,” a letter sent to the board and signed by 74 employees stated. “The financial peril we have navigated has resulted in extreme cuts to the overall budget, reductions to already slim staffing, materials ordering and scarcity of supplies, unsafe studio maintenance, lack of proper training, development opportunities, and more.”
EMS workers in Detroit Lakes vote to unionize
May 12, 2025 // Emergency medical staff at Essentia in Detroit Lakes have voted to form a union. St. Mary’s Essentia Health Medical Service Staff is joining AFSCME Council 65. EMT Logyn Saewart says the vote was an overwhelming majority to join. As a privately-owned service, he says they don’t get the state funding other departments do. He says this will help address the labor shortage in his field.
City of Everett Employee Slams AFSCME Union and City With Labor Board Complaints for Illegal Dues Seizures From Paycheck
May 6, 2025 // “I exercised my constitutional right to stop my hard-earned money from going to the AFSCME union or its officials, but neither my employer nor the union is respecting my freedom” commented Davidsen. “I’ve made it clear that I don’t support the AFSCME union. Union bosses shouldn’t get to hold onto my money simply because my managers violated the law by continuing to take it after I demanded a stop.”