Posts tagged AFSCME
Sanders and Hawley’s Interest Rate Cap Would Ban Their Union Allies’ Credit Cards
February 10, 2025 // They should have checked with their union boss pals before taking such a position. Many major labor unions have deals with banks to offer branded credit cards as a member benefit. Some of them can charge interest rates in excess of the 25 percent rate Sanders finds extortionate, and nearly all of them charge higher than 10 percent. One of the most common credit card partnerships for unions is with Capital One, which offers a Union Plus Mastercard. It is marketed as “Built for Union Members. Backed by Union Members,” and accounts are limited to active or retired union members or their families.
Unions sue DOGE, Labor Department to block access to worker and Musk competitor data
February 6, 2025 // The lawsuit comes amid a swirl of controversy regarding efforts by Musk and members of his DOGE organization to cut federal spending, size down the federal workforce and readjust or outright close certain government agencies — efforts that have sparked an ever-increasing amount of litigation. Musk has moved to overhaul the U.S. Agency for International Development, the Treasury Department, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Office of Personnel Management and the Department of Education since President Donald Trump’s inauguration on Jan. 20.
OREGON: City of Portland delivers final offers to unions as strike threat looms
January 30, 2025 // The most significant issue preventing an agreement is the major monetary gap, with AFSCME requesting an increase of $28 million and DCTU seeking an additional $13 million beyond the city’s proposed budget. AFSCME, the city’s largest bargaining unit with over 1,000 members, has requested significant wage increases for a wide range of job classifications, such as water and police, and increased longevity pay.
REPORT: How government unions work against interests of private-sector unions, taxpayers
January 22, 2025 // First, there is no archetypal profit motive in the government sector. Congress passed laws promoting collective bargaining in the private sector to prevent the exploitation of workers by employers who were seeking to increase their profits through long work hours and poor working conditions.
Monterey Bay Aquarium employees to unionize, public input wanted for Highway 9 improvement project near Felton
January 16, 2025 // ...employees at the Monterey Bay Aquarium have announced plans to unionize
SEIU’s longest strike with Essentia Health workers in Deer River
January 3, 2025 // 70 Essentia Health workers in Deer River have been on strike for the past three weeks. The Service Employees International Union is representing the healthcare workers at the bargaining table. Currently this is SEIU’s longest strike that they’ve been involved with as they negotiate for a market wage increase.
‘We’re making history’: Salt Lake library workers reach key step in effort to unionize
December 18, 2024 // They also noted that they were essentially the last remaining city department not unionized, as most city employees are members of either the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, or part of police or firefighter unions. Yet, it took nearly 20 months to reach Monday's vote because of hurdles that union leaders didn't expect when the process started. Brad Asay, vice president of the Utah AFL-CIO, which has helped employees seek unionization, said the effort was complicated because of Salt Lake City's unique structure. The city's library system is independently governed, but its budget is approved by the City Council every year.
A California labor union helped oust a Democrat from the state Capitol. His replacement wants to curb union power.
December 10, 2024 // "This is an unprecedented circumstance where a labor union spent well over a million dollars of their members' monies to take down a Democrat with a solid labor record to the benefit of a Republican that has been anti-labor throughout his legislative career," Newman said. "It's really stunning." The California Federation of Labor gave Choi a 6% on its annual legislative scorecard in 2022 when he served in the state Assembly, where he voted against bills to support fast-food workers, allow striking workers to keep health benefits and protect farmworkers who unionize. The same year, Newman received an 87% score, voting in favor of many union-backed bills.
‘Poverty wages have to go’: Some 200 rally at UMass flagship, calling for fair pay and full staffing
December 6, 2024 // Chong and McCullough were among about 200 union members, including AFSCME 1776, and workers from the Professional Staff Union, the Massachusetts Society of Professors, the University Staff Association and the Graduate Employee Organization, who joined together demanding more pay and more respect as negotiations get underway or continue for new contracts for staff and faculty.
Florida teachers union loses 20,000 members after government stops collecting dues
December 4, 2024 // In its annual Form LM-2 filed in November with the U.S. Department of Labor (USDOL), the FEA disclosed having 111,133 employed, dues-paying members as of August 31, 2024, down from the 131,510 “active members” the union reported a year earlier. The precipitous decline far exceeds typical annual fluctuations in the union’s membership numbers and comes in the wake of Florida policymakers’ adoption of a package of government union reforms in 2023 championed by Gov. Ron DeSantis with the support of the Freedom Foundation and other conservative groups.