Tuesday’s election was a pivotal moment for progressive American values, as voters across the country elected candidates who stand with working families, unions, and the middle class, and approved ballot measures raising the minimum wage.

“Two years ago, many thought that organized labor, working families and the middle class were becoming extinct,” said Pres. Lee Saunders. “Last night, we pulled together and through hard work, coalition building and grassroots organizing, we showed that if you take on the middle class, we will fight back, we will make our voices heard, and we will win.”

Some of the many highlights from the night’s election returns:

• In Cincinnati, voters by a 4-to-1 margin rejected a pension measure that would have ended retirement security for the city’s current and future workers. Issue 4 would have changed the public pension plan for new hires to a riskier defined contribution system, imposed contribution caps on the city and capped cost of living increases. Cincinnati city workers rely on their pensions, since they do not pay into federal Social Security.
  
  
• In New York City, AFSCME supported Bill de Blasio for mayor. De Blasio defeated Joe Lhota 73 percent to 24 percent. After 12 years under Mayor Mike Bloomberg, a time during which his policies toward the public sector and public service workers got progressively worse each year, our union mobilized like never before in this campaign.  Working within a united structure, all three AFSCME affiliates in New York City – DC 37, DC 1707 and CSEA –  ran a coordinated campaign of knocking on members’ doors, distributing flyers at worksites, working the phones, mailing our members and hitting the streets on Election Day. Vowing to expand public housing and child care for working families, de Blasio started his victory speech off by telling the gathered crowd on Election night in Brooklyn that “This is a progressive city.”
  
  
• In New Jersey, voters approved an AFSCME-supported ballot measure raising the state minimum wage to $8.25 an hour in January and amended the state constitution to tie the minimum wage to inflation in the future. Although a bill raising the wage was vetoed by Governor Christie earlier in the year, there was enough public support to get the measure onto the statewide ballot. AFSCME worked with labor, faith and progressive groups on the “Yes on 2” campaign.  Voters approved the measure with 61 percent in favor and 39 percent voting no. Also, progressives held the State Assembly, which means Gov. Chris Christie will not have free reign to do as he pleases.
  
  
• In Boston, Marty Walsh defeated John Connolly to become the mayor-elect. Walsh, a legislator and long-time labor leader, won 52 percent of the vote over Connolly’s 48. AFSCME Council 93 and much of the Boston labor community endorsed Walsh for the general election.
  
  
• In Seattle, voters approved a minimum wage increase to $15 for SeaTac workers.
  
  
• In Virginia, Terry McAuliffe became Virginia’s next governor-elect with 48 percent to Ken Cuccinelli’s 45.5 percent. Third-party candidate Robert Sarvis had a big effect on the race, winning 6.6 percent of the vote, largely from Republican voters who were turned off by Cuccinelli’s extremism.
  
  
• In Arizona, we won seats on the Phoenix and Tucson city councils.
  
  
• In Ohio, AFSCME-supported candidate Michael Collins toppled staunch John Kasich ally Mike Bell, with 57 percent of the vote. Bell was a vocal backer of Kasich’s dangerous anti-worker legislation, Senate Bill 5.

“Make no mistake,” Saunders said, “the energy, enthusiasm and resolve of working families will continue and we will work even harder in 2014, and 2016, to level the playing field and give all Americans the chance to achieve the American Dream.”

MONTEPELIER, Vt. – Home care providers from across the country gathered this past weekend in Burlington, Vt., for the first-ever AFSCME National Home Care Provider Conference.

The event came less than a month after 7,500 home care providers in the state joined AFSCME in what was the largest organizing victory in the nation in 2013 and the largest in Vermont state history.

Sec.-Treas. Laura Reyes, a former home care provider from California, inspired and touched attendees with her personal story as a provider and issued a call for making organizing a priority.v

“We have to embrace the opportunities that will improve our union and that will improve the lives of working people in this country,” she said. “That might be talking to fellow providers and encouraging them to join AFSCME, to grow your local through organizing. It might be a visit to your statehouse to talk to a legislator about a new bill that could help or hurt the work you’re doing in your communities.”

Attendees also heard from Vermont’s Sen. Bernie Sanders, who praised AFSCME’s organizing efforts as well as those of home care workers nationwide.

“It was exciting to meet home care workers from other states in various stages of forming their unions and negotiating,” said Heather Boyd, a home care provider from Shelburne, Vt. “It was an opportunity to exchange experiences and ideas, and it gave me a broader perspective on my work.”

The conference focused on skills building and networking, a unique opportunity for providers who often work in isolation. At the AFSCME conference, they engaged with peers facing similar experiences and challenges. Workshops covered everything from First Aid training to trends in state laws that affect providers and consumers.

While at the conference, attendees also flexed their organizing and advocacy muscles.

Dozens of providers partnered with their local counterparts to launch a membership drive for AFSCME Vermont Homecare United. Within a few hours, 21 teams of home care workers knocked on 179 doors and signed up 67 percent of those they contacted.  Attendees also joined students and community members at a rally in support of AFSCME custodians fighting to reach their first contract with a local college.

This column by AFSCME President Lee Saunders is cross-posted from the Huffington Post.

Consider this: In its first 24 hours, HealthCare.gov logged 4.7 million unique visits. That’s a lot of Americans eager to access what was previously out of reach for them. It also underscores how unrepresentative of American interests the right-wing members of the U.S. House are. At every turn, they’re trying to destroy a law that that will improve the lives of working families. Our union will do everything in our power to make sure that the law succeeds.

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After a Halloween season haunted by a government shutdown, debt ceiling crisis, it’s time on Tuesday to head to the polls and elect leaders who will stand with working families.

It’s Election Day in cities and states across the country, and much is at stake for working families. To promote positive change for the middle class and repeal vicious attacks from Wall Street, we must help elect leaders who stand with working families at all levels of the political hierarchy – from the school board to Congress.

AFSCME encourages all its members to become registered voters and make their voices heard in local, state and national elections. We also encourage our members to become PEOPLE MVPs by contributing just $2 a week to our PEOPLE program, which helps us support candidates who stand with us.

Here are a few of the candidates on today's ballots that AFSCME has endorsed:

• Laura Pastor for Phoenix City Council

• Marty Walsh for Boston Mayor

• Benny Napoleon for Detroit Mayor

• Bill de Blasio for New York City Mayor

• Terry McAuliffe for Virginia Governor

We’re also trying to defeat Issue 4, a tea party ballot measure that threatens retirement security for 7500 workers, retirees and survivors in Cincinnati.

Other important races are for the Atlanta City Council and School Board, New Jersey Governor and Legislature, and Toledo Mayor.

When the members of a South Florida AFSCME local fought an outsourcing scheme, they were prepared and unified. Then they won.

Members of Local 1184 (Council 79), representing employees of the Miami-Dade School District, persuaded members of the school board to vote against the proposal, which included a study that could have led to outsourcing the district’s fleet of 1,300 buses and approximately 1,700 drivers and aides.

The 8-1 vote against the politically motivated plan was not only a victory for the members, who tapped into public support for their cause, but also a demonstration that preparation pays off in the long run.

The outsourcing study would have reviewed privatization in other school districts, and also determine the ability and interest of for-profit companies to provide transportation services. Local 1184 members, realizing that such a study would be a foot in the door for profiteers, were determined to speak out about the importance of public services.

Local 1184 Pres. Sherman Henry said they mounted an offense partly based on work they did to prevent outsourcing in 2008. They implemented a driver safety plan that subjects drivers to higher standards than those in the private sector. They also created an accident review board that for-profit companies lacked. “The point,” said Henry, “was to show that we’re better for the taxpayer.”

Outsourcing raised its ugly head again in January when board member Carlos Curbelo pushed a plan involving school maintenance. Curbelo, the Republican now running for Congress against U.S. Rep. Joe Garcia (D), dropped the plan before it went before the school board. Local 1184 “made our case to most of the board members,” said Henry. “He was convinced he didn’t want to have the fight.”

Then, in October, Curbelo raised the transportation outsourcing scheme. Shortly before the board prepared to vote, members held well-attended rallies throughout the county. They made their case to the public through the news media and also called their board members to protest. In addition, Henry said they reminded the board of the earlier studies demonstrating that public service workers could do the work better than privateers – and save taxpayers money as well.

One example was $2 million saved by persuading administrators to switch from a poor grade of floor wax that had to be frequently re-applied to one that cost more upfront, but required fewer applications. That, and other examples of efficient and cost-effectiveness, “is what helped us get the 8-1 vote,” said Henry.

Representative Garcia also sided with the union members. He said that not only would outsourcing increase the district’s costs, but that “privatization in Dade County could hurt the 1,700 hardworking bus drivers and aides currently employed by the district.”

Although they won their battle, Henry says they expect more attempts to outsource services. But they’re ready to fight back, he said. They’ve already proven they can win.

In a move raising questions about the welfare of Ohio’s most vulnerable residents, the state’s Department of Developmental Disabilities just handed pink slips to 80 employees of the Gallipolis Developmental Center (GDC).

GDC is one of the largest employers in Gallia County, and the recent layoffs come on the heels of two other downsizings at the center in 2009 and 2012. More than 300 members of the Ohio Civil Service Employees Association (OCSEA) work at the facility, and the union fears job losses will lead to diminished services for the center’s residents.

In Ohio, 10 state-operated developmental centers are home to more than 1,000 individuals with severe and profound developmental disabilities. Since 2011, nearly 500 were moved from the centers. GDC is the largest facility and was downsized by half since 2009. In 2012, the state cut all police officer positions at the 10 centers as well, threatening the safety and security of clients and staff.

Many parents and family members, employees, the OCSEA, and other developmental disability advocates say the downsizing has gone too far. They raised questions about whether individuals transferred to community settings are safe or capable of thriving in those environments.

“As a guardian, I want my brother to stay at GDC,” said Rick Jones, legal co-guardian to his brother who lives at GDC. “This center is his home and has been for decades. The caregivers are his extended family.”

“Parents are scared,” said Mitch Salyers, the local OCSEA chapter president at GDC. “They want their family member safe and happy, but they feel they are harassed to move them into inappropriate settings regardless of their ability to thrive.”

Monty Blanton, an OCSEA staff representative and former employee at GDC, says that Ohioans need to be educated about what's happening in the rush to downsize state facilities.

"If Ohioans knew that we are moving individuals – who can’t walk, can’t talk, can’t feed themselves – into homes where the staff don’t know how to take care of them, they’d be appalled,” said Blanton. “It is a moral outrage.”

North Providence, R.I. – AFSCME Council 94 is calling for an investigation by federal regulators into the state treasurer’s pension practices after releasing a report showing that taxpayers could be at risk from her risky state pension investments.

The report, “Rhode Island Public Pension Reform: Wall Street’s License to Steal,” raises troubling questions about recent investment decisions and strategies made by Gina Raimondo. 

In 2011, Raimondo pushed through legislation that considerably slashed members’ retirement security, cutting annual cost-of-living increases for current and future retirees, and imposing a riskier hybrid pension plan on future hires. Raimondo gained national notoriety in recent years for gambling state pensions in high-fee, Wall Street hedge funds.

“Instead of promoting retirement security for all Rhode Islanders, the changes apparently enriched wealthy hedge fund managers – many from out of state – promoted conflicts of interest, and considerably weakened and raised the risk of the Employees Retirement System in Rhode Island,” said J. Michael Downey, president of Council 94.

Ted Siedle, a financial expert and former Securities Exchange Commission attorney, who conducted the investigation that informs the report, called the lack of transparency “alarming.”  

The investigation revealed that “further investigation by the SEC was warranted,” Siedle said, adding “there appears to be considerable conflicts of interest, and fees continued to rise.” In some cases, fees associated with Raimondo’s investments topped 700 percent of projected fees.

Council 94 will submit the report to the SEC with a request for further investigation.

DETROIT – Public workers and retirees gathered outside a federal courthouse this week while Gov. Rick Snyder and his politically appointed Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr were inside trying to defend their scheme to push Detroit into bankruptcy and cut retiree pensions.

To qualify for bankruptcy, Orr must prove the city negotiated with creditors in good faith or that it was impossible to do so.

Governor Snyder testified that despite having the power to protect public employee pensions under the city’s bankruptcy filing, he chose not to do so. Under cross examination by AFSCME, he repeatedly used attorney-client privilege to avoid answering questions.  

“This governor has never been transparent,” said AFSCME Council 25’s Ed McNeil. “He has a track record of not answering questions and it is no surprise he is hiding behind a legal loophole to avoid answering the questions we have for him.”

When asked how retirees should be treated in the bankruptcy process, Governor Snyder once again dodged the question.  AFSCME attorney Sharon Levine said, “We asked him point-blank if the state will take care of the retirees and he’s still being evasive.”

When Orr took the witness stand for cross examination, he admitted under oath that AFSCME made several attempts to meet with him before the bankruptcy filing. Orr acknowledged that McNeil, of Council 25, went so far as to tape a letter to the emergency manager’s office door, but instead of reaching out to AFSCME he passed the note to a junior staffer and a meeting was never scheduled.

The trial continues on Monday when AFSCME’s Director of Collective Bargaining, Steve Kreisberg, is set to take the stand.

Please stand with your sisters and brothers in Detroit by signing our petition at www.StandWithDetroit.org.

In the midst of recent difficult contract negotiations between Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) and AFSCME Local 3993, two BART employees were killed after being hit by a train. AFSCME and the Bay Area mourn the lost of Chris Sheppard, a member of AFSCME Local 3993, and Laurence Daniels, a BART contractor.

“We are saddened to learn that two BART employees were killed after being hit by a BART train,” said Patricia Schuchardt, president of the local. “Our hearts go out to the families of both workers as well as to the person operating the train. This is a tragedy.”

The fatalities occurred during the second day of a strike by employees of SEIU 1021 and ATU 1555. While AFSCME Local 3993 did not declare a strike, they encouraged their members to honor the picket lines while they continued negotiations with BART.

Schuchardt added, “We are saddened and outraged to learn that the train was possibly operated by management personnel.”

This, despite repeated warnings by BART unions to top management and the board of directors about the danger of inexperienced personnel running the system in the event of a strike.

Since the tragedy occurred, the National Transportation Safety Board launched an investigation into the fatalities.

SEIU and ATU reached an agreement with BART bringing an end to the Bay Area strike. Local 3993 negotiations are ongoing with expectations to settle a contract very soon.

Sheppard is survived by his wife and two children. More information about contributing to the victim’s family is available at afscme3993.org.

Two right-wing groups linked to the billionaire Koch brothers were fined $1 million last week for funneling money to influence the outcomes of two California elections last year.

One was a ballot measure specifically intended to limit the voice of union members in the election process.

The California Fair Political Practices Committee announced the record civil settlement last week against the Center to Protect Patient Rights and Americans for Responsible Leadership. The committee fined the Koch’s Arizona-based nonprofits for their failure to disclose the original sources of two so-called “dark money” campaign contributions totaling $15 million to influence the 2012 election ballot initiatives. Failure to disclose the source of such political contributions is a violation of state law.

“This case highlights the nationwide scourge of dark money nonprofit networks hiding the identities of their contributors,” Chairwoman Ann Ravel said in a statement. Her committee is “aggressively litigating to get disclosure and working on laws and regulations to put a stop to these practices in California.”

The Koch brothers used their vast wealth in recent years to weaken the power of union members. They are also key backers of the tea-party movement.

In the case of last year’s California elections, the two Koch-linked groups used their money to:

1. Support passage of California’s Proposition 32. The failed initiative would have limited the voice of union members by eliminating their right to have voluntary political contributions taken from their paychecks while giving special exemptions to corporate interests.
2. Block Proposition 30, a modest tax increase to fund education and other vital programs. Voters approved the measure, overcoming the Koch-backed campaign.

As part of the California settlement, the Koch-backed organizations must turn over the $15 million to the State General Fund, in addition to paying the $1 million fine.

While the groups were not required to release the names of the original donors of the contributions, state investigators did uncover some of them. Among them were San Francisco investor Charles Schwab, the Fisher family (owners of the GAP clothing empire), and Las Vegas Casino mogul Sheldon Adelson and his wife, who also bankrolled Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker during a recall election launched after he took away the collective bargaining rights of nearly 200,000 public service workers.

It was a time to come together, to honor the fallen and push forward for safer working conditions for all public safety officers.

More than 350 corrections officers and sworn law-enforcement personnel from across the nation gathered in Columbus, Ohio, for the AFSCME Public Safety Congress.

Among them were members of the Newtown Police Union, Local 3153, who received the 2013 Law Enforcement Award for their response to the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Conn.

Scott Ruszczyk, president of Local 3153, accepted the award and spoke about the role officers played responding to the Sandy Hook Elementary shooting. The perpetrator still had nearly 200 more rounds of ammunition at the time he was killed, Ruszczyk noted. Had first responders not intervened, more lives could have been lost. 

Members of the Lucasville Corrections Facility in Ohio received the 2013 Corrections Award in recognition of their role quelling a deadly riot 20 years ago that claimed the life of OCSEA member Robert Vallandingham.

Accepting the ACU award on behalf of his sisters and brothers, Luke Vansickle, president of Local 7730, presented Pres. Lee Saunders with the roster from the shift when the riot started – a document that has been in the local’s possession ever since. It will hang in the lobby of AFSCME’s headquarters in Washington, DC. 

At the event, Saunders announced the donation of $100,000 to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund.

“Our National Law Enforcement Memorial in Washington, DC, serves to remind everyone – every tourist, every family, every resident who has ever called for help – of the ultimate sacrifice that too many of our public safety officers make every year,” Saunders said.  “It helps keep those officers in our hearts and minds.”

Throughout the conference, participants strategized on the common issues their locals confront, such as funding cuts to state prisons and politicians who cater to big businesses at the expense of public workers.

Mike Fraise, a member of AFSCME Local 2989, Council 61, who works in the Iowa State Penitentiary, said Gov. Terry Branstad “is trying to cut staffing to save money.” He was particularly interested in sessions on funding for public services.

Judy Kuschel, a community corrections officer in Washington state and member of Council 28, said she was drawn to the event by the educational opportunities offered.

“It’s a great place to get more ideas from other people around the country of how they do their jobs, and the kind of training they get,” Kuschel said.

It’s a matter of fairness. Illinois lawmakers need to do the right thing and pay 25,000 unionized state public service workers the back pay they are owed since July 2011.

The money – approximately $4,000 per employee – was promised as raises under a contract that members of AFSCME Council 31 negotiated in good faith with the state. Gov. Pat Quinn canceled them after claiming lawmakers hadn’t allocated money to cover the raises. AFSCME challenged that “illegal and irresponsible” decision in court. A judge last year agreed and ordered the governor to pay the back wages, plus 7 percent interest.

Quinn previously agreed to restore the raises for employees in some agencies when money was found to pay them, but 25,000 others still wait. And wait.

There is a solution. State Sen. Andy Manar and other lawmakers are sponsoring a bill, SB 2603, that will allow for the payment of all back wages owed. The State Journal-Register called on lawmakers in both Houses to pass legislation to set the matter right “before they head home next week.”

It shouldn’t be hard for lawmakers to see the justice in this situation. They did the same thing for themselves after Quinn tried to withhold their pay in July. Lawmakers rushed to court and also got a ruling in their own favor.

Now it’s time for lawmakers to step up during the General Assembly’s fall veto session, and give the state employees their due.

“AFSCME members who keep Illinois prisons safe, care for the most vulnerable and maintain our state parks are just some of the thousands of workers waiting more than two years now for the wages they were promised and earned,” said Council 31 Exec. Dir. Henry Bayer, also an AFSCME International vice president. “We hope that state lawmakers who received their own back wages have a newfound appreciation for the importance of being paid what you are owed.”

Fed up with a lack of representation and an effective voice at work, more than 500 corrections officers in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, have filed to unionize with AFSCME Ohio Council 8. Up next: an election letting workers cast their ballots.

That election will be held within the next three months, pending state review of the corrections officers’ filing.

For more than a decade, corrections officers in Cuyahoga County were represented by an association that provided them with no local union or local union officers of their own. They want to be more effective advocates for better working conditions, community safety and pay. That means working with AFSCME.

“Our dues, our union and our voice,” said Ron Channell, a corrections officer in Cleveland, “that’s what AFSCME means to me.”

The Cuyahoga County corrections officers will join forces with more than 100,000 current AFSCME members in Ohio. That increases their clout at the bargaining table, says corrections officer Ron Jones.

“We’ve stood in the shadows too long,” Jones said. “AFSCME puts us and our issues at the forefront.”

Emanuel Bradfield, a Cleveland corrections officer is excited about the solidarity of a union.

“This is our time to stand together,” Bradfield said. “And we’ve got 110,000 Ohio members standing behind us.”

Mike Welsch says he’ll never quit. The 54-year-old, who is a member of AFSCME Local 1703, Council 93 in Massachusetts, has come a long way since a motorcycle accident at age 19 cost him his left lower leg.

Welsch, a custodian at Burlington High School, wears a special prosthesis with a shock absorber that allows him to exercise. And exercise he does.

He competed in 10 Boston Marathons and finished nine of them (he was at the 18-mile marker this year when the bombings happened). He competed in the Cape Cod Triathlon and finished the eight-mile Boston Lights Swim seven times. He swam all four Connecticut Lakes and around New York City on the Hudson, East and Harlem Rivers.

The toughest challenge he’s ever undertaken, he says, was a 22-mile swim in Lake Winnipesaukee, which he did to raise money for charity. His friends were on two boats behind him and provided support. The race began in the middle of a summer night, and he drank Gatorade and ate peanut butter and jelly sandwiches to keep going. Twice he had to get onto one of the boats to put on more sunblock because “the sun was killing me.” It took him 16 hours to complete.

His two children, Ashley and Mika, were at the finish line.

“If you get up every day and give it your best,” Welsch says, “things tend to add up.”

One of his inspirations is Diana Nyad, who recently completed a 110-mile swim from Cuba to Florida, a feat that had eluded her for 35 years.

“Never give up,” Welsch says. “That’s what Diana said after she finished her swim.”

Next year, Welsch plans to compete in the Boston Marathon again, hoping to finish the race for the tenth time. A Marine Corps veteran, he says he plans to be going just as strong when he’s 80 years old.

Welsch’s fighting spirit is an inspiration to us all. AFSCME is proud to call him one of our members.

The share of income going to families in the middle class is greater in states with strong unions, according to a Center for American Progress Action Fund analysis of the latest U.S. Census survey of American communities. 

The findings in the American Community Survey demonstrate that states with higher union membership also benefitted from having more robust middle classes.

The significance of this is heightened when you keep in mind that a strong middle class is essential for a vibrant democracy and that prosperous middle-class households are also powerful drivers of economic growth.

The additional annual income middle-class families receive in states that benefit from unionization can be in the hundreds of dollars. In Pennsylvania in 2012, for example, it was $700 per middle-class household. That’s $700 more to spend on groceries, medications, or Christmas gifts.

As the authors of this analysis point out, the census figures “illustrate once again just how tangible of an impact organized labor has on the everyday lives of middle-class families. When the middle class does well, so does the American economy. But to rebuild both, we must ensure that unions are strong enough to fight for middle-class interests in the workplace and in the political arena.”

Wednesday night, the House and Senate approved a deal crafted in the Senate after the Republican House majority refused to end this misery. President Obama signed it shortly after midnight.

Hundreds of thousands of federal workers were left without paychecks during the shutdown, forced to stay home while right-wing lawmakers held the country hostage. Among those furloughed public service workers who will now receive back pay are Megan Burger, a Capitol Guide Service employee who is a member of AFSCME Local 658 (AFSCME Council 26) and FAA inspector Dan Ronneberg, a member of Local 1653 (Council 26).

A provision of the agreement that AFSCME championed will assure that thousands of furloughed state and local government employees, who are compensated with federal funds, also will get back pay, as will federal workers. This will ensure fairness to all public service workers furloughed during the government shutdown.

This shutdown, which has been so harmful to the nation’s fragile economic recovery, did not have to happen.

“For two weeks, Republican congressional leaders were derelict in their duty,” AFSCME Pres. Lee Saunders said, following the vote in the House. “They allowed a fringe element in their party – one vastly out of step with American values and priorities -- to shut our government down and bring the country to the brink of defaulting on its financial obligations.  Their actions demonstrated a callous disregard for this nation’s citizens, businesses and the economy.”

The cause of this shutdown was the demand by House Republicans that they would get concessions designed to undermine or destroy the Affordable Care Act in return for ending the shutdown and stepping away from defaulting on the nation’s debt. This was unacceptable. Hundreds of thousands have already applied to take advantage of the law, and millions more will in the near future.

Their effort failed, but Speaker Boehner vows that Republicans will continue to try to undermine the Affordable Care Act. We will work to make sure that doesn’t happen. Americans who want affordable health care will not be allowed to become hostages in a right-wing, Wall Street-led attack on the middle class.

We will also work to ensure that this does not happen again. Unfortunately, the agreement only funds the federal government through Jan. 15 and suspends the nation’s debt limit only through Feb. 7, so another government shutdown crisis still looms. There are solutions to this governing-by-crisis madness. Polls show that most Americans support changes that would end the extreme partisanship that Congress has found itself locked into because of redistricting rules and voting restrictions. AFSCME agrees that such changes are needed if we are to avoid future shutdowns.

Please watch this video.

The Detroit bankruptcy matters to all of us.

It matters to workers like Clarence Sanders, who has worked for the city for more than 24 years—and took four pay cuts in the last 10 of them. And even lost a home.

It matters to the retirees like Ora Mae Mott, who worked in the city Finance Department for 30 years—and now, at 81, finds her monthly pension of $1,100 per month in jeopardy of being cut.

It matters to all of us who think that the wellbeing of workers and retirees and small business owners should be put before the profits of the corporate elite.

Please watch the video above and stand with your sisters and brothers in Detroit by signing our petition at www.StandWithDetroit.org.

When AFSCME Iowa Council 61 president and International Vice Pres. Danny Homan heard that Gov. Terry Branstad was grandstanding about his decision to keep open the Iowa Gold Star Military Museum during the federal shutdown, he questioned whether the governor was more interested in scoring political points or prioritizing for the good of all Iowans.

Homan, who served in the Army from 1971-1973, and who represents 40,000 Iowa public employees, said he appreciates the importance of the Iowa Gold Star Military Museum, located at Camp Dodge in Johnston, Iowa; it was scheduled for a temporary closure. But he knew that ensuring more than 200 state employees continue working – for the Iowa National Guard and the Iowa Workforce Development – is more critical for the state’s economy.

“We need OSHA inspectors on the job,” Homan said at an anti-shutdown rally in Des Moines. “We need workforce development folks working in Iowa Workforce Development offices trying to find people work. We need folks to work at Camp Dodge and out at the air base performing duties to make sure those facilities run right.”

Homan recounted how his son, Brent, now 34, was serving in the U.S. Army in Iraq in 2006 when his Bradley Fighting Vehicle was struck by a roadside bomb. His son lost his right eye and part of his thumb in the explosion.

Considering that state government has a budget surplus, keeping workers off the job – instead of closing the museum temporarily – is “the definition of stupid,” Homan said.

Still inspired by an energetic 2013 AFSCME Next Wave conference held late this summer in Detroit, the young members of the Washington Federation of State Employees (WFSE) Next Wave committee headed into their own convention encouraged and tasked to do more as young workers and activists.

At WFSE’s 2013 Biennial Convention last week, they committed to increase young member participation in the union and to support the union’s goal of coalition building – expanding their own list of allies beyond Washington State to the greater Northwestern Region.

“Our main goals are growth,” said Brandon Anderson, WFSE Organizer and Next Wave Committee Leader, when asked about their next steps. “We want to increase participation throughout the state and get young AFSCME members involved.”

Throughout the convention, Next Wavers flooded the convention halls, urging young workers and delegates in attendance to join their rally supporting Proposition 1.  

Proposition 1 requires Seattle-Tacoma hospitality and transportation employers to raise their hourly minimum wage to $15, adjusted annually for inflation, and pay sick and safe time of one hour per 40 hours worked. According to a study printed in the Seattle Times, it would boost economy by $54 million.

“Prop. 1 was just the natural choice,” said Anderson, describing why Next Wavers adopted the issue for advocacy. “The people impacted represent the new faces of labor – young folks and a great deal of immigrant workers. It also represented a new and creative tactic to make the labor movement relevant, going beyond just winning gains for union membership.”

Organized by the WFSE Next Wave committee, workers rallied on a busy Seattle-Tacoma intersection and marched to the corporate headquarters of Alaska Airlines, which tried to keep the measure off the ballot.

Proposition 1 is on the ballot in a Nov. 5 election.

California’s domestic workers—housekeepers, childcare providers, and in-home caregivers—won a seven-year fight for labor protections last month when Gov. Jerry Brown signed the Domestic Worker Bill of Rights into law. The passage of the law brings new workplace protections to the estimated 360,000 domestic workers in the Golden State.

Under the law, AB 241, domestic workers are only required to work nine hours a day and 45 hours a week; any amount over that requires time-and-a-half overtime pay. Although AB 241 excludes homecare workers who are paid through the state’s In-Home Supportive Services program (IHSS), the United Domestic Workers of America (UDW)/AFSCME Local 3930—made up of over 65,000 IHSS caregivers—supported the bill.

“This is a victory for domestic workers in California,” said UDW Executive Director Doug Moore, “we applaud the efforts of our brothers and sisters in their fight for these necessary protections.”

UDW President and IHSS caregiver Editha Adams agreed.

“Caregivers and other domestic workers are overwhelmingly women and people of color, and working for very low wages,” Adams said. “It is critical that we support each other and celebrate each other’s successes.”

AFSCME and our progressive allies have been pushing for domestic workers’ rights, even following a Brown veto of a similar bill in 2012. California domestic workers will continue to lead the fight for their rights including eight hours of uninterrupted sleep in “adequate, decent, and sanitary” sleeping accommodations for live-in workers, meal and rest break rights and paid days of rest following a full year of work. All of these protections were stripped from AB 241 before Brown signed it.

California is the third U.S. state to pass a domestic workers’ rights law (following New York and Hawaii). The law is set to take effect on January 1, 2014, and includes a sunset provision that requires a committee review before January 2017.

Wage protections—including minimum wage and overtime pay—protected by federal labor laws are slated to be extended to homecare workers by the Obama administration in January 2015. Although California’s new law and the federal rules protect domestic workers’ pay, AFSCME will continue to fight for workplace safety and dignity of the people who care for our nation’s most vulnerable citizens.

Who knew? (Hint: We did!)

The evidence is in. “People who belong to unions are happier than others, and the overall rate of labor union density contributes to greater human well-being for everyone (members and non-members, rich and poor),” says Benjamin Radcliff, professor of political science at Notre Dame.

Professor Radcliff, author of the book The Political Economy of Human Happiness, says the reason for this abundance of happiness “is in large part due to the greater political voice given to ordinary people when organized labor is strong.”

Public service workers nationwide choose AFSCME to increase their voice on the job because they know we will:

• Help them gain respect and fair treatment through collective bargaining;
• Stand up to improve the lives of workers, even if they don’t belong to a union;
• Fight for a wage increase for even the lowest-wage workers in America;
  Support civil rights, voting rights, and increased opportunity for all Americans;
• Defend the retirement security of our members.

When unions are strong, the working middle class is strong. Census data proves it. So it’s no surprise that happiness comes from belonging to a strong union like AFSCME, or any other union that works to improve the lives of its members, the communities in which they live, and the working middle class, upon which this country’s future depends.

It’s a piece of reporting making big waves. In the current issue of Rolling Stone, writer Matt Taibbi lays bare the sordid system by which politicians looted public pensions to finance other priorities, then blamed the retirees for the underfunded pensions.

 “Here's what this game comes down to,” writes Taibbi in “Looting the Pension Funds.” “Politicians run for office, promising to deliver law and order, safe and clean streets, and good schools. Then they get elected, and instead of paying for the cops, garbagemen, teachers and firefighters they only just 10 minutes ago promised voters, they intercept taxpayer money allocated for those workers and blow it on other stuff.”

Taibbi says a loophole in the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), made this possible. The law, passed in 1974, “was designed to protect the retirement money of workers with pension plans,” he writes. But lawmakers left out public pension funds from the regulations. That left state and local government officials free to raid or underfund them at their pleasure.

Massachusetts was among the worst offenders, making only 27 percent of its required payments. New Jersey followed with 33 percent.

Another tactic “involved illegally borrowing cash from public retirement funds to finance other budget needs,” Taibbi writes.

These abuses were generally ignored as long as pension funds were in relatively good financial shape. Then the financial meltdown of 2008, caused by Wall Street excesses, created a fiscal crisis that left state budgets in shambles.

“Someone had to take the hit. But who?” Taibbi answers his own question: Public service workers and retirees.

The very Wall Street-backed politicians who raided and underfunded the pension systems in the first place are now “using scare tactics and lavishly funded PR campaigns to cast teachers, firefighters and cops – not bankers – as the budget-devouring boogeymen responsible for the mounting fiscal problems of America's states and cities,” he writes. Read more about the sham pension crisis here.

AFSCME this week led the fight on immigration, joining our sisters and brothers in the labor movement and other progressive allies for a large immigration rally on Capitol Hill.

AFSCME Sec.-Treas. Laura Reyes attended the event, which amplified the call for the House of Representatives to bring a comprehensive reform bill to the floor for a vote.

Last week, House Democrats unveiled their own bill to overhaul the nation’s broken immigration system and create a path to citizenship for all immigrants. It echoes a Senate bill passed in June. Since the beginning of the year, AFSCME made it one of its top priorities to help pass an immigration reform law that includes a path to citizenship for all immigrants.

The event also came less than a week after more than 160 rallies for immigration reform occurred throughout the country.

After the rally on the Mall, labor leaders joined members of Congress and others in an act of civil disobedience, and several AFSCME members and staffers were among those arrested.

Despite the government shutdown, participants were able to stage their rally, and activists continued to put pressure on Congress to act on immigration reform legislation.

This time, the thousands of immigrants and their supporters were assisted in their demands for action by Los Tigres del Norte or “Tigers of the North” – a Mexican norteño music band whose song lyrics capture the pathos and drama of the undocumented immigrant experience.

Dressed in black boots, shiny gold pants, and tiger-print blazers, they sang their top hits, including La Jaula de Oro or “The Cage of Gold,” which tells of crossing the border on foot, raising children who become American and forget their roots, and being reluctant to step outside for fear of deportation.

NEW YORK – Responding to pressure from AFSCME District Council 37, the city and the New York Police Department agreed to hire 150 new emergency 911 operators.

The hiring came after the Police Communications Technicians (PCTs) – members of Local 1549 (DC 37) – suffered months of mandatory excessive overtime. It happened as the department prepared to launch its new emergency dispatch system, which broke down several times after going online.

As the technicians coped with double shifts, stress, insufficient sleep and time away from their loved ones, DC 37 and members of Local 1549 campaigned to raise public awareness and press the city to hire additional workers. The campaign included outreach to City Council members, appearances at budget hearings, leafleting, and working with the media to focus attention on the issue.

“We made a strong case about how the staffing shortage is harming the health and morale of our members and putting public safety at risk,” said Local 1549 Pres. Eddie Rodriguez, who is also president of DC 37 and an AFSCME International vice president. “We are happy the city and the NYPD finally started to hear our message.”

The hiring breakthrough came this summer when DC 37 Exec. Dir. Lillian Roberts, also an AFSCME International vice president, and other union leaders and representatives met with Deputy Mayor Casswell F. Holloway III, Labor Commissioner James F. Hanley and top police brass.

“This is an important move, and we will continue our campaign for proper staffing,” added Local 1549 Exec. Vice Pres. Alma Roper. “The excessive overtime drove our members to the breaking point and made a tragedy seem inevitable.”

“The decision to hire acknowledges the understaffing and excessive overtime was unsustainable," said Henry Garrido, associate director of DC 37. “We will work with management on the civil service hiring process and we will remain vigilant about the situation to protect public safety and the health of our members.”

For the Illinois residents who went to bed without health insurance last Monday night, Tuesday morning marked a new day. They woke able to purchase a health care plan or enroll in Medicaid under the newly implemented Affordable Care Act.

Jim Dixon, an AFSCME Local 2600 member in Springfield, Ill., and a caseworker for the state’s Healthcare and Family Services Department, says those most in need can now see a doctor and get the care they need.

“Thousands of people who didn’t qualify for coverage before the law was implemented are signing up this week,” he said.

Those who have an income equal or less than 138 percent of the state’s poverty level are now eligible for coverage ($32,496 for a family of four) under the Medicaid expansion. And adults age 19 to 64 no longer need to have a child in their household to qualify.

Dixon’s work includes processing the online applications submitted through the state’s website for coverage, getcoveredillinois.gov. He says the volume is high since the Affordable Care Act launched, and anticipates the number applicants will grow as they discover the change in coverage.

Not all states will expand Medicaid, which leaves 7 million Americans living in poverty without coverage. In fact, the 26 states that rejected Medicaid expansion – due largely to right-wing political ideology -- compose nearly 60 percent of the country’s uninsured working poor.

For those able to purchase health insurance in Illinois under the Affordable Care Act, the state website had more than 115,000 unique visitors in the first day. The federal site healthcare.gov logged 4.7 million unique visits in its first 24 hours.