I know I was right, AFSCME helped me prove it
For Tarcara Lamkin, being a state employee means she knows that she is serving her community every day. As a senior clerk with the Florida Department of Health at the Magnolia Women's Health Center, she knows she is an integral part to ensuring that the Jacksonville com...
New Report: Growth pushes Florida Retirement System above $163 billion in assets
In an article for Florida Politics, Michael Moline details the latest report on the health of the state's retirement system after a meeting of the Florida Investment Advisory Council."Assets have grown by 10.5 percent since the start of the fiscal year, reaching a balan...
House Bill Simplifies and Fixes PSLF, Overhauls Higher Education
A bill that has been introduced in the House of Representatives would simplify the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program for current and would-be participants.
Unions: Reversing the Dyson Effect
Spoiler Alert: the Florida Legislature isn’t even considering using this year’s budget surplus to invest in state services and state workers. Another non-surprise, recent research by WalletHub ranks Florida as one of the least fair tax systems; helping the rich get rich...
Help Distressed Workers: Shutdown Disaster Relief
As the the Federal Shutdown drags on, it's created a crisis for many of our hardworking Brothers and Sisters. Most Federal Employees have been directed to not work or work without pay for an indefinite amount of time created financial hardships for families across the c...
A Decade Later: Four Ways Working People Are Still Paying for the 2008 Financial Crisis
It was 10 years ago this month that the 2008 financial crisis kicked into high gear. When storied Wall Street bank Lehman Brothers shut down, bankers walking out of the building carrying cardboard boxes of their possessions made the perfect image for TV cameras.
Contract Ratification Boosts School Employees
The bus drivers, maintenance and food service workers – and all the other hard-working men and women of AFSMCE Florida Local 1184 who make the country’s fourth-largest school system happen every day – have approved a new three-year contract with the Miami-Dade Public Sc...
Dania Beach Members Hold Management Accountable for Promised Raise
When the City of Dania Beach approved the redevelopment of prime real estate along I-95 and within a stone’s throw of the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport and Port Everglades Cruise Port, it was clear this would be a multi-year project.
It is time to show state workers some respect
The following op-ed ran in the January 20 Sun SentinelFlorida is a large and diverse state. In the time and distance it takes to drive from Pensacola to Key West, you could drive from Madison, Wisc., to Washington, D.C. During those more than twelve hours of non-stop dr...
Hurricane Michael Aftermath
Hurricane Michael was the most powerful storm to hit the Florida panhandle in over 100 years leaving catastrophic damage in it's path. Emergency teams are now assessing the destruction and providing assistance to those in impacted areas. Governor Scott is urging evacuee...
Caught in Limbo: AFSCME Member Struggles with Student Loan Forgiveness
As a public librarian for the Philadelphia Free Library, Sheila O’Steen embodies what we think of when we imagine a public service worker. Every day, she interacts with members of her community. Whether her patrons are young or old, affluent or impoverished, O’Steen sha...
Report: Strong Unions, Stronger Communities
When working people have the freedom to come together in strong unions, entire communities benefit. Unions give everyday working people the power in numbers they need to make their communities safer and stronger, and they are critical to fixing an economy rigged in favo...
Aiming High and Winning at UCF
Last week, the men and women who make one of America’s largest university by total enrollment happen semester after semester, overwhelmingly approved a new contract that balances professional and benefits victories.
Union slams Trump for coming to South Florida on Citizenship Day
Andy Madtes, President of the South Florida AFL-CIO, blasted Donald Trump on Friday for the "irony" of visiting Miami on National Citizenship Day and Constitution Day."The Constitution, written by immigrants, outlines the guiding principles of what makes America great —...
Never Giving Up Nets FL Member $40K in Back Pay
For years, Sheryll Brown made sure the students and staff at the University of North Florida had an efficient postal services unit. But when the university won the effort to outsource her department she made sure her contract was enforced, which led to a multi-year effo...
New Contracts Boost Workers, Energize Local
Hundreds of hardworking men and women of AFSCME Local 2227 recently ratified three new contracts, providing not only a boost to members’ paychecks but also serving to protect public service jobs in the future.The members, who proudly make Florida’s Polk County Public Sc...
Brett Kavanaugh: No R-E-S-P-E-C-T for Women’s and Workers’ Rights
Like others around the world, I mourned the death last week of Aretha Franklin. The Queen of Soul set a new standard for enduring classic songs with both artistic and political impact, like her mega-hit “Respect,” which became an anthem for both the civil rights and wom...
2020 Minimum Wage Hikes to Benefit 7 Million Working People
The new year brings good news for millions of working Americans. Nearly 7 million of them are in line to get pay raises this year thanks to state and local minimum-wage hikes.
Injured on the Job, Corrections Officer Links Safety with Collective Bargaining Rights
The day after he was released from a hospital, a bruised and swollen Kelvin Chung told a state Senate committee that state employees like him need collective bargaining rights to advocate for safety on the job.
“I want you to see my face. We need a voice on the job, so...
Miami-Dade School Employees Finish 2017 With Big Contract Win
During the mad dash that can be found during the last week of classes before the winter holiday break, AFSCME Local 1184 members had their own end-of-year sprint.The members, who work for the Miami-Dade County Public Schools, turned a tentative agreement on wages and be...
How One AFSCME Member is Helping Florida Dry Out and Rebuild
Most times, you can find longtime AFSCME member Bert Walthour serving the City of Miami Beach as a heavy equipment operator. He and his coworkers at Local 1554 (AFSCME Florida), where he serves as vice president, make one of the world’s most iconic cities function every...
State Report Confirms Florida Is Not Investing In The Future
A new report released this week by the Department of Management Service, State Personnel System Annual Workforce Report for Fiscal Year 2014-15, puts into black and white what the failure to invest in state workers, and the services they provide, really looks like.
Showcasing Union Value in Small Town
The city of DeFuniak Springs lies just north of Interstate 10 in a part of the Florida panhandle that is physically closer to Alabama than the Gulf Coast. And for the members of AFSCME Local 3918, the opinions about unions held by the community, city leaders and even ma...
AFSCME Relaunches State Council to Focus on Growth and Activism for Florida’s Working Families
In a move designed to both better reflect the breadth and depth of workers represented across the state and to better the position the union for future growth, Florida leaders of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) voted to rename t...