News

Biden forgives student loans for an additional 78,000 public service workers

AFSCME President Lee Saunders praised the White House’s announcement Thursday that the Biden administration will forgive student loans for an additional 78,000 borrowers — including many AFSCME mem

Communications Workshop Will Help Leaders Build Strong Unions

Leaders from locals with 50+ members are invited to attend a special workshop called "How to Rock Your Union's Communications. The workshop will be held via zoom on Thursday, November 9th from 5:30 - 7:30 PM. 

Council 4 member leaders who are champion communicators will share strategies and examples of how they use communications to bolster their unions. 

This workshop will highlight the importance of communications for building strong unions. Topics covered will include:

AFSCME President Lee Saunders joins signing ceremony of historic infrastructure bill

AFSCME President Lee Saunders on Monday joined President Joe Biden and members of his administration, as well as a bipartisan group of lawmakers, for the signing ceremony of the historic Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.

'Tis the Season of Giving: Council 4 Collecting for 2021 Toy Drive

Council 4 is collecting new, unused, unwrapped toys for children ages 0-13, and gift cards for local families through December 13, 2021.

Please help make this Holiday Season a much happier one for children and their families. Because of COVID-19, it is more important than ever to step up and help those who are struggling and isolated.

Congress has finally passed an infrastructure bill. Build Back Better should be next.

The House of Representatives has passed President Joe Biden’s transformational bipartisan infrastructure plan, which Biden will soon sign into law. The passage earned praise from AFSCME President Lee Saunders, who, in a statement, said, “We are turning a corner.”

Union 411: How and why we organize

As solidarity actions and strikes sweep the nation, workers are making history by organizing their workplaces for the first time.

When workers belong to a union, they have a unified voice to create safer, stronger and healthier workplaces. Organizing is our most effective tool to determine workplace dignity, hours, working conditions and quality of life. Workers aren’t stuck with dangerous workplace conditions with poor wages and benefits. They can improve them, together.

Union Members Seeking Office Remind Us To Vote Our Union Values on Election Day, Nov. 2

Tuesday, Nov. 2, 2021 is election day throughout Connecticut's cities and towns. It's a day that recalls the old saying that all politics is local.  

Doug Finger of AFSCME Local 1029 (Enfield Department of Public Works) and Jen Horner of AFSCME Local 2836 (State University Organization of Administrative Faculty) understand that maxim and acting on it. 

Public Service Freedom to Negotiate Act Introduced

The Public Service Freedom to Negotiate Act was introduced today in the House of Representatives by Rep. Matt Cartwright (D-Pa.). The bill, which currently has 144 cosponsors, would set a minimum nationwide standard of collective bargaining rights that states must provide. It would empower workers to join together for a voice on the job not only to improve working conditions but to improve the communities in which they work.

The union difference: Greatest wealth gains are for Black and Hispanic union households

We’ve said it before: Life is better in a union. 

Workers who belong to unions make more money than their nonunion counterparts. They have better health care insurance and retirement plans, more job security and safer working conditions. They’re happier.