News

WFSE 50th Biennial Convention Energizes, Inspires, and Unites

WFSE’s 50th Biennial Convention, coinciding with the 80th year of our union’s history, took place from October 6-8 in SeaTac, WA. 

2025-2027 Contract Negotiations: What's Next?

An engaged membership is an empowered membership. Check back often for updates. Together, we can win strong 2025-2027 contracts for public workers.

Mind Games at the Department of Health

Millions of taxpayer dollars have been spent on faith-based “empathy training” that silences discrimination concerns and penalizes protected union activity. DOH employees are calling for it to stop. Sign their petition here.

In Black History Month event, AFSCME highlights return of public service jobs

The public sector has finally recovered from the COVID-19 pandemic. At the end of last year, there were 22,000 more public service jobs in the nation than in February 2020, just before the pandemic started.

This is cause for celebration for everyone in our communities, but especially for workers of color, who have been historically overrepresented in state and local government jobs.

AFSCME retiree blasts fiscal commission bill as a backdoor way to gut Social Security, Medicare

AFSCME retiree blasts fiscal commission bill as a backdoor way to gut Social Security, Medicare

AFSMCE Retiree Mary Cannon-James and Connecticut Rep. John Larson. Photo credit: Madalin Sammons/ AFSCME

Lawmakers seek congressional support for paraprofessionals and other school staff

Connecticut Rep. Jahana Hayes recently introduced a resolution calling on Congress to affirm its support for providing living wages, good benefits and fair working conditions to paraeducators, classroom assistants, bus drivers, custodial workers and others who are vital to our public education system.

AFSCME’s ‘I AM Story’ podcast nominated for NAACP Image Award

AFSCME’s “I AM Story” podcast has received a nomination for an NAACP Image Award in the “Outstanding Podcast – Limited Series/Short Form” category.

Union membership numbers show momentum remains strong despite staffing shortages

Despite the growing wave of worker organizing across the country, the union membership rate last year ticked down slightly, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported today, underscoring the importance of initiatives like AFSCME’s Staff the Front Lines to fill job vacancies in the public sector.

At DCYF, Member Action Turns Staff Assault into Stronger Safety Protocols

Dedicated WFSE members at the Washington Department of Children, Youth and Families show up for kids and families during some of the hardest times in their lives. They deserve to come to work not fearing for their safety. That’s why Heather Gregory, WFSE Local 53 member and DCYF social service support specialist, successfully fought for stronger safety protocols after being assaulted on the job.

As a government shutdown looms, AFSCME members voice alarm and frustration

For John Campion, a monitoring officer with AmeriCorps, the potential for a federal government shutdown beginning this month brings fear, insecurity and frustration.

Elmore Nickleberry, Memphis sanitation worker who went on strike in 1968, dies at 92

Elmore Nickleberry, Memphis sanitation worker who went on strike in 1968, dies at 92