WFSE leaders from 41 different locals across Washington gathered on May 31 and June 1, learning the best ways to organize for success within their locals.
Fifty-one years ago, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. traveled to Memphis to help rally the community around 1,300 AFSCME sanitation workers who had gone on strike.
In the 1980s, I was living and going to school in Minnesota when women who worked for state government won a big victory. They got the state to increase the pay of women in “female dominated jobs” by passing a pay equity bill. In other words, they put a dent in the gender pay gap. As a student, I researched and wrote about the process of crafting, passing and implementing that legislation. And I learned something that I have never forgotten: the union made it happen. And not just any union. Our union: AFSCME.
WFSE members from the Washington State Department of Transportation (DOT) held a summit over the weekend to identify workplace issues and strategize on how they can address them as a union.
Members brought up everything from outdated equipment to the need for biohazard training, issues they plan to take to management next Monday.
Joy Draper, a maintenance lead tech from Tacoma, said that taking on issues starts with becoming a union member.
Our union gained more than 9,000 dues-paying members and nearly 19,000 dues-paying retirees in the last year, suggesting that billionaires and corporations are failing in their effort to “defund and defang” public service unions.
Workers in Missouri and New Mexico have chalked important victories against anti-worker laws that would have robbed them of their voices and the right to bargain collectively.
Assistant attorneys general in Washington state have formed a union through AFSCME to gain a voice in their workplace.
The Association of Washington Assistant Attorneys General (AWAAG) joined with the Washington Federation of State Employees (WFSE)/AFSCME Council 28 in late January to secure the right to collectively bargain.
All Washington state agencies rely on the dependable and essential services provided by the Attorney General’s Office.
2/12/19 - All WFSE offices will remain closed today, Tuesday, February 12. If you need assistance, please email [email protected]
2/11/19 - WFSE offices are tentatively set to open at 10 a.m., Tuesday, February 12. We will reassess weather conditions in the morning and make an announcement by 7:30 a.m. if there are any changes.
2/10/19 - WFSE offices in Olympia, Tacoma, and Seattle are closed Monday, February 11, due to inclement weather.
