. . DEMOCRATIC PARTICIPATION . .
An article from the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Union
[Editor’s note: An excellent article about the AFSCME initiative by Fortune Magazine may be found here.]
In 1968, when Dr. King addressed AFSCME-represented sanitation workers during their historic strike in Memphis, Tennessee, he said that “only when it is dark enough, can you see the stars.”
These are some dark times for our country. Elon Musk, billionaires and anti-union extremists have amassed more power than ever before – and they’ve been granted free reign to implement the radical Project 2025 agenda.
AFSCME is fighting back. Already, our lawsuits have helped reverse the illegal firings of thousands of federal workers, including AFSCME members.
But the illegal attacks on federal civil servants are just the tip of the iceberg. An even bigger threat now looms over public service workers, at every level.
The House has passed a budget resolution that sets the stage for nearly a trillion dollars in cuts to Medicaid, Medicare and other federal programs – all to pave the way for even bigger tax breaks for billionaires.
These cuts won’t just rip away health care from millions of seniors, children, Americans with disabilities and working families. They will starve state and local budgets of critical federal funding for hospitals, schools, nursing homes, prisons, transit systems, and all the essential services AFSCME members provide in our communities every single day.
These cuts also would stack the deck against public service workers headed into contract negotiations. The cuts could lead to pay cuts, furloughs and hiring freezes. Our jobs, hard-won benefits, and retirement security are threatened. Our workplace health and safety and even our right to form a union are under attack.
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What is the contribution of trade unions to the culture of peace?
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The billionaires behind this agenda don’t understand the first thing about what working people go through or why anyone would pursue a career that’s about serving others instead of getting rich.
Indeed, Elon Musk himself – the richest man in the world – has spread online propaganda comparing public service workers to genocidal murderers like Hitler at the very same time he’s pushing for massive cuts to vital public services relied on by seniors, veterans, children, and millions of Americans.
But as Dr. King reminds us, we are not lost in the darkness. Mobilizing and organizing to grow our union’s power has always been AFSCME’s North Star, and that is exactly how we’re going to fight back now.
AFSCME has launched a new campaign, called Get Organized, or AFSCME GO.
The GO campaign is all about making sure everyone in the AFSCME family understands what’s at stake in this fight. It’s about standing up to the billionaires and anti-union extremists trying to steal our power, and defeating any efforts to gut Medicaid, Medicare, and Social Security.
Through Get Organized, we will bring more workers without a voice on the job into the AFSCME family. We will increase engagement among current working members and retirees alike, empowering everyone to build on AFSCME’s proud legacy of activism.
We have faced big challenges before. The billionaires behind the Supreme Court’s decision in Janus v. AFSCME tried to take us out of the ball game completely, but they failed. They failed because they underestimated AFSCME members and our capacity to organize, mobilize and grow. They underestimated Americans’ overwhelming support for unions that give workers a seat at the table and a voice on the job. And they are underestimating us once again.
The battle lines have been drawn. We may not win every fight, but we will emerge stronger than ever before.
Turning crisis into opportunity. Turning defense into offense. It is the AFSCME way. It’s time to fight back. It’s time to get organized.
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