Service to the Membership
“The very essence of leadership is that you have to have a vision.”
—Theodore Hesburgh, theologian and educator
The AFSCME International Union, headquartered in Washington, D.C., provides resources and expert help to AFSCME councils, locals and affiliates. Within the International, several departments are established and their work is linked by one common purpose: to help AFSCME — at every level — become a stronger, more effective union. Below is an overview of the International Union’s departments and a sampling of the service and assistance each provides.
Affiliate Relations
The Affiliate Relations Department:
- Maintains the International union’s membership and officers data for all AFSCME affiliates, working with affiliate staff to obtain up-to-date data
- Coordinates the membership card mailings, generates official credential cards for AFSCME’s affiliate officers and oversees the annual member political rebate process
Education and Leadership Training
The Education and Leadership Training Department develops and offers programs based on the premise that member involvement in union activities builds power in the workplace. Major training programs include:
- Stewards in Action — a two-day program for stewards that ranges from the technical skills of grievance handling to activating members to solve workplace issues
- Executive Board — a two-day program for full executive boards that incorporates team-building, duties and skills of officers, and strategic planning and goal setting
- Volunteer Member Organizing (VMO) — focuses on organizing skills for members who are willing to volunteer their time to make house calls to workers outside their own workplace or bargaining unit
- Bargaining — covers negotiating skills for bargaining committees as well as how to mobilize members in a contract campaign
- Strategic Planning — covers goal-setting, developing plans to achieve the goals, monitoring and evaluating results
- Member Action Team (MAT) — shows locals how to create a system for ongoing one-on-one communication with all members for the dual purposes of informing members and organizing around workplace issues
- Member Educator Program — a weeklong, train-the-trainer program to equip staff and members with the skills to teach the Stewards in Action program
The department also administers the following scholarships for AFSCME members, staff and their families: AFSCME Family Scholarship, Joey Parisi Scholarship, Nadra Floyd Scholarship and the Jerry Clark Scholarship. The department partners with the United Negro College Fund to provide summer internships for student activists to experience union organizing.
Financial Services
The auditing section of the Financial Services Department:
- Conducts secretary-treasurer training for affiliates
- Evaluates affiliate financial procedures and issues recommendations
- Advises affiliates on compliance with IRS, Department of Labor and other filing requirements unique to labor unions
- Reviews the financial condition and internal controls of AFSCME’s councils and large locals as mandated by AFSCME’s Affiliate Audit and Review Program
General Services
General Services provides AFSCME affiliates with various supplies that include forms, publications, membership jewelry and T-shirts. There is no charge for materials that are essential to the performance of the affiliate. Other supplies — some publications, stationery, buttons, etc. — are offered at minimal cost.
To order supplies, locals must send a completed Requisition Form F-2 and a check for the total amount to AFSCME, 1625 L St., N.W., Washington, DC 20036.
Judicial Panel
The Judicial Panel is an 11-member body appointed by the International president, with the consent of the International Executive Board. The panel’s tasks are to:
- Hear charges and appeals filed by union members
- Hold trials
- Rule on election protests and rebate appeals
- Review administratorships
Article X of the AFSCME International Constitution outlines the procedures that protect the rights of AFSCME members. The process begins in the local union and culminates with the Judicial Panel. A final appeal can be made on the International Convention floor.
Legal Services
The Office of the General Counsel provides legal representation and advice to International union officers and staff and to AFSCME councils and locals. The General Counsel’s office:
- Initiates and assists in legal actions, taken at both the federal and state levels, that address labor relations and civil rights issues affecting AFSCME members and affiliates
- Provides legal assistance to AFSCME affiliates on internal
union matters (examples include jurisdictional disputes arising
under the AFL-CIO Constitution and union security issues)
Legislation
The staff of the Legislation Department advocates at the federal level on those issues related to AFSCME members’ jobs, their families and their communities. The Legislation Department:
- Works with members of Congress on a daily basis promoting the interests of AFSCME members by testifying before congressional committees
- Tracks the progress of legislation and advises members of Congress on how legislation would affect AFSCME members
- Communicates with and mobilizes AFSCME leaders and members to take action on key legislative issues
- Prepares fact sheets, position papers and other information, including the annual Voters Guide, which reviews the voting practices of U.S. senators and representatives for use in deciding whether to support or oppose re-election of incumbent members of Congress Organizing and Field Services
Organizing new members is a lifeblood priority for AFSCME. The main objectives include:
- Organizing new bargaining units where the union is not yet established
- Where the union is established, assisting AFSCME councils in building their own organizing capacity
- Acting as the liaison in the field for problemsolving efforts of all kinds
PEOPLE
PEOPLE (Public Employees Organized to Promote Legislative Equality) helps fund the union’s political activities and coordinate member political education programs to elect candidates who support AFSCME members and working families. To provide a strong political voice, PEOPLE depends on members’ voluntary contributions to fund and complement the union’s political activities, which include:
- Voter registration
- Lobbying national, state and local political office-holders
- Financial support for worker-friendly candidates
AFSCME members can participate in PEOPLE in different ways, including:
- Signing a payroll deduction card for PEOPLE check-off
- Organizing PEOPLE fundraising events
- Becoming active in the local’s PEOPLE/political action committee
Political Action
The Political Action Department has the task of educating and mobilizing grassroots activists across the country to elect local, state and federal candidates who will represent the interests of union members and working families. Toward this end the department:
- Coordinates both partisan and non-partisan get-out-the-vote (GOTV) campaigns
- Works with councils and locals to research and endorse candidates
- Assists in voter registration efforts
- Directs education and mobilization programs on behalf of AFSCME-endorsed candidates
- Lobbies elected officials at all levels of government on behalf of AFSCME members
- Where the law allows, works with councils and locals to provide support to individual candidates and raise awareness about ballot initiatives and referenda
- Provides training on political campaigns
- Utilizes AFSCME’s coast-to-coast phone banking network to conduct voter mobilization projects, polling and survey research
Public Affairs
The Public Affairs Department uses radio, television and print media to provide information about AFSCME, its goals and achievements and the union’s position on issues. Department activities include:
- Issuing press releases
- Coordinating press conferences and other media and related communications activities for national legislative and political campaigns and major conferences and events
- Producing a number of internal publications, including
— Public Employee, a magazine covering AFSCME news that is sent to all AFSCME members and retirees, and Empleado Público, a Spanishlanguage companion publication
— AFSCME in Motion (AIM), a weekly news update that reaches 6,000 leaders
— Several specialized publications, including the ACU for correction officers, UNA Action for nurses and Public Pension Action News
The department also produces training, informational and organizing videos for use by AFSCME councils and locals.
Research and Collective Bargaining Services
The Department of Research and Collective Bargaining Services provides assistance to AFSCME locals and their members in many different areas, including:
- Contract negotiations — by assisting local negotiating committees, analyzing budgets and benefit plans, making wage comparisons and providing sample contract language (using over 4,000 AFSCME contracts that are kept on file)
- Safety and health — by providing information on health and safety hazards and offering workshops and technical assistance on a wide range of subjects
- Contracting out/privatization — by providing information on the pitfalls of contracting out/privatization and on the companies involved and by providing on-site assistance to affiliates
- Health and pension benefits — by providing technical help in efforts to preserve or improve benefits or contain costs
- State legislation and policy — by working with affiliates in shaping state budgets and reform efforts in health care and pensions, social services, education and other areas relevant to AFSCME members and in shaping or protecting collective bargaining and civil service laws and understanding the implications of various labor and employment laws
- Administering AFSCME Advantage, a members-only benefits program that helps members and their families save money with a low-interest credit card, life insurance, legal services, home mortgages, vacation packages and other benefits
Retirees
The AFSCME Retiree Program is an expanding national network of retired public-sector workers with members in over 250 state and local groups. AFSCME retiree chapters serve to:
- Unite and mobilize retirees around common goals, particularly the protection and improvement of their publicsector pensions and health benefits
- Monitor federal legislation and national issues of concern to retirees such as Social Security and Medicare
- Develop political activities for retired members
Women’s Rights
The Women’s Rights Department promotes the economic security of women through union activism, thereby increasing the union’s power and growth. The department:
- Mobilizes women members through gender-specific research, resources, skills development and advocacy
- Provides gender-specific materials, research and data to assist other AFSCME departments in fulfilling their missions by successfully reaching women members
- Works with national women’s organizations and other advocacy groups
- Coordinates AFSCME women’s conferences and offers workshops and educational programs on topics such as pay equity, sexual harassment, stress management, childcare, assertiveness and creation of a women’s committee