WHEREAS:

The harm done by anti-worker policies at every level is evident in how the economic gains of recent decades have gone overwhelmingly to corporations and the wealthiest. In the last 40 years, the share of the economy going to profits has more than doubled and jumped by 25% in 2021 alone. CEO pay has surged by about 1,300%. Meanwhile, workers’ pay has stagnated, rising just 17.5% from 1979 to 2020, and the wage, employment and wealth gaps between African Americans and whites and similar indicators of inequality faced by Latino, Native American and women workers persist; and

WHEREAS:

This long effort to keep working people down has relied on a myriad of policies and strategies advanced by corporations and politicians in Washington and around the country. These have included concerted attacks on the freedom to organize by the courts, legislatures and other government officials; and

WHEREAS:

The union difference has long had enormous, positive effects on the lives of working people and their families, delivering better and more equal pay and benefits; greater financial security; pensions; improved economic mobility and opportunity for workers and their families; and stronger, healthier, more democratic communities; and

WHEREAS:

President Biden, some governors and other elected officials have worked closely with our union during the pandemic to protect public service workers and recognize them for their extraordinary efforts. In May of 2022, Colorado state legislators adopted a law providing more than 36,000 county workers with the freedom to negotiate with their employers; and

WHEREAS:

More governors and other elected officials should recognize the value of unions and work with AFSCME to advance a pro-worker agenda by enacting collective bargaining for state and local workers across the nation and advancing a full array of policies that support working people. Millions of public workers at every level of government are unfairly denied the freedom to decide for themselves whether they want to join together in a union with their co-workers for the purpose of collective bargaining.

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED:

AFSCME will work at the local, state and national level to support and promote policies and programs that advance a pro-worker agenda that creates and strengthens workers’ bargaining power with employers, improves and creates new protections and benefits for workers and advances the well-being of working people and their families; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED:

AFSCME will continue to fight for policies that support working people, including increased minimum wages, robust overtime protections, pay transparency laws and comprehensive paid leave benefits. Furthermore, we will challenge forced arbitration, misuse of non-compete clauses and misclassification of workers as independent contractors; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED:

AFSCME will continue to fight to expand collective bargaining rights for public service workers through reforms at the state and local levels and will continue to fight for the Public Service Freedom to Negotiate Act; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED:

AFSCME will continue to support the PRO Act to level the playing field in the private sector and address the anti-union and often unlawful conduct of employers that is largely unchecked under our current laws; and

BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED:

AFSCME urges policymakers to adopt and maintain policies that support a strong labor market and reject policies, such as big increases in interest rates, that will lead to job cuts and suppress workers’ earnings.

SUBMITTED BY:     International Executive Board