WHEREAS:
Decades of unchecked corporate power and wealth extraction have created today’s historic levels of racial, social and economic inequality and now fundamentally threaten our democracy; and
WHEREAS:
Our economy is rigged against workers; marked by the dominance of Wall Street, the casualization of work and employer resistance to unions and intensified by the gutting of federal protections for workers’ rights, it has made it increasingly difficult to rely on familiar ways of organizing and collectively bargaining; and
WHEREAS:
As corporations and employers aim to pit the interests of public sector workers against the people who depend on the work we do, more unions are engaging in bargaining for the common good (BCG): directly confronting the forces driving inequality and worker disempowerment by coming together with community groups to build a common agenda to force the wealthy and corporations to pay their fair share.
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED:
That AFSCME will develop and distribute a comprehensive set of resources to support interested affiliates in developing organizing and bargaining campaigns through a bargaining for the common good framework; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED:
These materials will include:
- An explanation of what bargaining for the common good, or BCG, is;
- Messaging guides and public-facing materials that affirm the work that AFSCME members do and link community justice demands to the success and stability of public services;
- Model contract language and campaign strategies that integrate community justice demands into collective bargaining and community coalitions;
- Case studies of successful labor-led community justice campaigns; and
- Guidance on building cross-sector alliances with advocates and community organizations as part of BCG campaigns; and
BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED:
These resources will empower affiliates to develop a proactive, justice-centered campaign that defends and strengthens the work we do for the public by organizing around shared community needs with the communities we serve.
SUBMITTED BY:
Michael Avant, President
Kathryn Lybarger, Executive Vice President and Delegate
AFSCME Local 3299
California