WHEREAS:
Half of Americans cannot fully afford what it takes to be economically secure, like adequate food, housing, health care, child care and transportation; and
WHEREAS:
Americans are fed up with not being able to afford a decent life and being told that the affordability crisis is a hoax or that prices are going down when they are soaring. They are deeply pessimistic about the economy; and
WHEREAS:
The affordability crisis is rooted in both skyrocketing prices for basic needs and the worsening income and wealth inequality that has plagued the U.S. for decades. Both are the result of long-term agendas funded by corporations, private equity and their billionaire owners and implemented by the politicians they have bought and paid for; and
WHEREAS:
The economy that is increasingly rigged against working Americans is also rigged in favor of the wealthiest people. The richest 0.00001% — including the world’s first trillionaire — now have a combined net worth equal to 12% of annual U.S. economic output, and the wealth of America’s 977 billionaires grew by a third — $2.2 trillion — in just one year, while Congress and the president bestowed enormous tax cuts on millionaires and billionaires through the One Big Beautiful Bill Act; and
WHEREAS:
The average price for a full year of child care for one child is more than in-state tuition at a public, four-year college or university; and
WHEREAS:
Buying a home is out of reach for too many Americans. It takes the typical American family six years of saving 15% of their income to build up the downpayment to buy a home, with those in some areas needing ten or more years to save. Higher interest rates have compounded the housing affordability crisis by driving up monthly mortgage payments; and
WHEREAS:
The cost of renting a home is a significant financial burden on a majority of renter households, who spend more than 30% of their income on housing costs. A full-time worker needs to earn $28.17 an hour to afford an average one-bedroom rental home and $33.63 an hour to afford a two-bedroom home; and
WHEREAS:
Health care affordability is a growing concern for Americans, with average workplace health plan premiums increasing by over 7% in 2026, Affordable Care Act premiums spiking by nearly 22% and Medicare Part B premiums for seniors jumping 9.7%; and
WHEREAS:
Workers’ pay has not kept pace with the rest of the economy, making it even harder for Americans to afford the essentials of a decent life. The labor share of total U.S. economic output ended 2025 near the record low, and the typical worker’s pay would be 44% higher today if it had grown at the same rate as productivity in the last 45 years. Wages have failed to keep up with rising prices over the past year, leading workers to suffer a loss of purchasing power; and
WHEREAS:
Persistently high and accelerating inflation has affected many basic, regular expenses like food, transportation and energy, thereby making the long-term affordability crisis even worse. For example, household electricity costs have soared by nearly half since the beginning of 2020 and 18% during the first 14 months of the current administration, with even higher prices threatened due to the massive build-out of artificial intelligence data centers, higher oil and natural gas prices, and decisions by Congress and the president to take away federal support for and to actively interfere with the development of electric generation capacity from renewable sources like solar and wind; and
WHEREAS:
On the campaign trail, President Trump promised unconditionally to make lowering prices a priority, saying things like, “Starting the day I take the oath of office, I will rapidly drive prices down and we will make America affordable again,” and “Under my administration, we will be slashing energy and electricity prices by half within 12 months, at a maximum 18 months;” and
WHEREAS:
The administration’s and Congress’s policy choices since January 2025 have made it harder for Americans to make ends meet, by repeatedly imposing high tariffs that raise the prices for consumers, starting a war of choice that caused big jumps in the price of oil and gas, putting higher education out of reach by capping federal student loans for advanced degrees, slashing the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and Medicaid, greatly increasing Affordable Care Act premiums, ending programs that help workers afford repaying their student loans, repealing child care cost caps for parents and compensation minimum standards for child care providers and attempting to take overtime pay away from home care workers; and
WHEREAS:
A top bargaining priority of AFSCME members is ensuring we can afford what it takes to be economically secure, including by improving wages and benefits and addressing necessities like housing and child care. However, federal, state and local legislation and other reforms are necessary to address the affordability crisis given fundamental structural imbalances in the U.S. economy, concentrated corporate power in many industries and the nature of many basic needs.
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED:
That AFSCME will advocate for legislation and policies that address the fundamental causes of the affordability crisis and will make affordability a fact, not an empty promise. This includes policies that address child care and other caregiving, health care, housing and other costs and measures that tackle corporate abuses, concentrated market power, private equity ownership and other causes of unaffordability; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED:
That AFSCME will advocate for legislation and policies that provide working families with relief from the damage caused by this administration’s policies, such as repeal of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act’s cuts to food assistance and Medicaid, restoration of the Affordable Care Act premium support and rebates to compensate people for higher oil prices during the war with Iran; and
BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED:
That AFSCME will continue to advocate for legislation and policies, like a strengthened and expanded right to join a union and bargain collectively in the public, federal and private sectors; higher minimum wages; and stronger overtime protections that raise worker pay so we receive a fair share of the economic gains we create and so that working families can afford a decent life.
SUBMITTED BY:
International Executive Board