AFSCME members across the country held grassroots Get Organized events coinciding with Congress’ recess.
The events of the past two weeks focused on telling lawmakers and the public what will happen if anti-worker extremists succeed in cutting public services to pay for billionaire tax breaks.
The themes of the events varied. Some centered on stopping reckless cuts to the federal budget, including slashing $880 billion from Medicaid. Others centered on preventing cuts to Social Security and other programs that working families depend on.
Whether they were held in coffee shops, union halls or city halls, they all showcased the power of AFSCME members’ grassroots activism.
· In Davenport, Iowa, AFSCME Secretary-Treasurer Elissa McBride and other labor leaders met with workers to discuss attacks that the administration is unleashing on working families.
McBride offered a roadmap of activism for union members: “Anti-worker extremists want to gut our Medicaid and our Social Security and steal from working families to give tax breaks to billionaires. But we have a powerful weapon: solidarity. We must share our resources together, strategize together, speak up and show up together.”
- In Toledo, Ohio, AFSCME members joined Rep. Marci Kaptur to voice concerns over attacks to the Social Security Administration.
- In Phoenix, Arizona, AFSCME members from several locals and members of AFSCME Arizona Retiree Chapter 97 joined U.S. Rep. Yassamin Ansari at an event criticizing the attacks on public services by billionaire Elon Musk and his allies in Congress and the White House.
- In Eau Claire, Wisconsin, AFSCME Council 32 members and allies gathered in front of a federal courthouse and used soup cans to illustrate how federal budget cuts will harm working families and the programs they rely on.
- In Duluth, Minnesota, AFSCME members and local politicians were joined by hundreds in a rally to spotlight what cuts to Medicaid would mean to Minnesotans, and to express frustration over the administration’s other anti-worker measures.
- In Southern California, protesters held a rally outside U.S. Rep. Young Kim’s office in Anaheim Hills to blast potential cuts to Medicaid, while similar protests were held in Palm Desert, outside U.S. Rep. Ken Calvert’s office.
- In Colorado Springs, AFSCME members held a protest outside U.S. Rep. Jeff Hurd’s office, to demand no cuts to Medicaid.
- In Detroit, Connecticut Sen. Richard Blumenthal, ranking member of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, joined AFSCME members to sound the alarm on how proposed public service cuts will devastate critical services that veterans and working families use.
- In Las Vegas, Rep. Susie Lee and AFSCME Local 4041 members participated in a roundtable event to discuss what public service cuts would mean to Nevada’s communities.
- In New York state, AFSCME members, leaders and allies rallied outside the offices of U.S. Reps. Nick Langworthy and Claudia Tenney, calling on them to protect Social Security and Medicaid. The rallies were held in Oswego and Corning.
- In Central and Eastern Pennsylvania, AFSCME members and allies gathered to hold U.S. Reps. Scott Perry and Ryan Mackenzie accountable for the threats to public services.
This wave of grassroots activism is fueled by AFSCME’s Get Organized campaign. AFSCME GO is all about making sure every member of our union knows what’s at stake and joins the fight to protect the services we provide.
The bigger we are, the more power we have to say working people shouldn’t just get by — we demand to thrive.