JUNEAU, Alaska – AFSCME members in Alaska are going public and going to court in their fight to increase staffing at state agencies.
Members of the Alaska State Employees Association (ASEA)/AFSCME Local 52 held a rally at the state Capitol on Valentine’s Day. They drew attention to the fact that state workers are overworked and stressed out and desperately need help to better serve Alaskans.
Earlier in the week, ASEA members filed a lawsuit to force Gov. Mike Dunleavy to release a salary study to the public as state law requires him to do. The study will help people understand how much state workers are paid.
Rally to show love to public service workers
At the rally, ASEA members shared their stories of having to do more. The union says the state of Alaska faces a job vacancy rate of more than 16%. ASEA members also “suspect that state employee salaries are underwater by 15-20%,” the union said in a statement announcing the rally.
State agencies like the payroll and public safety offices and the Division of Public Assistance have been particularly hard hit by the staffing crisis. According to ASEA, many workers aren’t getting paid on time or correctly. There aren’t enough employees to make sure Alaskans are getting food stamps and other critical benefits. And the state has closed some public safety outposts and cut the numbers of officers and troopers serving some of Alaska’s small communities.
“We know that people working in public service aren’t doing these difficult jobs to get rich. They do it because they care about the work they do and the Alaskans they serve. But public servants can only endure stagnant wages and short staffing for so long. Public employees, and the Alaskans they serve, deserve better,” ASEA said.
The salary study lawsuit
At issue in ASEA’s lawsuit is a study comparing the pay of state workers to the market rate.
The union sued in Superior Court on Feb. 11 to compel the Dunleavy administration to release the $1 million study to the public. ASEA accuses the administration of unlawfully manipulating the study and hiding the report.
To fix the staffing problems, the Alaska State Legislature set aside funds for a salary study in legislation the governor signed into law in 2023. A private contractor did the study by the summer 2024 deadline, but the public has yet to see the results.
ASEA sued the state Department of Administration saying the agency “refused to release the salary study by falsely claiming it is an incomplete draft.”
“The law requires this administration to be transparent and share the results of this publicly funded study,” ASEA Executive Director Heidi Drygas said. “If we want Alaska to be open for business and we want Alaska to be a premier place to work, we need to be sure that we pay our state employees fairly and competitively.”
The last time a similar study was done was in 2009, Drygas said.
The Dunleavy administration has rejected public records requests from ASEA and other groups seeking the study’s results, according to ASEA’s lawsuit.
Upcoming negotiations
This rally and the court battle come as ASEA members and the state are negotiating a new three-year contract. The union is required to submit state employee pay proposals by March 22.
“Both ASEA and the legislature need immediate access to the salary study so that state salaries are appropriately set and funded in this year’s appropriation bill,” the lawsuit says.
ASEA/AFSCME Local 52 is the largest union of state and municipal public service workers in Alaska, with more than 8,000 hardworking public employees. ASEA members provide essential services that Alaskans rely on every day — everything from licensing and contracting to emergency dispatch to delivering public assistance benefits.