Anti-worker bills were moving fast in the Louisiana State Legislature, but AFSCME Council 17 members moved faster. Throughout Louisiana’s legislative session that ended on Monday, public service workers stood strong against bills that would have gutted their freedoms at work.
Workers defeated the following anti-worker bills that Louisiana lawmakers introduced in the state House and Senate during the 2024 session:
- HB 571 and HB 572: These bills would have prohibited collective bargaining for public sector employees, taking away their freedom to negotiate a contract with their employers.
- HB 712/980, HB 523, SB 264 and SB 292: These bills would have created bureaucratic, expensive reauthorization requirements to try to take power away from union members.
- SB 263: This measure would have added an extra hoop to jump through for union membership by banning the right to deduct dues from paychecks.
Amanda Fallis, a librarian at the New Orleans Public Library, was one of the hundreds of members who used their voices to oppose this raft of anti-worker legislation.
“The gentlemen in the legislature who supported these bills are so far removed from the front lines of people who are in the trenches every day,” said Fallis. “People picking up their trash and fixing roads; people doing what they can with low budgets and crumbling infrastructure. So many of us rank-and-file members have good ideas, and it benefits our communities when we can organize to have our voices and ideas heard.”
To get the word out about how the bills would have harmed working people and families, Council 17 members sent more than 300 letters, made over 150 phone calls, organized a rally with over 100 attendees, and held multiple lobby days, where members made their case to lawmakers face-to-face.
Council 17 members also joined a coalition to defeat these bills, teaming up with the Louisiana Association of Educators, Louisiana Federation of Teachers and the Louisiana AFL-CIO.
“With organizing comes power,” Fallis said. “We made the legislators look us in the eye — to show them who they were going to disenfranchise. And we know the fight isn’t over. That’s why we stand together.”