Victory! AFSCME members defend union rights in Arizona
PHOENIX – In a major victory that allows state, local government and school district employees in Arizona to keep their union rights, a judge last week blocked an effort to outlaw collective bargaining for public employees throughout the state.
The Arizona legislature had until Monday to appeal the ruling but declined to do so after facing unrelenting activism from AFSCME members and other public service workers.
All five AFSCME local unions in the state came together to file the lawsuit to protect public service workers in Arizona. A Maricopa County Superior Court judge ruled in favor of AFSCME, holding that putting this attempt to ban collective bargaining in the public sector on November’s ballot would violate the Arizona Constitution.
The plaintiffs in the case were AFSCME Local 449, AFSCME Local 905, AFSCME Local 2384, AFSCME Local 2960, and AFSCME Local 3282, as well as the Arizona Education Association.
“At a time when Arizona workers are struggling to keep up with the skyrocketing cost of groceries, gas and health care, the last thing we need is to have our voices silenced at work,” members of AFSCME Arizona said in a joint statement when the ruling was handed down in July. “We are grateful that this effort failed but with so many Arizonans still struggling, we will continue to advocate and organize for safer workplaces, fair wages and good health care.”
To read more about the ruling, click here and here.
Now that public workers’ union freedoms won’t be on the ballot in November, AFSCME members in Arizona will focus on electing candidates who stand with public service workers. That’s the best way to ensure that attacks like this don’t happen again or are defeated if launched.
