As a result of sequestration, and the spending caps on discretionary programs under the 2013 Ryan-Murray Budget plan, education funding is at its lowest level in years. To fight back against the cuts, AFSA joined the Committee for Education Funding (CEF) and NDD United at their rally on Capitol Hill, calling for Congress to #RaiseTheCaps. It was a great opportunity […]

            NEW YORK –Thousands of workers and community activists thronged lower Manhattan on May Day, the international workers holiday, in a mass march for raising the minimum wage, backing municipal workers, opposing private firms running public schools and for comprehensive immigration reform, among other causes. The march, organized by AFSCME District Council 37, the state […]

NEW YORK –Fast food workers around the U.S., energized by past protests and fed up with low wages, erratic hours, no benefits and management wage theft, plan to take their protests global on May 15 in their latest 1-day walkout. Demonstrations are planned for New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and 147 other U.S. cities and also on five other continents, […]

WASHINGTON –Come hell or high water – in this case, the latest in D.C.’s year of downpours – hundreds of unionists gathered on Capitol Hill on May 7 to campaign against “fast-track” trade legislation and the anti-worker trade treaties the measure would lead to. And after hearing a parade of pro-worker lawmakers denounce the pacts and fast-track, the crowd, exhorted […]

SHAKOPEE, Minn. –Arturo Sanchez is accustomed to working outside in all kinds of weather, making concrete products at Cretex Companies in Shakopee, Minn. He didn’t mind the hard work, he said, because he was earning a decent living and putting money into a pension plan for the day he would retire. Now Cretex wants to take that money and convert […]

ST. LOUIS —It’s getting to be a regular thing. Every month, thousands of unionists, led by the Mine Workers, gather in St. Louis, or West Virginia, or New York City, to protest the bankruptcy proceedings involving Patriot Coal Co., the underfunded spinoff of giant Peabody Energy. Peabody deliberately set up Patriot to (a) dump retired miners’ health care costs on […]

CHARLESTON, W. VA. –Thousands of miners and their survivors, facing loss of health care coverage due to bankruptcy code manipulation by Patriot Coal, a set-up-to-fail spinoff from giant Peabody Coal, escalated their protests against the loss. And their campaign is drawing notice – at least from lawmakers representing the areas where Peabody and Patriot operate. The latest chapter in the […]

Yesterday a demonstration organized by Jimmy Gittings, president of Local PSASA, was held in front of the Baltimore City Public Schools Headquarters to show strong disappointment in the Board of School Commissioners’ decision not to accept the recommendations of two hearing officers to reinstate two principals wrongly accused of cheating. In addition, the demonstration made Dr. Alonso aware that the demotion of principals with satisfactory ratings is unacceptable.

This past weekend union members from all over the country gathered in Philadelphia for the Workers Stand For America rally, where over 20,000 people came to participate and show their support for the rights of America’s workers. AFSA was well-represented at this past weekend’s events with President Diann Woodard signing the Worker’s Second Bill of Rights and locals attending Saturday’s rally.

The conflict in Wisconsin and the widespread assault on workers’ rights has ignited the labor movement. To combat the attacks on the hardworking middle class, the AFL-CIO hosted a national Day of Action on April 4 that AFSA participated in with fellow unions.