Posted by James Parks to AFL-CIO NOW
Some 1,043 workers from New York to New Mexico, including child care workers and bus drivers, recently gained a voice on the job by joining AFSCME.
In New York, 400 direct care workers at the Guild for Exceptional Children in Brooklyn voted in March for the Civil Service Employees Association/AFSCME Local 1000. The workers, who care for people with mental disabilities, originally joined through majority sign-up (sometimes known as card-check). But after management challenged the results, workers were required to hold an election, which the union won by a large margin.
Meanwhile, about 300 bus and van drivers employed by the city of Albuquerque voted for Council 18. The council now represents some 3,500 city workers in the New Mexico state capital.
In other AFSCME wins:
- After the Monroe County (Ind.) Library Board of Trustees approved an ordinance allowing employees to bargain collectively, 106 workers voted 2–1 to joined District Council 62.
- In Wisconsin, 74 Douglas County courthouse employees—office workers, deputies, economic support specialists and others—voted overwhelmingly for Council 40.
- The newest members of AFSCME Local 3001 include 48 bus operators employed by Arlington (Va.) Transit and 23 bus mechanics at the Potomac and Rappahannock (Va.) Transportation Commission.
- In Minnesota, 40 workers in three counties joined AFSCME, including 22 social service employees in Mahnomen County and five information technology workers in Rice County, who all joined Council 65. In Hennepin County, 13 vocational counselors signed on with Local 2864.
- In New York, 21 employees at the Sharon Baptist Church Head Start in the Bronx joined District Council 1707 after management voluntarily agreed to recognize the union.
- Sixteen employees of the South Norwalk (Conn.) Electric and Water Department voted to join District Council 4.
- Some 15 water distribution and equipment operators, mechanics, tree trimmers and dispatchers in the Village of Granville, Ohio, voted to join District Council 8.