Category: Municipal Employees

This Black History Month we honor the foundational contributions of Chicagoan James Riley, former sanitation worker and AFSCME member in Memphis who marched with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in 1968.

In February we celebrate Black History Month, and AFSCME’s long legacy of standing up for racial justice—from the strike of Memphis sanitation workers 56 years ago this month, to affirming that Black Lives Matter today.

Staff at the Art Institute of Chicago and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago voted overwhelmingly to form their union—the Art Institute of Chicago Workers United—with AFSCME Council 31 in mail-ballot elections tallied January 11 and 12.

"We are heartbroken at the loss of Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) investigator and AFSCME member Deidre Silas of Springfield, murdered Tuesday while responding to a report of children in danger."

We're stronger when we unite together to make our voices heard. These local unions worked together to negotiate fair contracts with their employers.

AFSCME Local 981 members at Eastern Illinois University fought long and hard to win a new union contract that protects their jobs and increases their wages.

A yearlong fight to save Rock Island’s public water service ended in victory for the public works employees of AFSCME Local 988 when the city in September announced it would drop plans to privatize.

“They desperately needed representation and a seat at the table.”

Growth is one of AFSCME Council 31’s most vital missions. Seeking the union difference, more than 1,500 workers have organized with AFSCME Council 31 since March 2020.

The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear four cases aimed at expanding the scope of its 2018 ruling in Janus v. AFSCME Council 31.