News

Members Of Local 2663

In order to have our members have a summer picnic we will host two ZOOM picnics - August 10 & August 24. This entitiles our members to take up to four hour LPRTY times to be worked out with thier offices and coverage should not be an issue as it is spread over two weeks. So, they will need to pick one date and makie a plan with thier office.

I am expected to put out a Zoom which I will  open on both days.

Please be Safe

Marybeth Hill, Local President

Biden forgives student loans for an additional 78,000 public service workers

AFSCME President Lee Saunders praised the White House’s announcement Thursday that the Biden administration will forgive student loans for an additional 78,000 borrowers — including many AFSCME mem

To Close the Gender Pay Gap, First a Voice on the Job

In the 1980s, I was living and going to school in Minnesota when women who worked for state government won a big victory. They got the state to increase the pay of women in “female dominated jobs” by passing a pay equity bill. In other words, they put a dent in the gender pay gap. As a student, I researched and wrote about the process of crafting, passing and implementing that legislation. And I learned something that I have never forgotten: the union made it happen. And not just any union. Our union: AFSCME. 

The Numbers Are In: AFSCME Members Are Sticking with Their Union

Our union gained more than 9,000 dues-paying members and nearly 19,000 dues-paying retirees in the last year, suggesting that billionaires and corporations are failing in their effort to “defund and defang” public service unions.

Council 4 Supports Veterans OASIS at MCC

Council 4, a union representing 30,000 workers across Connecticut, has donated $2,000 to support Veterans OASIS (Operation Academic Support for Incoming Service Members) at Manchester Community College.

Sandy DeCampos of AFSCME Local 991 (Town of Manchester), a member of the Council 4 Veterans Committee, presented OASIS Program Coordinator Michelle LaBelle with the donation from the union’s Veterans Committee.

Training Our Members To Be Union Advocates

Training union members to be strong advocates for their co-workers and defenders of their contractual rights and freedoms is a critical part of the AFSCME mission.

“Our union is only as strong as our activist core,” said Council 4 Education Coordinator Joe Aresimowicz. “That’s why we’re dedicated to providing training that meets the needs of our union members.”

Council 4 Officer Election Results

The election of Council 4 AFSCME officers took place on March 15, 2019 at our union headquarters in New Britain, CT.

The results are as follows:

Executive Director
Jody Barr, 17,725 votes
Charles DellaRocco, 3,735

President
Bernie Bombardier, 17,544 votes
Ian Shackleton, 3,169 votes

Judicial Vice President Seat
Dana Beecham-Brown, 17,120 votes
Sotonye Otunba-Payne, 2,625 votes
Charles Marino, 983 votes

Victories Against Anti-Worker Laws in Missouri, New Mexico Show Momentum

Workers in Missouri and New Mexico have chalked important victories against anti-worker laws that would have robbed them of their voices and the right to bargain collectively.

In Missouri, two separate anti-worker measures, HB 1413 and SB 1007, were halted by state courts last week.

SEBAC Unions Reject Pension Cut, Committed to “Win-Win”

Feb. 19, 2019: Leaders of the State Employee Bargaining Agent Coalition (SEBAC) issued this response to Gov. Lamont's proposal to reduce future pension benefits:

Labor Issues The Call For Alternatives To Austerity

Governor Lamont will deliver his first proposed budget to the General Assembly February 20th. In advance of that, union leaders, frontline workers – including an AFSCME Council 4 member – and community allies held a press conference on Feb. 11 urging him to reject years of austerity measures that have devastated working families.

They called on him to take a high road approach to build an economy that works for everyone.