American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees

And there's other things that enter into that.

We are right now, uh, just beginning, uh, the collective bargaining agreement, uh, discussions, uh, with AFSCME, and, um, we've had our first meeting.

There'll be a second coming up.

So that's gonna enter into, into this to some extent.

So the Hyde Park Herald, and I think there are other places that are reporting on it, but this is what I saw.

Workers at the Obama Foundation launched a union drive last week seeking to organize more than 250 employees with AFSCME.

And this is coming just months after the Obama Presidential Center opened.

Amid complaints of benefit cuts, stagnant pay, and little say in workplace decisions.

You know, if you really believe in these values, you will represent that at the bargaining table.

So shout out to those workers.

You know, shout out to AFSCME for working with these folks to organize.

I hope they win recognition very soon.

The program included a list of organizations that supported the march.

Not many labor unions endorsed, with a few notable exceptions such as the Actors' Equity Association, three AFSCME locals, and one American Federation of Teachers local.

More demonstrations in Washington, DC followed.

A march held in 1993 drew crowds estimated at one million, a powerful gathering for the movement to end LGBT discrimination.

And, and so, so they were really, um, willing to take from organized labor, literally take, uh, and, and, and not actually sign up and contribute their, their dues back into the pot.

And it is ultimately true that, you know, to this day, there are some police unions that are part of, say, SEIU or, or AFSCME or other, other large labor unions.

Um, but it, it, it never really took off as some people thought it might.

And, and I tell the story in the book of this really intense effort by some police to organize one single national police union, and not only organize one single national police union, but affiliate it with organized labor, with the idea that it would be immensely powerful and it would be possible for that one union to basically s- you know, steamroll any, any opposition it might encounter at the, at the bargaining table.

And, and so, so they were really, um, willing to take from organized labor, literally take, uh, and, and, and not actually sign up and contribute their, their dues back into the pot.

And it is ultimately true that, you know, to this day, there are some police unions that are part of, say, SEIU or, or AFSCME or other, other large labor unions.

Um, but it, it, it never really took off as some people thought it might.

And, and I tell the story in the book of this really intense effort by some police to organize one single national police union, and not only organize one single national police union, but affiliate it with organized labor with the idea that it would be immensely powerful and it would be possible for that one union to basically s- you know, steamroll any, any opposition it might encounter at the, at the bargaining table.

At the time of that reporting, one company only worked in government contracting, and of the 1,000-plus employees, 960 of them were on H-1B visas.

We reported that Illinois won't be able to put some people back to work permanently because of outsourcing over 55 AFSCME union jobs to India and H-1B visa workers.

So this was all part of that same contracting that you're talking about.

Absolutely.