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Paraprofessional educators at Prince George's County Public Schools are required to pass the ParaPro Assessment test or earn at least 48 college credits by June 2022 to retain their positions.

“This is going to be a game-changer for my household and millions of other retirees like me,” AFSCME Illinois Retiree 

When Fran Krugen’s late husband was first diagnosed with diabetes, his insulin cost about $35 a bottle.

But Krugen, an AFSCME retiree from Arizona, will never forget the day when she and her husband went to the drug store to pick up his insulin and the pharmacist told them it now cost $900 a bottle.

“This was medication he needed to live, and we had insurance,” she said at a press briefing earlier this month. “We looked at each other and had to ask ourselves: Do we make the house payment? Do we buy food? Or do we pay for his medication?”

The pandemic has led many of us to take stock of our lives and our goals. For AFSCME New Jersey member LaTrenda Ross, the pandemic ignited a long-held dream—starting her own life coaching business.

“I was thinking about revamping my whole entire life,” recalls Ross, a member of Local 2306. “I was looking out for things I want to do, things I haven’t been going after.”

More Americans approve of labor unions today than at any time since 1965, according to annual Gallup poll results released around each Labor Day.

More than two-thirds of poll respondents – 68% – approved of labor unions. That means a clear majority of voters views labor unions favorably. Among adults 18-34 years of age, 77% approve of unions. Support is also high among those with annual household incomes under $40,000.

President Martin Diggs and Executive Director Timothy Traylor of ACE-AFSCME Local 2250 attended the End of School Year Summer Event at Walker Mill Regional Park in Capitol Heights, Maryland. 

(Anthony Bailey/Wikimedia Commons)

Calvin Lanier starts his day at Laurel High School by greeting students as they enter the main lobby in the morning.

He looks out for any telltale signs that a student isn’t O.K. Are they acting differently, are they walking with their heads down?

Workers Memorial Day 2021 arrives at a moment of the greatest urgency, when the front lines of the war against COVID-19 run through America’s workplaces.

Please join us this Saturday, May 1 from 10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. for a May Day celebration with unions from across Maryland and DC, hosted by 1199 SEIU Maryland/DC.

Workers in health care and social service industries are a big step closer to having safer workplaces.

On Friday, the House of Representatives passed the Workplace Violence Prevention for Health Care and Social Service Workers Act (H.R.1195) by a bipartisan vote of 254 to 166. The bill requires the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to issue a standard to prevent workplace violence in health care and social service assistance settings.