WHEREAS:

AFSCME members provide the vital services that make America happen. We maintain roads, care for the sick and elderly, educate young children and keep our communities safe. Our work provides communities with a source of stability and certainty in uncertain times and allows our fellow Americans to have a fair shot at the American Dream; and

WHEREAS:

The efforts of AFSCME members to provide for their families and build stronger communities are being undermined by anti-worker politicians and their wealthy backers, who have rigged the economic rules to benefit the wealthy and the powerful at the expense of everyone else; and

WHEREAS:

These individuals have refused to fully fund schools, road repairs and public hospitals; worked to privatize Social Security and Medicare; demanded tax cuts while taking away health care from millions of working people; and stacked the Supreme Court to rig the rules further in their favor by undermining unions; and

WHEREAS:

AFSCME is fighting back with an agenda that protects freedom and opportunity for all by protecting the voice of working people on the job to secure fair wages, benefits and working conditions; ensuring that every American has access to health care and income security in retirement; demanding that all communities are provided with quality public services; and fighting to protect the civil rights of all Americans.

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED:

That AFSCME will fight at the negotiations table, at the ballot box, and in the halls of government to ensure that every working American has the freedom and opportunity their families deserve; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED:

That AFSCME will fight to provide a voice on the job for all by supporting polices that protect and expand collective bargaining rights; establish a living wage to prevent working people from living in poverty; ensure access to quality, affordable child care; provide paid sick and family leave for all working people; address race and gender discrimination to ensure women and minorities are paid fairly; and fight exploitation of undocumented workers through the passage of comprehensive immigration reform; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED:

That AFSCME will fight to provide health care for all by protecting the Affordable Care Act, which has provided health care coverage to millions of people; defending Medicare against misguided proposals to shift additional costs to families and end guaranteed coverage; expanding Medicaid, which provides health care to millions of children, seniors, pregnant women and individuals with disabilities; and supporting policies to reduce prescription drug prices, for which Americans pay the highest prices in the world; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED:

That AFSCME will fight to provide retirement security for all by increasing access to defined benefit plans to provide consistent income in retirement; protecting and expanding Social Security; demanding laws to protect workers from unscrupulous financial advisors; and ensuring access to affordable long-term care; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED:

That AFSCME will fight to provide quality public services for all by fighting against reckless outsourcing schemes that enrich the wealthy and erode public services; supporting legislation to close corporate tax loopholes and ensure the wealthy pay their fair share; and demanding that elected officials spend our tax dollars to help working families and invest in our communities; and

BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED:

That AFSCME will fight to protect democracy for all by supporting legislation that will prohibit large corporations and the wealthiest from dominating our public policy discourse, using their wealth to drown out the voices of working Americans; defending the voting rights of every American and fighting back against the cynical voter suppression laws being passed in many states; and building on our legacy of leadership in the civil rights movement by combatting discrimination at work and in our communities.