News

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

AFSCME President Lee Saunders congratulated Nicole Berner, a longtime labor lawyer and general counsel of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), on being 

A Florida Phoenix article reports: 

Union leaders argue that increasing the starting pay for low-paid state workers could help alleviate staffing shortages at agencies by attracting new workers.

Local 3343 at Florida A&M University held a protest Tuesday, Febuary 1 to call for management to bargain a fair contract for underpaid workers. See a brief overview of some of the resulting press coverage of the event. Remember, when we fight, we win! 

FAMU union workers protest for livable wages

AFSCME Local 1584 members approved an agreement which increases salaries and provides a retention bonus.

Local 10 Tampa Bay News quoted Local President Deena Howell. "I think overall we have a great contract and everyone from the administration to the employees demonstrated a lot of passion and commitment in coming to this agreement," she said.

Howell has been a school bus driver with the district for 17 years and said many like her had started to feel over-worked and undervalued.

January 31, 2022 Highlights 

BILLS OF INTEREST 

SB 270/HB 1327: Funds for Student Transportation, sponsor Travis Hutson (R) 

Funds for Student Transportation; Modifying requirements for determining student membership in a school district in order to determine the annual allocation for funding for student transportation, etc. Creates more routes without funding mechanism. Effective Date: 07/01/2022.  

January 24, 2022 

Compiled by Region 2 PEOPLE Chair Dr. Flamm

BILLS OF INTEREST

SB 270/HB 1327: Funds for Student Transportation, sponsor Travis Hutson (R)

Funds for Student Transportation; Modifying requirements for determining student membership in a school district in order to determine the annual allocation for funding for student transportation, etc. Creates more routes without funding mechanism. Effective Date: 07/01/2022. 

On January 6, the Treasury Department issued Final Rules on the use of the American Rescue Plan's $350 billion in flexible aid to states and local governments. The final rules offer some significant new opportunities to advocate for public employees including:

The PSLF Program is a federal loan debt relief program. Unlike Income Driven Repayment (IDR) plans, PSLF is not a payment plan. Rather, it is a separate program that incentivizes a career in the public service by forgiving the remaining balance on a federal loan after 10 years (or 120 payments) under a qualifying repayment plan while working full-time in the public service.