AFSCME finally backed down and agreed to respect our contract hours. They thought they could run us into the ground under the guise of campaign needs but our refusal to be silent stopped them cold. We won this round but keep your eyes open because we are not backing down …
June 9, 2010
Final supporters
As defined by the contract between AFSCME and USU, ArticleXV section I states:
AFSCME and USU agree that USU members are salaried professional employees as defined under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). Bargaining unit members are from time-to-time required to work evening and/or weekend hours in addition to their normal work schedules.
In Delaware, our brothers and sisters are being denied Sunday's off due to so-called "campaign needs." Despite the fact that the stated goals and needs of the campaign have been accomplished to this point, AFSCME is now requiring the Delaware staff to work 12 hour days, 7 days a week. This is occurring after these workers have worked weeks without a day off and have had their weekends home denied.
Yet, this is not isolated to just Delaware. Throughout AFSCME campaigns, it has become commonplace for field staff to be told, not asked, to work weekends on a normal basis, many times being made to work multiple weeks on end without a weekend off. The dream of a 40 hour week, a weekend, an 8 hour day is a dream that is denied to AFSCME field staff due to "campaign needs," which are never clearly defined. THIS MUST END NOW.
It is becoming apparent that AFSCME's interpretation of "from time to time" knows no limits, and has gone beyond the scope of the plain language of our mutually agreed-upon contract. This is an insult to the entire labor movement. Management of a great union such as AFSCME should be ashamed of itself for such a glaring violation and disregard for its own contractual agreement with its own employees. While we each are willing to go to extreme lengths to help workers fight for dignity and respect in their workplaces, we cannot allow ourselves to lose our own dignity and respect in the process.
We demand that AFSCME provide us a clear definition of what they see as "campaign needs," and the amount of time they expect staff to be present. With those goals in mind, we make the reasonable suggestion that AFSCME plan their staffing levels accordingly with available staff to accommodate their planned campaign needs.
We ask all AFSCME International employees and USU members to please sign this petition to put an end to this practice.
Updates
May 19, 2010
The massive surge of support proves that AFSCME can no longer hide behind vague excuses about campaign needs. We are exposing their blatant contract violations and they are finally feeling the heat from the very staff they have been exploiting.
Reached 100 supporters
May 19, 2010
6 Comments
this is total bs. salary exemption isn't an excuse to treat your own employees like machines. give them a break.
people have lives outside of work. stop acting like you own them.
7 days a week? Thats just cruel. nobody can keep that pace up for long without burning out completely. treat these people like human beings.
12 hour days with zero days off is illegal in most other industries. why is it okay here? fix this.
my husband is going through the exact same thing right now. its honestly ruining our family time and he is exhausted 24/7. enough is enough.
Share Petition
Don't stop at signing, share the petition link with friends to multiply our impact
Copy link or share directly
AFSCME finally backed down and agreed to respect our contract hours. They thought they could run us into the ground under the guise of campaign needs but our refusal to be silent stopped them cold. We won this round but keep your eyes open because we are not backing down …
June 9, 2010
Final supporters
As defined by the contract between AFSCME and USU, ArticleXV section I states:
AFSCME and USU agree that USU members are salaried professional employees as defined under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). Bargaining unit members are from time-to-time required to work evening and/or weekend hours in addition to their normal work schedules.
In Delaware, our brothers and sisters are being denied Sunday's off due to so-called "campaign needs." Despite the fact that the stated goals and needs of the campaign have been accomplished to this point, AFSCME is now requiring the Delaware staff to work 12 hour days, 7 days a week. This is occurring after these workers have worked weeks without a day off and have had their weekends home denied.
Yet, this is not isolated to just Delaware. Throughout AFSCME campaigns, it has become commonplace for field staff to be told, not asked, to work weekends on a normal basis, many times being made to work multiple weeks on end without a weekend off. The dream of a 40 hour week, a weekend, an 8 hour day is a dream that is denied to AFSCME field staff due to "campaign needs," which are never clearly defined. THIS MUST END NOW.
It is becoming apparent that AFSCME's interpretation of "from time to time" knows no limits, and has gone beyond the scope of the plain language of our mutually agreed-upon contract. This is an insult to the entire labor movement. Management of a great union such as AFSCME should be ashamed of itself for such a glaring violation and disregard for its own contractual agreement with its own employees. While we each are willing to go to extreme lengths to help workers fight for dignity and respect in their workplaces, we cannot allow ourselves to lose our own dignity and respect in the process.
We demand that AFSCME provide us a clear definition of what they see as "campaign needs," and the amount of time they expect staff to be present. With those goals in mind, we make the reasonable suggestion that AFSCME plan their staffing levels accordingly with available staff to accommodate their planned campaign needs.
We ask all AFSCME International employees and USU members to please sign this petition to put an end to this practice.
Updates
May 19, 2010
The massive surge of support proves that AFSCME can no longer hide behind vague excuses about campaign needs. We are exposing their blatant contract violations and they are finally feeling the heat from the very staff they have been exploiting.
Reached 100 supporters
May 19, 2010
6 Comments
UNIONS SHOULD KNOW BETTER. practice what you preach.
this is total bs. salary exemption isn't an excuse to treat your own employees like machines. give them a break.
people have lives outside of work. stop acting like you own them.
7 days a week? Thats just cruel. nobody can keep that pace up for long without burning out completely. treat these people like human beings.
12 hour days with zero days off is illegal in most other industries. why is it okay here? fix this.
my husband is going through the exact same thing right now. its honestly ruining our family time and he is exhausted 24/7. enough is enough.
Share Petition
Don't stop at signing, share the petition link with friends to multiply our impact
Petitions like this
Other petitions you might want to support
Scan to share
Anyone who scans this can sign the petition.
UNIONS SHOULD KNOW BETTER. practice what you preach.