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VA Employees' Union Cautiously Optimistic on Bipar

June 06, 2014

The American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) expressed cautious optimism about recently announced legislation aimed at improving staffing and addressing wait times at Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) medical facilities. AFGE also applauds provisions to extend advance appropriations to the full VA budget, expand GI bill benefits and enhance medical services for victims of military sexual assault.

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Categories: VA

AFGE President Lauds Sen. Sanders’ Legislation Aim

June 05, 2014

We laud Sen. Sanders’ push to fix the long-standing problems that are at the root of the VA’s current woes. In the last few weeks there has been plenty of rhetoric circulated about our veterans’ health care system, but few meaningful solutions. By providing concrete solutions to the wait list issues and staffing shortages, this plan will ensure that the access to care matches the world-class service our nation’s heroes receive once they enter the VA system.

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Categories: VA

USP Prison Break Attempt

June 03, 2014

Council of Prison Locals (CPL) president Eric Young says that this scary and unsettling escape attempt is endemic of federal prisons, where cost-cutting has become a higher priority than the safety of correctional officers – leading to fewer officers in increasingly overcrowded prisons.

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Categories: BOP

AFGE Congratulates CPL Members on New Contract

May 30, 2014

The American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) congratulates the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) and Council of Prisons Locals (CPL) in the signing of their new contract. The two groups signed the contract at a signing ceremony at BOP Headquarters building located in Washington, DC. This contract will be BOP’s first new contract in 16 years.

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Categories: BOP

Largest VA Employees Union Responds to Announcemen

May 30, 2014

“AFGE strongly agrees with President Obama’s statements on the need to hire more doctors and nurses to fill the ranks of front-line providers delivering care to our nation’s heroes. It is imperative that the hundreds of physician vacancies be filled immediately. This must include clerks and other support personnel who work hand-in-hand with physicians to ensure that top notch medical care is provided at every VA clinic in a productive and timely manner."

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Categories: VA

Meet Christopher Lee Castle: A VA Loan Specialist and proud AFGE member

May 28, 2014

When Christopher Lee Castle left the Marine Corps, he knew he still wanted to give back to veterans like himself. So he joined the Department of Veterans Affairs as a civil service employee in 2008.

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Categories: VA, Member Profile

Meet Paul Ferris

May 28, 2014

Paul Ferris wears his title as president of AFGE Local 2516 like a badge of honor. After all, the employees he represents work at an Army hospital caring for our men and women in uniform. The civilian employees at William Beaumont Army Medical Center in El Paso, Texas, treat active duty service members stationed at Ft. Bliss who are between tours or preparing for their next assignment overseas.

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Categories: DoD, Member Profile

AFGE: A Future “Big Enough to Win”

May 27, 2014

AFGE always has had its pulse on the issues of the day and its eye on the future. On the eve of the 2013 Shutdown/Lockout, more than 700 AFGE members, officers and staff met in Orlando, Florida, to devise a strategy for growing the union in the coming decade.

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Categories: Labor

AFGE: The Vision in Review

May 21, 2014

From its humble beginnings as a upstart labor organization with 562 founding members, AFGE now represents more than 670,000 federal and D.C. government employees from coast to coast and around the world. AFGE has effectively spread its message of fair pay and working conditions for government employees, building a legacy of expanded employee bargaining rights and effecting change to better the lives of federal and D.C. government workers.

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Categories: Labor, Civil Rights

An Everyday Hero: Aaron Scott

May 19, 2014

Correctional Officer Aaron Scott doesn’t discuss what happens at work with his wife. He doesn’t talk about how he’s routinely surrounded by hundreds of drug dealers, gang members, and professional killers. He doesn’t tell her how these prisoners use weapons made with broken toilet seats, light fixtures, or whatever they could find to stab other inmates and staff members. He doesn’t share the fact that these inmates speak with their family members in code, that threats against staff are constant both inside and outside the prison walls.

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Categories: BOP

Memphis Plays Host City for AFGE’s 3 Events

May 19, 2014

Memphis, Tennessee, saw hundreds of AFGE leaders and activists in early May as AFGE held three events in the city known for its World Championship Barbeque Cooking Contest and Rock and Roll. The Council of Prison Locals held its Southeastern Regional Training on May 5-9. The training was attended by 250 AFGE leaders and activists and offered classes on arbitration, equal employment opportunity, workers compensation, advanced stewards training, and Cyberfeds training.

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Categories: Member Profile

What the Air Force can learn from New Coke

May 14, 2014

In the mid-1980s, Coca-Cola retired the formula for its classic soft drink in a bid to modernize its image. “New Coke” was an unmitigated and costly disaster, forcing the company to bring back the preferred original drink just three months later. In much the same way, the Air Force wants to retire a beloved aircraft unmatched in its ability to protect ground forces from attack and replace it with an upstart fighter jet that experts agree can’t compare to the original.

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Categories: DoD

AFGE National President's Statement on Police Week

May 13, 2014

The American Federation of Government Employees is proud to represent tens of thousands of law enforcement officers throughout the federal government, many of whom have traveled to Washington this week to participate in National Police Week.

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Categories: DoD, Border Patrol, BOP

Effecting Change...300,000 Strong!

May 12, 2014

By taking our message to the streets, airwaves, and halls of Congress, AFGE achieved groundbreaking advances for federal workers as it embarked on a decades-long march toward a membership 300,000 strong. Starting in 1946, AFGE won uniformity in salary increases and extended benefits to an additional half-million federal workers. In doing so we secured a 14 percent wage increase for federal workers.

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Categories: Labor, Civil Rights

Oklahoma Member Finds AFGE’s Union Plus

May 12, 2014

The oddly shaped Bradford pear tree rooted firmly in Christabel Elliott’s backyard serves as a reminder of the lives that were lost and destroyed when a series of tornadoes ripped through the Oklahoma City area (most severely in Moore, Okla.) last May. The 20-year-old tree, which gave up half its branches in the storm, also prompts Elliott – a member of AFGE Local 2562 in District 11 – to recall that strong union roots can provide much needed financial support through the AFGE Union Plus Disaster Relief Grant, when natural disasters tear through the landscape of everyday life.

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Categories: Member Benefits