The second episode of AFGE’s new series, The Activist, highlighting our union members who have stepped up to help make a difference in the lives of their colleagues and our government.
Rachel Shonfield is president of the AFGE EEOC Council 216 representing EEOC employees nationwide. She works at the EEOC office in Miami and has been an AFGE member for over 25 years.
Rachel joined AFGE because she saw what good work the steward was doing in the office to stand up when management wasn’t listening to the employees and to ensure that everybody was being treated fairly.
“Being an AFGE member has changed my life because I’ve gotten connected to people around the country who have become my family,” she explained. “And when I get to go to conferences, it energizes me that so many people from so many agencies are working to make the federal government a better workplace.”
Founded in 1965, the EEOC is the primary agency that enforces laws that prevent discrimination in the workplace. Without the EEOC workforce doing their work, people could lose their jobs or won’t even get hired in the first place due to discrimination.
Listen to Rachel talk about how her job helps the American people and her local community.
AFGE’s National Veterans Affairs Council (NVAC) went back to court last week to prevent the Department of Veterans Affairs from illegally terminating our collective bargaining agreement covering more than 320,000 VA employees.
AFGE along with two federal employees filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission last week challenging the agency’s refusal to process federal-sector class complaints pending before its administrative judges.
Two newly introduced bills and another that’s moving through Congress would expand paid family and medical leave for federal employees, make it easier to secure medical care and related benefits for workplace injuries, and address unsafe air and ventilation issues in federal buildings.