2024 Sister's Keeper Summit and Training
April 26, 2024
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AFGE’s election win in Germany last month not only made headlines but also attracted interest in the union from American government workers stationed overseas.
In December last year, AFGE won our first union election at the Kaiserslautern Military Community Center Exchange which has its main store/operation at Ramstein Air Base in Germany. A new unit of nearly 400 non-appropriated fund (NAF) employees at the Kaiserslautern Military Community Center Exchange, the largest U.S. military exchange in Europe, is now represented by AFGE at-large Local 14, which was established last year under District 14 to assist overseas federal employees in Europe in organizing their workplaces while providing limited representation and workplace help. Our organizing drive is ongoing, and about 40 people have joined the union.
“We are excited to welcome this new group of employees to the AFGE family,” AFGE District 14 National Vice President Ottis Johnson Jr. said. “By voting to join AFGE, these workers will be in a better position to fight for improvements at the worksite by leveraging the bargaining power of 750,000 federal and D.C. government employees.”
Following the election victory, we have received serious inquiries about joining the union from other Army & Air Force Exchange Service (AAFES) Europe locations, and from other groups of Defense Department employees across Europe.
“That was our intention,” said Peter Winch, special assistant to the AFGE District 14 national vice president. “We wanted to win an election in 2023 as we chartered Local 14 in 2023. We wanted to have at least one election victory, and now we do.”
Federal workers in Europe do have union rights
Our union hopes to represent all 20,000 federal civilian workers in Europe with an initial focus on Germany, home to about 8,000 of them. Most of these workers work for the Department of Defense (DoD) at installations in several European countries such as the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, Belgium, Spain, and Greece. In addition to stand-alone units, we’re also hoping to add the key ones that AFGE already has a consolidated unit like the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA).
DLA Distribution Europe is located in Germersheim, about an hour from Ramstein Air Base, and employs thousands of employees. If DLA Europe employees join AFGE, they will automatically fall under our DLA labor contract and enjoy the benefits of having union representation, including better workplace rules. A new DLA unit in Europe would also benefit AFGE members who work at DLA locations stateside and rotate to the continent.
Another agency AFGE is eyeing is the newly created Defense Health Agency (DHA), which operates Landstuhl Regional Medical Center located right outside Ramstein. LRMC is the largest American hospital outside of the United States. AFGE is already representing DHA employees at various locations stateside.
AFGE has multiple organizing campaigns ongoing to expand union representation to federal employees in Europe. In addition to the election win at the Kaiserslautern Military Community Center Exchange, we have filed two additional petitions for election: one at a DoD installation in the Bavaria Alps area of Germany consisting of about 100 NAF employees; and an Army support group in Kaiserslautern. We’re hoping to have an election for these employees in the first half of this year.
District 14 is actively providing representation, training, and organizing assistance in Germany.
“Agencies are telling people you don’t have rights in Europe, and one of our big things is to get press to say you do have the right to form a union in Europe,” Winch added. “AFGE has never left Europe. We have a local in Naples, Italy. We’ve had DCMA in Wiesbaden, Germany.”
Register now for the 2024 Sister's Keeper Summit in San Diego from May 31–June 2, 2024.
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A recent AFGE town hall in Hawaii was a huge success as locals, staff, and members of Congress joined forces to make the federal government a better place to work.
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The Federal-Postal Coalition, which includes AFGE, is asking the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) to increase uniform allowance for federal workers.
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