PRESS RELEASE
For Immediate Release
October 29, 2018
Contact: Mazie Stilwell, Communications Specialist
(515) 246-2637 | [email protected]
IOWA WORKERS OVERWHELMINGLY AFFIRM THEIR UNITY, THEIR VOICE, AND THEIR UNION, AFSCME COUNCIL 61
DES MOINES – AFSCME Council 61 President Danny Homan issued the following statement regarding the results of the second round of recertification elections:
"Last year, we had 1,702 employees voting on recertification; this year, we had 19,861. Workers once again rebuked a rigged system that was designed to undermine their voice. In a system that counted non-voters as a no vote, 94% of all bargaining units, covering 19,793 employees, won recertification, and 99% of all votes cast were yes votes. 100% of all state bargaining units, covering 18,594 workers, stood up for quality public service and a voice on the job by recertifying.
"Recertification elections were created by legislative Republicans and Governor Reynolds for one purpose and one purpose only: for public employees to lose their voice at work and to bust their union. What they didn’t realize was that public employees are united, determined, and fed up.
"Look, it was no accident that these recertification elections were scheduled right before the general election. What was intended to be a confusing distraction has turned into fuel for the fire that is the November 6th day of reckoning.
"Public employees realize that this victory, while impressive, means very little if we stay home next Tuesday. November 6th is our chance to finally hold accountable Kim Reynolds and every single legislative Republican who attacked the very livelihood of over 184,000 public employees and their families when they gutted their collective bargaining rights in February 2017.
"The takeaway here is clear: Iowa’s public employees are not going to sit idly by while their rights are dismantled. They will vote to recertify their union and they will vote to elect politicians who actually support their hard work and service to our state."
The American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees Council 61 represents 40,000 public employees in Iowa including law enforcement and correctional officers, firefighters, mental health workers, professional school staff, emergency responders, and many other workers. AFSCME Council 61 also represents home health care and child care providers across the state and private sector workers at Prairie Meadows, Palmer College of Chiropractic, Des Moines University, and ABM (Marshalltown).
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Press Release