PRESS RELEASE
For Immediate Release
October 25, 2017
Contact:
Mazie Stilwell, Communications Specialist
(515) 246-2637
AFSCME CELEBRATES OVERWHELMING VICTORY IN RECERTIFICATION ELECTIONS
DES MOINES – AFSCME Council 61 President Danny Homan issued the following statement regarding the results of the October recertification elections:
“After over 24 hours of waiting for election results, I am proud to share that 100% of AFSCME-covered employees voted to retain their union, but because of a rigged law and an alleged voided ballot, we lost one bargaining unit of four employees by a single vote. This sweeping victory confirms what we’ve known since the gutting of collective bargaining rights in February: that unionized employees, both members and non-members, value their voice in the workplace and reject the actions of Kim Reynolds and legislative Republicans who turned their backs on working Iowans in February. I am confident that workers will once again claim victory in the November 2018 election when those politicians who stabbed them in the back are sent packing.
“While this process was unnecessarily challenging and unfair at every turn, I am immensely proud of our members and leaders who stepped up to earn every last vote. We worked hard to communicate the rigged system put in place to each and every eligible voter, and that work paid off. I congratulate the hardworking public employees who voted to recertify; this victory is all theirs.”
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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