Taking Back Our Union: Here's How We're Growing Stronger

This article was first published in the 2015 Fall Edition of AFSCME Works. Click here to download the full magazine. Chicago's cab drivers are making history, and in the process making themselves AFSCME Strong. For the first time in more than 30 years, they have a union — a driver-led AFSCME local chartered with the goal of solving tough problems that range from burdensome revenue-raising regulations to police harassment. It's quite an accomplishment, especially since it was just early last year that more than 3,500 city cab drivers began organizing themselves into Cab Drivers United, part of Illinois Council 31. Then, in July 2014, delegates to the 41st AFSCME International Union Convention in Chicago rallied near City Hall, demonstrating solidarity with the drivers' campaign to win a voice in the regulatory process that controls their livelihood. Now the drivers have that voice. Their new union, Cab Drivers United/AFSCME Local 2500, received its charter on Aug. 1, with hundreds signing up to become full dues-paying members of our AFSCME family. "We have a saying, 'AFSCME Strong.' Sisters and brothers, you are the strength in AFSCME,"  Council 31 Exec. Dir. Roberta Lynch told the new members. Lynch, also an AFSCME International vice president,...

Source: AFSCME Blog Feed