WHEREAS:

The COVID-19 pandemic and economic crisis have highlighted critical gaps in public service workers’ rights to healthy, fair and equitable workplaces and treatment; and

WHEREAS:

Public service employees perform some of the most hazardous work that society demands to make our lives safe and enjoyable, with 473 public sector employees having been killed on the job in 2019 and over 700,000 public sector employees reporting recordable injuries each year. Despite this, only 26 states have state-run Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Act plans that cover public sector employees and only five states have a "public employee only" plan; and

WHEREAS: 

Public service employees are on the front lines of the fight against COVID-19. Thousands of them have contracted the disease on the job and hundreds have died from it. Despite the risk to and sacrifice of public service employees, the Trump Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is refusing to issue an emergency temporary standard for infectious disease to protect workers from COVID-19; and 

WHEREAS:

Public Safety Telecommunicators are 9-1-1 professionals that deal with the stress of life or death situations and serve as the thin GOLD line holding it all together all day, every day. Classifying them as a “protective” occupation in the same category as Police Officers, Firefighters, Lifeguards, Crossing Guards and TSA screeners (instead of with Clerks and Secretaries) is appropriate; and

WHEREAS:

Tens of thousands of public service workers, including many AFSCME members, are enrolled in and rely on the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program that provides that the remaining balance of student loans will be forgiven after making 10 years’ worth of payments. Unfortunately, the Trump administration has consistently sought to end the PSLF program, and Trump’s Department of Education has rejected 99% of loan forgiveness requests under the program, even when borrowers met the program’s requirements, denying public sector workers a benefit they are entitled to by law. These borrowers face severe financial hardship if the federal government does not honor the promise it made them when they committed their careers to public service; and

WHEREAS:

AFSCME members are putting themselves on the line every day to provide the public with essential health care, public safety, education, housing and social services during the health emergency, even when they do not have the option of working from home.

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED:

That AFSCME continue to work towards the establishment of state OSHA laws which protect public sector employees and support federal legislation that would cover all public workers under the OSH Act; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED:

That AFSCME urges OSHA to issue an emergency temporary standard (ETS) to protect all workers at potential risk of occupational exposure to infectious diseases, including COVID-19. Specifically, workers must have access to the appropriate resources, training, equipment and protocols to protect themselves and avoid infecting other people. The standard must extend to all public sector workers, not just those who are in states with OSHA-approved state plans; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED:

AFSCME will actively work to promote legislative changes at the federal and state level to provide a professional certification program for 9-1-1 Public Safety Telecommunicators and to reclassify these positions from Office and Administrative Support Occupations to Police, Fire and Ambulance Dispatchers; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED:

That AFSCME will work to highlight the harmful effects of the federal government’s failure to honor the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program and will continue to oppose the Trump administration’s attempts to end PSLF. AFSCME will demand the U.S. Congress properly fund PSLF and ensure that the Department of Education honors its obligation to public service employees. AFSCME supports efforts to aid individuals enrolled in the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program and will work with Congress and the federal government to ensure that more public service workers can qualify for this valuable benefit; and

BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED:

AFSCME salutes all public service and other front-line workers who “never quit” on the public during the ongoing pandemic.  It is public service workers who provide the vital health and personal care, sanitation, financial support and other essential services to support our communities in need, often at great sacrifice to themselves.

SUBMITTED BY:
Resolutions Committee

Mark Reger, President and Delegate
Jennifer Simota, Secretary and Delegate
AFSCME Council 65 
Minnesota

Kevin Ochalla, President and Delegate
Kyan Keenan, Secretary 
AFSCME Local 3315, Council 31
Illinois