AFGE CELEBRATES AGAIN

Most victories for unions are modest, like the one we posted below where AFGE was able to reverse an arbitrator’s ruling denying them attorney fees in a back pay case. But every once in a while unions score a huge win, and AFGE had one this week with the announcement by the Obama Administration was going to stop using private contractors to run federal prisons. While it will be the first to admit that it could not have done this alone, AFGE nonetheless gets a considerable share of the credit for working with groups outside organized labor, as well as the still influential AFL-CIO to launch an allied attack on private contractors. AFGE’s Council of Prison Locals (C-33) has lots to celebrate and the union’s plan of attack on these contractors is a model that other unions will study for a while. Bravo, AFGE. You are making us proud.