AFSCME Wisconsin Statement on Historic Statewide Organizing Program and 2020 Electoral Victories

AFSCME Wisconsin applauds the landmark organizing work of AFSCME members, retirees, and local leaders which helped deliver a historic electoral victory for Wisconsin’s working families. Amid a global pandemic, AFSCME members mobilized to elect Joe Biden and Kamala Harris as the next President and Vice President of the United States and contributed to the highest electoral turn out in our nation’s history.

Participants engaged in a unique organizing model geared towards long-term worker engagement and solidarity-building. From the Wisconsin state legislature to the U.S. presidency, AFSCME organizing efforts created the momentum necessary to develop worker power beyond a single election cycle.

AFSCME Wisconsin Vice President and organizing volunteer Mark Pelzek stated, “this program allowed us to find out how our coworkers are managing with the pandemic and other workplace issues. We discussed standing together as union to fight for solutions and using our strength for collective action. This program helped us mobilize to cement a Joe Biden victory and elect worker-friendly candidates. We positioned ourselves to build our union by organizing and standing together to demand solutions and improve our working conditions for years to come.”

AFSCME Wisconsin Executive Director Patrick Wycoff stated, “our work this election cycle was based on the premise that workers acting collectively can not only change their workplaces, but also their communities. In the last two months, AFSCME members’ nearly 40,000 phone calls to their coworkers laid the foundation for organizing activities which will outlast any elected leader. We invested in this program because we believe in the dignity of our essential work. We know that when we organize and stand together, our power is limitless. The voice of essential workers was heard loud and clear this election: we will not be silent; we will not stop organizing.”

NOTE: This press release was submitted to Urban Milwaukee and was not written by an Urban Milwaukee writer. It has not been verified for its accuracy or completeness.