Dear AFSCME Family,

High costs are already straining family budgets, and unemployment is on the rise. Now, 22 million workers are about to be slammed with thousands of dollars in higher health insurance costs, and millions more may lose access to care when funding cuts force their local hospitals to reduce services or close their doors entirely.

Congress could have held a bipartisan vote to stop this health care crisis and also fund the federal government. Instead, the president’s yes-men and women dug in their heels and brought a partisan bill to the floor that would close rural hospitals, skyrocket health care costs and force layoffs and furloughs.

The result? The federal government has shut down, and once again, working people are paying the price.

For millions of Americans, a shutdown means disruptions to the vital services they depend on. States, cities and towns are already facing massive budget shortfalls and will now lose even more federal funding. For AFSCME members, this means public service jobs – our jobs – may be on the line.

For federal workers represented by AFSCME District Council 20, it means more uncertainty and hardship in a year that’s already subjected them to relentless attacks on their jobs and their freedoms. Now the administration is threatening to use this shutdown as an excuse to illegally fire federal workers including AFSCME members.

We won’t stand for it.

As public service workers, we know better than anyone that stability and investment – not cruel cuts and greedy corporate tax handouts – are what strengthen our communities in times of economic uncertainty.

Now is the time to take action. Call your mmber of Congress today and demand they fund public services, protect federal workers and lower health care costs for working families.

That’s why AFSCME members are standing united and demanding that congressional leaders reach across the aisle and do the right thing: lower health care costs, fund the services our communities rely on every day and end this shutdown.

In solidarity,

Lee Saunders
AFSCME President