Dear AFSCME members,

Twenty-five years after 9/11, the instinct to help people in need remains as powerful in AFSCME members’ hearts as it was that day.

On September 11, 2001, AFSCME public service workers demonstrated extraordinary courage. They rushed toward danger and sprang into action, responding to the crisis, caring for survivors, helping communities endure the unimaginable and helping our nation rebuild and heal.

AFSCME members showed the courage, dedication and professionalism that public service workers bring to their jobs every day.

Read my column about how AFSCME members served on 9/11 and in the years that followed.

Their service will never be forgotten. Yet 25 years later, too many people take public service workers and the essential work AFSCME members do for granted. We see it when vital services are slashed, public service jobs are eliminated, community budgets are gutted and our freedom to collectively bargain comes under attack.

The most fitting way to honor those who answered the call on 9/11 is to remember that public service workers remain ready in communities across this country to respond at a moment’s notice. That means fighting for strong health benefits, safe workplaces, adequate staffing and the resources to do the work. It means ensuring public service workers always have a voice on the job and a seat at the table. And it means confronting the affordability crisis head-on. Because we will never quit on the people who never quit on their communities.

In solidarity,

Patrick Moran
AFSCME President