WHEREAS: 

Public service employment is an economic lifeline for working families and communities across the country, providing high-road union jobs with bargaining rights and benefits to millions of workers; and 

WHEREAS: 

Public service workers were forced to deal with unprecedented challenges during the global pandemic, including threats to health and safety, especially since many had to work in person. At the same time, layoffs, furloughs and hiring freezes often left public services short-staffed, with state and local government jobs plunging by 1.5 million at the lowest point during the pandemic; and  

WHEREAS: 

State and local government employment has surged back since the depths of the pandemic recession, aided by federal relief from the American Rescue Plan, gaining more than 1.5 million jobs during the Biden administration and exceeding its pre-pandemic peak by more than 326,000; and  

WHEREAS: 

State and local government services and employment are still suffering from the long period of austerity that followed the Great Recession. Despite the gains of the post-pandemic recovery, total state and local government employment has not kept up with population growth since December 2007 and is still approximately 1.5 million jobs short of what is needed to deliver adequate public services; and 

WHEREAS: 

Hiring problems continue to plague parts of state and local government. In June 2024, job openings in state and local government stood at 988,000 while monthly hires were only 316,000. As a result, some states and local governments continue to report large vacancy rates, both throughout government and in particular jobs, especially corrections, 911 operations and health care; and 

WHEREAS: 

Ongoing staffing shortages threaten the delivery of timely, quality public services. The public has suffered as staffing crises have resulted in public library branch closings, long wait times to get 911 calls answered, not enough school bus drivers to pick up children, delays in trash pickup, lockdowns in prisons, huge backlogs of applications for public benefits, nursing home residents waiting excessive periods to get needed care and much more; and  

WHEREAS: 

Many public service workers have paid a high cost for the staffing crisis, with some leaving public service altogether as a result. Long hours of overtime over extended periods — with some workers reporting 20, 30 or more overtime hours on a regular basis — harm workers' health, jeopardize their safety on the job, put them at professional risk in health care settings and greatly interfere with their personal lives and caregiving responsibilities; and 

WHEREAS: 

In 2023, AFSCME launched the Staff the Front Lines campaign to bring widespread attention to the public service staffing crisis, give voice to AFSCME members' concerns and ideas for action, partner with employers committed to solving the crisis and help fill vacancies through community hiring events and local media promotion. The Staff the Front Lines bus tour visited 17 cities in 13 states and helped spark national action; and 

WHEREAS: 

Through the Staff the Front Lines campaign, AFSCME members contributed many ideas for increasing recruitment and retention in public service jobs. The solutions they identified covered a wide range of actions: making pay competitive with the private sector, restoring pensions, improving paid leave, reducing the long time it takes to hire new workers, promoting public service work, implementing new training and apprenticeship programs, making partial telework permanent, capping workloads, creating minimum staffing standards and adopting workplace violence, heat and other workplace safety standards, among many others. 

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED: 

That AFSCME and its affiliates will support the adoption of Staff the Front Lines solutions throughout public service to increase recruitment and retention. These solutions include (1) increasing pay and benefits, (2) removing barriers and building pathways for hiring and retention, (3) improving flexibility and work-life balance, (4) addressing workloads and (5) making public service jobs safer; and 
 
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED: 

That AFSCME and its affiliates will continue to lead the Staff the Front Lines campaign to highlight the need for adequate public service staffing and the impact of understaffing on public services and public service workers; promote public service careers; and partner with employers and community stakeholders to develop and implement solutions to the staffing crisis; and 

BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED: 

That AFSCME and its affiliates will continue to fight to fully fund and fully staff public services in the United States. 

SUBMITTED BY:
International Executive Board