Labor Leader of the Week: Dave Fillman, Executive Director of AFSCME Council 13

Dave Fillman is Executive Director of AFSCME Council 13. Over 65,000 public employees and private non-profit employees around the commonwealth have their union with AFSCME Council 13.  Members are employed at the state, county, township, borough, and city level, and in health care and social service facilities.

Fillman started his career with the labor movement in 1972 as a mechanics helper with the Department of Transportation in Montgomery County.  He got more involved with his local, AFSCME Local 2159, after a friend asked him to run for secretary treasurer and he won.  Soon after he became the president.  He was hired on as staff with AFSCME District Council 88 in 1978, became Director of AFSCME District Council 88 in 1993, and became Executive Director in Harrisburg in 2002.

For members of AFSCME Council 13, as for all union members and working families, this year’s election is very important.  “The labor movement has suffered the last eight years under the Bush Administration.  John McCain is just going to continue the George W. Bush policies that have not helped the middle class at all.  We really look forward to working hard to make sure that Barack Obama is the next president of the United States.”

A major concern for AFSCME members, as the majority of them are public employees, is privatization of their jobs.  “There are multiple problems when you privatize,” said Fillman.  “The wages of the employees go down, and health care and pensions are cut back.  The private employer usually starts eroding the benefits that the workers enjoyed as public employees. And whiles sometimes jobs remain union when they go private, more often then not they don’t ”

“We have to keep in mind that the private sector employers are there to make money.  The best way to make money is to start cutting back on things.  And that is not only hard on the employees but also for the people receiving those services.  If you look at public transportation, for example, one way to cut back on costs is to cut back on service and maintenance.”

As mostly public employees, AFSCME members are very engaged in politics.  “We are some of the few union members or working class people who get to vote for our bosses.  If  they  are members of the school board or the Governor of Pennsylvania, our members work for them.  We want to be involved in the election process as much as possible in order to have a voice and to elect people who will help us pass legislation that will help us and protect our jobs.”

“Ultimately, this year, the goal is to elect a union friendly president and that will be Barack Obama.  AFSCME has a program that we can utilize where we release VMO’s (Volunteer Member Organizers) that can go and work for campaigns.  We also work with the Labor 2008 program.  The member to member contact through the labor walk and the phone banks is very effective and union members really appreciate it as well..”

“The most important thing is to get our members out this year.  Though the labor movement does not make up the majority, we still play a crucial role in the election.  Our organizing skills play nicely into the political process.  We are able to educate and mobilize our members more than any other organization.  Candidates recognize the power of the labor movement’s endorsement and they appreciate it.”

“It is very important that we continue to participate in the labor 2008 program and continue to push for member involvement.  Because when we do that we can deliver an election.  We’ve done it in past years and I know we can do it this year and elect Barack Obama.”