AFGE 17 Wins District 14 Organizing Awards

(Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO)AFGE Local 17’s outstanding organizing work last year resulted in two awards recently from the American Federation of Government Employees. Local 17 – which represents workers at the Department of Veterans Affairs – won awards for being the local in District 14 that recruited the most members last year, and for having the highest percentage of new members in 2012. “Your union membership means you know the value and strength of the unity of employees,” Local 17 President Bill Preston wrote his members. “As (VA) employees, we have a shared interest in improving the workplace, in order to change prevailing practices so they are more fair and equitable, more receptive to the needs of justice—in sum, to make VA Central Office a better place to work.” District 14 includes all AFGE locals in Washington, DC, Montgomery and Prince George’s counties in Maryland, and Arlington and Fairfax counties and the City of Alexandria in Virginia. - photo: AFGE members from the V.A. rally in DC on 6/13/2012; photo by Julia Kann