AFSCME
For Immediate Release:    
Feb. 20, 2020    
Contact: Omar Tewfik    

Pete Buttigieg, Tom Steyer, and Andy Levin to Attend AFSCME Nevada Pre-Caucus Event        

AFSCME President Lee Saunders will host an event in Las Vegas with union members to hear from presidential candidates and surrogates ahead of caucus day, and to discuss how Nevada state workers – who made history by securing collective bargaining rights last year – can harness their collective power to make their voices heard in the 2020 elections.  
  
LAS VEGAS – On Friday, Feb. 21, former South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg, philanthropist Tom Steyer, and Representative Andy Levin, surrogate for Senator Elizabeth Warren, will join a group of Nevada public service workers, members of AFSCME Local 4041, at a pre-caucus event in Las Vegas hosted by AFSCME President Lee Saunders. Other campaigns are to be announced. 
 
At the event, President Saunders will be joined by AFSCME Local 4041 leadership, AFSCME retirees and Nevada rank-and-file members, including corrections officers and health care and social services workers. The event will give Nevada public service workers a platform to talk about what concerns them in 2020 and what they want to see in the next president of the United States. Campaigns have been invited to make a last-minute pitch to union caucus-goers. AFSCME held a similar event, a “Coffee Caucus,” in West Des Moines, Iowa, which was attended by candidates and surrogates from seven campaigns.    
   
AFSCME has been organizing Nevada state workers following a historic legislative win in June 2019, which granted 20,000 state workers collective bargaining and the freedom to negotiate over a host of workplace issues, including wages, paid leave and ways to improve safety on the job. Since Gov. Steve Sisolak signed the bill, thousands of state workers have voted to affiliate with AFSCME, and the state has recognized AFSCME as the exclusive bargaining representative for correctional officers and health care workers.   
  
AFSCME members and public service workers are a constituency coveted by the current presidential field, which has embraced unions with a fervor not seen in years. Public service workers take pride in maintaining strong connections with the communities they serve, and data show that union members turn out to vote at a higher rate than the general public.      
  
Event Details:       
  
Who: AFSCME Pres. Lee Saunders, AFSCME members, and 2020 campaigns: former South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg; philanthropist Tom Steyer; for the Warren campaign Representative Andy Levin; and others.
What: Pre-Caucus event with AFSCME members      
When: Friday, Feb. 21: Lee Saunders gaggle: 5:40 p.m.; program: 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.; camera setup: 5 p.m.      
Where: Doña Maria Tamales Restaurant, 910 S. Las Vegas Blvd., Las Vegas, NV 89101.   
  
Background on AFSCME Endorsement:   
   
AFSCME has yet to endorse a 2020 candidate; however, members and activists are fired up to caucus and are eager to hear candidates lay out a vision for how they will strengthen public services and promote worker rights and freedoms. As part of the union’s deliberative endorsement process, President Saunders has encouraged candidates to hold meetings and engage with public service workers around the country. In August, AFSCME hosted a presidential forum in Nevada attended by 19 candidates, where candidates were asked how they would strengthen public services, improve conditions for working families and defeat President Trump.    
   
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AFSCME's 1.4 million members provide the vital services that make America happen. With members in communities across the nation, serving in hundreds of different occupations — from nurses to corrections officers, child care providers to sanitation workers — AFSCME advocates for fairness in the workplace, excellence in public services and freedom and opportunity for all working families.