VOTE Dr. Everett Kelley for National President of AFGE 2024

PLATFORM

PLATFORM

“I am convinced that without a vision the people perish”       -Proverbs 29:18

We have accomplished more in the last two years under my leadership than we have in the previous twenty years combined.

  • We have secured the largest pay raise for federal and D.C. government employees in four decades. 5.2% in 2024 and 4.6% in 2023 for a total of 9.8%.


  • We were able to get the President of the United States to fulfill his promise to AFGE to make sure that TSOs received Title 5 treatment.


  • We secured for TSOs an average pay increase of 31%.


  • We just completed a new collective bargaining agreement with full rights to appeal adverse actions.


  • We defeated the VA closure commission that would have shut down hundreds of VA medical facilities across the country. This act alone saved tens of thousands of VA jobs from privation.


  • We got Congress to repeal the two-year probationary for DOD civilians.

  • We were successful in stopping the government shutdown in 2023.


  • We made sure President Biden repealed the ban on diversity training.


  • We secured a new master agreement for 300,000 employees at the Department of Veterans Affairs in 2023 that retains current workplace agreements and modernizes VA hiring procedures.


  • We stopped the BOP from using private prisons, saving thousands of jobs from privatization.


  • We got a pro-union, Social Security Commissioner confirmed, and a new collective bargaining agreement with a commitment to improve staffing and morale at the agency.


  • We got signed into law, legislation passed by Congress that grants full retirement benefits to first responders and law enforcement officers injured on the job.


  • We delivered higher Locality Pay to 32,000 employees and four locations in Fresno, California; Reno, Nevada; Spokane, Washington, and Rochester, New York - plus hundreds of employees in 43 existing localities as part of changes to the compensation system that took effect in 2024.


  • We got 25% retention bonuses approved for correctional officers at several severely understaffed federal prisons, which have bridged a significant pay gap as we work for higher salaries across the board.


  • We helped thousands of federal and DC government workers to get student loan forgiveness.


  • We secured numerous AFGE priorities in the 2023 omnibus appropriation bill, including a 22% increase in VA healthcare funding, limiting DOD’s ability to cap the size of the civilian workforce, continuing the long-standing ban on outsourcing federal jobs, and allowing retiring law enforcement officers at the Bureau of Prisoners to make penalty-free withdrawals from the retirement savings once they reach 25 years of service or 50 years of age whichever is earlier.


  • We bargained for a restoration of telework at the Department of Agriculture through collective bargaining.


  • We got OPM to issue a regulation that will make it much harder to establish schedule F employees in the future.


  • We have continued to break organizing records, registering our fastest growth rate in 13 years in 2023. We saw a 5% growth in membership, achieving year-over-year membership increases at every AFGE District and Council. Two of our councils reached the highest membership level ever in 2023. We gain over 16,000 new dues-paying members in 2023 alone.

  • We have established a Customer Service Specialist to make sure your concerns are heard and that you speak with a live representative when you call the President’s office. Our specialist will follow up with members and locals to ensure our National Office stays connected with rank-and-file members of AFGE.


  • We exceeded our ambitious organizing goal and grew to over 300,000 dues-paying members five months earlier than hoped and we will keep the momentum going.


  • We were successful in gaining hundreds of pro-worker seats in Congress, as more than 84% of AFGE-endorsed candidates won their 2022 midterm election

  • We won provisions in the PACT ACT that allow higher pay and new jobs for treating veterans who have toxic waste exposure.

  • We expanded or protected our representation of federal and D.C. government employees, including winning the rights to represent most of the 45,000 healthcare workers who have transferred to the Defense Health Agency winning an election in 2023 to represent more than 200 employees at the Millennium Challenge Corporation
  • We have secured the largest pay raise for federal and D.C. government employees in four decades. 5.2% in 2024 and 4.6% in 2023 for a total of 9.8%.


  • We were able to get the President of the United States to fulfill his promise to AFGE to make sure that TSOs received Title 5 treatment.


  • We secured for TSOs an average pay increase of 31%.


  • We just completed a new collective bargaining agreement with full rights to appeal adverse actions.


  • We defeated the VA closure commission that would have shut down hundreds of VA medical facilities across the country. This act alone saved tens of thousands of VA jobs from privation.


  • We got Congress to repeal the two-year probationary for DOD civilians.

  • We were successful in stopping the government shutdown in 2023.


  • We made sure President Biden repealed the ban on diversity training.


  • We secured a new master agreement for 300,000 employees at the Department of Veterans Affairs in 2023 that retains current workplace agreements and modernizes VA hiring procedures.


  • We stopped the BOP from using private prisons, saving thousands of jobs from privatization.


  • We got a pro-union, Social Security Commissioner confirmed, and a new collective bargaining agreement with a commitment to improve staffing and morale at the agency.


  • We got signed into law, legislation passed by Congress that grants full retirement benefits to first responders and law enforcement officers injured on the job.


  • We delivered higher Locality Pay to 32,000 employees and four locations in Fresno, California; Reno, Nevada; Spokane, Washington, and Rochester, New York - plus hundreds of employees in 43 existing localities as part of changes to the compensation system that took effect in 2024.


  • We got 25% retention bonuses approved for correctional officers at several severely understaffed federal prisons, which have bridged a significant pay gap as we work for higher salaries across the board.


  • We helped thousands of federal and D.C. government employees to get student loan forgiveness.


  • We secured numerous AFGE priorities in the 2023 omnibus appropriation bill, including a 22% increase in VA healthcare funding, limiting DOD’s ability to cap the size of the civilian workforce, continuing the long-standing ban on outsourcing federal jobs, and allowing retiring law enforcement officers at the Bureau of Prisoners to make penalty-free withdrawals from the retirement savings once they reach 25 years of service or 50 years of age whichever is earlier.


  • We bargained for a restoration of telework at the Department of Agriculture through collective bargaining.


  • We got OPM to issue a regulation that will make it much harder to establish schedule F employees in the future.


  • We have continued to break organizing records registering our fastest growth rate in 13 years in 2023. We saw a 5% growth in membership, achieving year-over-year membership increases at every AFGE District and Council. Two of our councils reached the highest membership level ever in 2023. We gain over 16,000 new dues-paying members in 2023 alone.


  •  We have established a Customer Service Specialist to make sure your concerns are heard and that you speak with a live representative when you call the President’s office. Our specialist will follow up with members and locals to ensure our National Office stays connected with rank-and-file members of AFGE.


  • We exceeded our ambitious organizing goal and grew to over 300,000 dues-paying members five months earlier than hoped and we will keep the momentum going.


  • We were successful in gaining hundreds of pro-worker seats in Congress, as more than 84% of AFGE-endorsed candidates won their 2022 midterm election

  • We won provisions in the PACT ACT that allow higher pay and new jobs for treating veterans who have toxic waste exposure.

  • We expanded or protected our representation of federal and D.C. government employees, including winning the rights to represent most of the 45,000 healthcare workers who have transferred to the Defense Health Agency winning an election in 2023 to represent more than 200 employees at the Millennium Challenge Corporation

What AFGE needs is a leader with vision

Leadership vision is the ability to concentrate on the most critical aspects of our mission, in this case, fighting for our Union. Things such as what we can achieve together and what type of leader will inspire the success of our mission.

 

Our vision must incorporate lessons from our past and our present to address our future aspirations. It will define identity and principles. A powerful leadership vision will motivate performance and expand boundaries. 

 

A leader’s vision provides inspiration and motivation to keep the movement going.

 

I have always been a visionary leader, and I am ready to serve the AFGE membership and lead our Movement into the 21st Century.

 

Therefore, to ensure the mission is complete and we secure the workplace rights we all deserve, I humbly ask you to re-elect me once again as your President of AFGE!

 



As your National President of AFGE, I have grown our access and strength


I have met regularly with the President, Joe Biden, monthly with the Office of Personnel Management, and routinely with the Secretary Of Labor, Julie Su.

 

We have strong relationships with key members of Congress, and I make sure that AFGE’s member’s voices are heard loudly and clearly in all the corridors of power.

 

Just recently, President Biden issued an executive order providing a Union partnership forum throughout the federal system. This is a direct result of our advocating at every opportunity, and I will continue to encourage these forums. 

 

We are stronger under my leadership, and we will be even stronger if you re-elect me as your President.

 

My record speaks for itself, I am the only one fully qualified to lead AFGE into the future. I have experience working with both sides of the aisle, and I will continue to use that experience to move AFGE forward. I’m asking once again for your support in continuing the good work of AFGE.

 

Remember Kelley 💁🏾 for AFGE 2024 



I have a bold agenda for unity, accountability, and power for 2024


As National President of AFGE, I will work over the next three years to make AFGE more unified than ever, with all Conferences, District Councils, and Local Unions working together and pulling in the same direction, putting members first in everything that we do.

 

 

There are several areas that I think are necessary to move AFGE forward

  • Elect a friendly Congress

    We are at a critical moment for our democracy. We are at a defining moment for our great Union. It’s a moment that demands solidarity as never before. Organizing as never before. Activism as never before. It’s a moment that we must rise to meet as one and elect a congress that works for the American people because everything is on the line. Every gain we’ve ever won. Every value we hold dear. Every aspect of our democracy. And the very survival of our great Union. We must work like never before to elect a union-friendly Congress. Today we faced a House that is dysfunctional, which was the least productive House in modern history. Passing just 20 bills that were signed into law in 2023. Therefore, it is imperative that we elect a Congress that is friendly to America’s workforce. 

  • Build on our historic progress and close the pay gap between public and private sector employees

    Federal employees on average earned 27.54 percent less than private sector, workers, and similar jobs this year, according to an analysis released by the Federal Salary Council. The disparity has grown significantly in just one year, from 24.09 percent in 2022. 

  • Continue the drive to 325,000 by the end of 2025

    We must continue to organize new members. We have had record years of organizing and I will continue to push the drive to 325,000 by the year 2025. We increased new members by over 26,000 in 2023 alone. I pledge to work to become larger than AFGE has ever been. 

  • Locality Pay Equality for WG employees

    I plan to see through to full fruition our long-sought goal of equity between WG and GS locality pay and raise the standards of representation at every level within AFGE, because every member deserves excellent representation. No excuses!

  • Empower all AFGE Local Unions with the authority to chart their own course and run their own affairs

    Instead of being a top-down entity, the AFGE National Executive Board will listen and follow the direction of Local Unions.   

  • Reevaluate the use of Trusteeships and disciplinary process

    Reevaluate the use of Trusteeships and disciplinary processes and implement a program that is better suited to address problems in any Local Unions.  

  • Demand full accountability and transparency for all

    Demand full accountability and transparency for all—from the National President and National Executive Board all the way to each official of each Local Union. Because of this, we should not rush into a solution that will create more problems. We should have meaningful dialogue across the country to capture everyone’s opinion. A real in-depth analysis is needed, and I am calling on all of AFGE to assist me in providing input.   

With these internal reforms in place, AFGE will be maximally positioned to organize and achieve new levels of growth, mobilize members for action, wield power in the political and legislative process, bargain for better contracts, and improve the lives, security, and future prospects of every AFGE member.

 

The Agenda for Unity, Accountability, and Power 2024 will require the National President to work over the next three years to make AFGE more unified than ever, with all Conferences, District Councils, and Local Unions working together and pulling in the same direction, putting members first in everything we do. 

 

Specifically, I pledge to be as dedicated over the next three years as I have been in previous years.

Solidarity through service to one another

Engage with each member to make sure their interests are recognized

Represent to the max, at the bargaining table, in court, and on Capitol Hill

Vision toward a bright future of union strength that let’s us win big

Integrity across-the-board in our leaders at every level of the Union

Challenge ourselves and one another to be the best Union we can be

Educate continuously, be open to new ideas in every aspect of our union work

Solidarity through service to one another

Engage with each member to make sure their interests are recognized

Represent to the max, at the bargaining table, in court, and on Capitol Hill

Vision toward a bright future of union strength that lets us win big

Integrity across-the-board in our leaders at every level of the Union

Challenge ourselves and one another to be the best Union we can be

Educate continuously, be open to new ideas in every aspect of our union work

As a 43-year proud AFGE member, as a United States Army veteran, and as Pastor of St. Mary Missionary Baptist Church in Lincoln, Alabama for more than 31 years, Everett Kelley possesses the experience, integrity, and moral leadership AFGE members need in their National President. I am the right person at the right time for our great Union.

As a 43-year proud AFGE member, as a United States Army veteran, and as Pastor of St. Mary Missionary Baptist Church in Lincoln, Alabama for more than 31 years, Everett Kelley possesses the experience, integrity, and moral leadership AFGE members need in their National President. I am the right person at the right time for our great Union.

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