‘We’re not just workers in the community. We are the community.’
By Farah Vallecillo
Original Air Date: March 14, 2025
Host: The legislative session is in full swing in Tallahassee, and thanks to a union, working families are knocking at legislators’ doors. Farah Vallecillo has the details.
Farah Vallecillo: The Working Families Lobbying Corps was established to bring workers and their families to Tallahassee during legislative sessions and committee weeks to discuss bills and influence legislation.
AFSCME union members at the State Capitol.
Here is how the AFL-CIO describes the role of the Lobbying Corps: “It’s vital to have a worker presence in our Capitol and pressure our elected officials to vote for working families. The effect this has on legislators is that they realize they cannot come up to Tallahassee and run their own agenda without being called to actually represent working people.”
Stephanie Yocum is the president of the Polk County Education Association, and she also heads the AFL-CIO’s West Central Florida Labor Council, covering 12 counties, including Sarasota and Manatee. She explained the Working Lobbying Corps program in a brief interview.
Stephanie Yocum.
Stephanie Yocum: The Working Families Lobbying Corps is a program that the AFL-CIO created in Florida to bring workers and their families to Tallahassee during committee weeks and during the legislative session to meet with legislators as bills are moving through committee.
FV: Thousands have participated since the program began fourteen years ago. Last week, 125 union members traveled to Tallahassee for the first days of the legislative session, and the number of participants continues to grow.
The AFL-CIO, through the Working Families Lobbying Corps, advocates for bills that provide better conditions for workers, such as better pay and workplace standards. But that’s not all. The union also partners with organizations such as the NAACP, Equality Florida, and Parent-Teacher Association to advocate for equality and better public education. Yocum explains why.
SY: We need natural allies to band together. We really want our community to understand we’re not just workers in the community. We are the community. My son goes to his public school. I’m involved in their parent organization. We are part of the community, and we’re natural allies in this. Most people, in my instance—they want strong public schools. The big picture is that, if people are going to volunteer, we need to volunteer in the alliances. They’re part of their faith-based communities. We’re in your faith-based communities. We should be working on the same things, because a lot of faith-based organizations—holistically, most of them want to help people.
Still from the video 2023 Working Families Lobby Corps Week 4 via Florida AFL-CIO on YouTube.
FV: Legislators have filed anti-union bills in the ongoing session, but they have not been scheduled for discussion yet. Here are a couple of the bills Working Corps participants advocate against this year: A pair of bills would make it even harder for public-sector workers to unionize, prohibiting public employers to voluntarily recognize unions. SB 1356 would make the recertification process more difficult for unions that have already been recognized. Additionally, bills aimed at rolling back child labor protections have resurfaced.
Local unions may be able to pay travel expenses of members and their families; however, non-union volunteers must cover their own expenses to participate.
For more information on the Working Families Lobbying Corps, send an email to info@flaflcio.org or visit flaflcio.org/category/legislative.
Reporting for WSLR News, this has been Farah Vallecillo.
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