AFSCME Labor/FMHP Management Meeting

August 19, 2021 1230PM

Administration Building

Attendance: Adam Castle, Ryan Cates, Steve Wilking, Eric Manriquez, Annie Jakacki, Jake Schoenecker, Marvin Sullivan, Scott Melby, Becky Robinson, Michelle Chalin, Alli Kuhlman, Carol Olsen, Denise Considine, Kristin

When Fran Krugen’s late husband was first diagnosed with diabetes, his insulin cost about $35 a bottle.

But Krugen, an AFSCME retiree from Arizona, will never forget the day when she and her husband went to the drug store to pick up his insulin and the pharmacist told them it now cost $900 a bottle.

“This was medication he needed to live, and we had insurance,” she said at a press briefing earlier this month. “We looked at each other and had to ask ourselves: Do we make the house payment? Do we buy food? Or do we pay for his medication?”

More Americans approve of labor unions today than at any time since 1965, according to annual Gallup poll results released around each Labor Day.

More than two-thirds of poll respondents – 68% – approved of labor unions. That means a clear majority of voters views labor unions favorably. Among adults 18-34 years of age, 77% approve of unions. Support is also high among those with annual household incomes under $40,000.