You may know us at AFSCME Local 720. We were a certified labor organization under Wisconsin statute until our last Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) expired in the middle of December of 2014.

Due to the severe restrictions that Wisconsin Act 10 placed on certified labor organizations’ ability to bargain for anything other than base wages, those of us at all five Dane County AFSCME locals chose to take a different path. Our members, and county leadership, had been used to decades of fair and respectful treatment of employees and we were not about to let that change.

Through 2013 and into 2014 we worked with Dane County leadership and administration to create a county ordinance that established the framework for us to create employee associations.

We continue to function as democratic organizations with officers and executive board members being elected every two years and regular membership meetings where members vote on policy provisions and how the local’s money is spent.

Some have said that the ‘union’ is gone - that we have no ability to ‘bargain’ with the county. While we are no longer a ‘certified labor organization’ under state statute we maintain the ability to meet and confer with the county regarding any and all provisions of the Employee Benefits Handbook (EBH) on an annual basis.

We are the Dane County Employee Association Local 720 and we would like to invite you to become a member of the association.