Helping Our Members Endure Mission

H.O.M.E. — Helping Our Members Endure

Our mission is to build and sustain an AFGE Local 12 where every member has a voice, every agency is represented, and every member matters.

Local 12 is one union made up of members from across the U.S. Department of Labor. Each agency, office, worksite, occupational group, grade level, and individual member brings a different perspective and experience to our union. Those differences should strengthen Local 12—not divide it.

We believe no single agency, office, group, or perspective should dominate the direction of our Local. Leadership must listen to members across Local 12 and make decisions based on what strengthens and protects our membership.

That is the foundation of H.O.M.E. — Helping Our Members Endure.

We are committed to:

Equal Representation: Ensuring members throughout Local 12 receive fair, respectful, and equitable representation and that the concerns of every agency are heard.

Honesty: Telling members the truth—even when the answer is difficult, complicated, or not what someone wants to hear.

Transparency: Communicating openly about the decisions, challenges, finances, priorities, and issues affecting our union and the members we serve.

Education: Giving members the information and knowledge they need to understand their collective bargaining agreement, workplace rights, union processes, and the changing federal labor environment. An informed membership is a stronger membership.

Solidarity: Recognizing that while our members work in different agencies and may have different experiences and perspectives, we are strongest when we stand together. An issue affecting one part of Local 12 should matter to all of us. We are committed to fighting with one another—not against one another. We should direct our collective energy toward protecting our members, defending our rights, enforcing our contract, and strengthening our union.

Moving Forward: Learning from our experiences without allowing the past to define our future. We cannot build the Local 12 our members deserve by continually reliving disagreements and conflicts that are long gone. We are committed to moving forward, rebuilding trust where necessary, strengthening relationships, and focusing our collective energy on the challenges and opportunities ahead.

Accessibility and Communication: Creating meaningful opportunities for members to receive information, ask questions, express concerns, participate in their union, and communicate with their elected representatives.

Accountability: Accepting responsibility for the offices entrusted to us, responsibly managing Local 12's resources, following our governing requirements, and being prepared to explain our decisions to the membership.

Experience and Preparedness: Using our collective knowledge, institutional experience, professional skills, and labor experience to protect members; rights and prepare Local 12 for the challenges ahead.

Advocacy: Taking the concerns of our members wherever they need to be heard and vigorously defending the contractual, workplace, and representational rights of the employees we serve.

H.O.M.E. is not about one candidate or one office. It is about what we believe Local 12 leadership should provide to its members.

We will not always agree. Our members will not always see issues the same way, and neither will their elected representatives. But disagreement should never prevent us from listening to one another, treating one another with respect, providing honest information, and working toward what is best for the entire membership. 

We are not running to take Local 12 backward. We are running to move Local 12 forward. That means learning from where we have been without remaining trapped there. It means recognizing that yesterday's disagreements cannot be allowed to become tomorrow's obstacles. There is too much at stake for federal employees and organized labor for us to spend our time fighting one another when we should be fighting together for our members.

Our commitment is to lead one Local 12—not a Local defined by individual agencies, personalities, past conflicts, or competing groups.

We want a Local where members are informed rather than simply told; heard rather than overlooked; represented rather than divided; and empowered to participate in the union that belongs to them.

We are ready to move forward—together.

That is our mission.

That is our commitment.

That is H.O.M.E. — Helping Our Members Endure.

One Local. Every Agency. Every Member. Moving Forward Together.

Want to learn more about our mission? Send an email to: helpingourmembersendure@gmail.com and we will schedule a time to talk outside of duty hours/off-site! 

Join Our Mailing List