Essential state workers abandoned again

29 October 2021

Topeka, KS – This week the Legislative Coordinating Council approved a 5% raise for all legislative staff during the 2022 session and a $250 retention bonus for all staffers who are continuing from this year's session. This decision comes after Kansas Senate and House leadership removed from the budget a modest and long-overdue 2.5% pay increase for all state employees. Said AFT-Kansas and KOSE President Sarah LaFrenz,

“All Kansas state agencies are facing major staff shortages. We have urged the legislature time and time again to provide

Employees have received only one general raise in over a decade

7 May 2021

Topeka, KS – In response to the Legislature's Budget Conference Committee failure to agree to a 2.5% pay raise for state employees, AFT Kansas President Sarah LaFrenz gave the following statement:

“For Kansans, and even most legislators in Topeka, it is clear as day that state employees have earned a modest 2.5% pay raise. This past year, they have worked harder and sacrificed more than ever in frontline essential jobs. In service to their state, workers have had to quarantine from their families, scramble to find

Frontline Service Pay Act Uses Authority and Funding from the American Rescue Plan Act to Help Workers and Businesses Through Final Stages of the Pandemic

7 April 2021

Topeka, KS – In an op-ed today published in the Kansas City Star, Senate Minority Leader Dinah Sykes (D-21) outlined why she introduced the Frontline Service Pay Act, which will provide swift, direct relief for workers on the frontlines of the pandemic who make less than $25 per hour at no cost to Kansas taxpayers. Sen. Sykes called on Republican Leadership and Governor Laura Kelly to work together to include the plan in upcoming

When we're locked out of our jobs, how do we pay our bills? Find out how the AFT helped this member in a big way. 

Let us tell you why nurses are committed to talking about nurse staffing — at the bedside, in contract negotiations and everywhere in between.
Safe staffing saves lives. It’s as simple as that.