The Rabble Rousers
by Emma Glazer
The Rabble Rousers, a slate of American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) District Council 33 Local 696 workers, are pushing to get on the ballot for leadership positions in the union. The local has 1300 members that span more than twenty departments primarily representing office clerk positions across Philadelphia. The slate is running candidates for the Local’s executive board, chief officers, and steward delegates. With the election upcoming, the Rabble Rousers made their pitch to rank and file members at a recent fundraiser, “The upcoming election is your chance to change Local 696 for the better: we are here to fight for us!”
Currently, one Rabble Rouser is on the Local’s Executive Board. This is a result of efforts in 2023, which resulted in the Rabble Rousers earning 45% of the vote, the most successful challenger slate in the history of Local 696. J. Matthew Catron, founding Rabble Rouser, emphasizes that “the Rabble Rousers haven’t always had a name or organization, but we’ve always been here.” Between official elections, Rabble Rousers have continued their efforts to improve working conditions for all union members of Local 696. Catron continued: “even without being in office…we assist workers with issues related to payroll discrepancies, sexual harassment complaints, and getting healthcare. We were instrumental in pushing Local 696 and District Council 33 towards including gender-affirming care in our healthcare plan.” The Rabble Rousers also circulate a newsletter to keep members informed on labor news and issues. Since the 2023 election, Rabble Rousers have won multiple election protest cases with AFSCME International to overturn unfair elections Local 696 hosted.
Others are new to the slate, such as Collin Kawan-Hemler, a library assistant in West Philadelphia. When asked about why he was running, Kawan-Hemler said, “In November 2025 at the general meeting I raised the Coalition for Black Trade Unionists (CBTU) call for a national union day of solidarity as something our local 696 ought to endorse in writing. Unfortunately my local president Tony Dinkins discouraged discussion on the matter. I am running for union elected office because I want to organize our members to bargain for the common good and fight for all working people.”
To gather momentum before the upcoming election, Rabble Rousers and allies gathered for a fundraiser on Sunday March 1, raising over $400. The event was an opportunity to hear from old and new organizers about the stakes of rank and file union organizing today as well as the logistics of the upcoming election. The celebration foregrounded the importance of collective power alongside the rallying slogan of “Many voices, one sound.”
When speaking with People’s World, Milo Best, 696 Member and Rabble Rousers’ Campaign Organizer, shared that “We want to remind our fellow members that we are the union! Our campaign slogan is ‘We fight for us,’ evoking the strike last summer,” during which Rabble Rousers stepped up as strike captains, organizing logistics and filling in where local leadership was absent. The Rabble Rousers slate represents a call to action for challenging the status quo of union leadership to one more grounded in building leadership from the rank and file, in Best’s words, “to facilitate member participation and empowerment, not undermine it.”
While AFSCME International recommends a minimum of 1 steward per 20 members, Local 696 is stuck with only 1 steward per 50 members, given that the steward and delegate positions are combined. Rabble Rousers have requested for their local to put the matter to a vote, but with this proposal rejected, the struggle continues. Raises are also a particularly important and sensitive subject for workers, who received only a 3% raise after a week-long strike in July. Rabble Rousers are fighting for the most basic human dignities of city workers: safe workplaces both environmentally and protections from discrimination/harassment. To ensure the health of workers, they also hope to end policies related to “sick abuse” wherein workers are penalized for using earned sick time for not providing sick note documentation. Thus, the Rabble Rousers fight is two-fold: for a more democratic and accountable union, and for the improvement of working conditions for union members locally.