Who Is AFSCME?

AFSCME is a democratic union comprised of a diverse group of people who share a common commitment to public service. For us, serving the public is not just a job, it’s a calling. An important part of our mission is to advocate for the vital services that keep our families safe and make our communities strong. We also advocate for prosperity and opportunity for all of America’s working families. We not only stand for fairness at the bargaining table — we fight for fairness in our communities and in the halls of government.

Behavioral health professionals make up an important piece of AFSCME’s strength across the country. From social workers to addiction and mental health counselors, AFSCME members work in our nation’s hospitals, clinics and out-patient services. We can be found at small private practice facilities to large non-profit networks. With more than 50,000 behavioral health professionals and growing, we are coming together as a movement, lifting our voices and the voices of our clients to drive meaningful change.

Our democratic principles are enshrined in the AFSCME International Constitution.

Our Leadership

Patrick Moran is the president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, AFL-CIO, with 1.4 million members in communities across the nation, serving in hundreds of different occupations — from correctional officers to healthcare workers, sanitation workers to childcare providers. He was elected at the union’s 47th International Convention in Chicago in August 2026.

Moran is a lifelong organizer who has spent more than two decades building unions across the country. Before his election as president, he served for 14 years as president of AFSCME Maryland Council 3, growing the council to three times its size and into one of the largest public service worker unions in the state.

Moran was born in Michigan and grew up in a union household outside Detroit. His father’s job as a special education teacher and a member of the National Education Association gave the family a pathway into the middle class.

After graduating from the University of Michigan, Moran trained with the AFL-CIO Organizing Institute before being recruited by the Laborers’ International Union of North America (LiUNA), where he spent three years organizing construction, industrial and poultry workers across the country. He then became a partner in the Direct Organizing Group, guiding organizing campaigns for unions across the labor movement. He joined AFSCME as an area organizing director, helping build the union from Puerto Rico to Washington state before Maryland AFSCME Council 3 elected him to lead the council in 2012.

Under Moran’s leadership, Council 3 won collective bargaining rights for 15,000 previously excluded public employees, including the Office of the Public Defender, county library workers and frontline state supervisors. The council won consolidated bargaining and negotiated the first statewide master agreement for University System of Maryland workers, secured more than $23 million in back pay for state correctional officers who were victims of wage theft, and won the state’s only pandemic hazard pay settlement for frontline workers. In 2023, Moran led the unification of Councils 3 and 67 while organizing 9,000 new workers and winning historic statewide heat safety and workplace violence prevention standards. Moran served as AFSCME International vice president for the Capital District.

As president, Moran is focused on growing worker power by organizing new members, defending public services, and making sure every worker who serves their community has a seat at the table and a voice on the job.

Nicole Pollard is secretary-treasurer of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, AFL-CIO, with 1.4 million members. She was elected at the union’s 47th International Convention in Chicago in August 2026.

Pollard brings more than three decades of labor union experience to the role, including 23 years as an AFSCME member. Before her election, she served as executive assistant to AFSCME President Lee Saunders, providing counsel and support to leaders across the union.

Over her career, Pollard has served as legal counsel to three international unions — AFSCME, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters and the National Education Association — representing workers across sectors and helping unions navigate complex legal, financial and organizational challenges. She has knocked on doors to organize new workers, bargained national and local contracts, and represented workers in grievance and arbitration proceedings. She worked with AFSCME leaders to build the union’s racial and gender equity program, COURAGE to be Stronger, and partnered with AFSCME members to protect voting rights and ensure fair, secure elections.

Pollard is the daughter of a Philadelphia public school teacher and a U.S. Postal Service worker, both career public servants and active union members. She was especially shaped by her grandmother, an AFSCME member, officer, steward and activist at St. Elizabeths Hospital in Washington, D.C. Pollard carries the same union card her grandmother once held, a member of the former AFSCME Local 2095 — now part of the National Union of Hospital and Health Care Employees, 1199DC.

As executive assistant to the president, Pollard traveled the country partnering with AFSCME affiliates during periods of growth and crisis alike. Serving as deputy administrator of several AFSCME affiliates, she helped locals and councils become more resourceful, innovative and powerful. She has a deep knowledge of the AFSCME International Constitution and played a central role in modernizing the union’s Financial Standards Code, Local Union Election Manual, and Judicial Panel procedures.