An AFSCME History Timeline
“I have nothing to say for myself, only that I have tried to make this earth a little better.”
“Don’t waste time mourning — organize!”
—Joe Hill, labor organizer, agitator, songwriter
Fighting for Civil Service
|
1932 |
Small group of white-collar, professional employees in Madison, Wisc., fearing they would lose their civil service jobs to political patronage, formed the Wisconsin State Employees Association (WSEA), which would later become Council 24 (Wisconsin State Employees Union) |
|
1933 |
WSEA members hold meetings, march, demonstrate and lobby hard in the state legislature to defeat a bill that would have dismantled the state civil service system |
|
1935 |
Similar employee associations emerge in 19 states; at the American Federation of Labor (AFL) convention, the group, now known as the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), is made a “department” of the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) |
|
1936 |
AFSCME is granted a charter by the AFL; Arnold Zander is chosen as AFSCME’s first International president |
|
1938 |
2,000 sanitation workers in Philadelphia go on strike to protest layoffs and pay cuts and win AFSCME’s first bargaining agreement with a major city |
|
1936-1945 |
AFSCME focuses on lobbying in state legislatures to pass
or strengthen civil service laws; membership increases
from 10,000 to 73,000 |
|
1945-1946 |
World War II ends; the postwar period is marked by a wave of strikes as workers — 3.5 million in 1945 and 4.6 million in 1946 — strike for higher wages in the postwar economy; there is also unrest in the public sector as city employees strike in several cities |
|
1947 |
Eight states pass laws that would penalize striking public workers; Congress passes the Taft-Hartley Act, which restricts private-sector unions and makes it easier for employers to break strikes |
|
1955 |
AFL and CIO (Congress of Industrial Organizations) merge to form the AFL-CIO; AFSCME membershippasses 100,000 |
Bargaining for Rights
|
1958 |
A series of strikes and demonstrations in New York City pressures Mayor Robert Wagner to sign an executive order granting collective bargaining rights to unions representing city employees; under leadership of District Council 37 President Jerry Wurf, AFSCME begins winning elections that make it the strongest public worker union in the city |
|
1961 |
President John Kennedy issues Executive Order 10988, legitimizing collective bargaining for federal employees and creating a favorable atmosphere for all public employees |
|
1964 |
Jerry Wurf — running on a platform of aggressive organizing, fighting for collective bargaining rights for public workers, and union reform/union democracy — is elected the second International president at the biennial AFSCME Convention |
|
1965 |
A special AFSCME Convention rewrites AFSCME’s Constitution and includes a Bill of Rights for union members, a first in the American labor movement
By year’s end, several states enact collective bargaining laws for public employees; AFSCME membership reaches 250,000 |
Militant Demands for Respect
|
Mid-1960s |
More states pass collective bargaining laws; AFSCME’s demands for respect for public workers become linked with the civil rights movement and progressive groups that protest economic, racial and social injustice |
|
1968 |
Sanitation workers in Memphis, Tenn., strike for union recognition and against the city’s discriminatory practices; Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. marches with the striking workers and is assassinated; the city agrees to recognize the workers’ union, AFSCME Local 1733 |
|
1972 |
William Lucy is elected secretary-treasurer of the International union |
|
1975 |
In Pennsylvania, some 46,000 AFSCME represented state workers strike for fair wages — the first legal, large-scale strike by public employees |
Growth In AFSCME Membership
Power Through Organizing and Political Action
|
Mid-1970s |
Over 60 independent employee associations affiliate with AFSCME |
|
1978 |
The New York Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA), with 250,000 members, affiliates with AFSCME and pushes membership over the 1 million mark |
|
1980s |
In an era of anti-public worker sentiment, AFSCME greatly increases its political activism and visibility and helps elect AFSCME-endorsed candidates at all government levels; collective bargaining rights are won in three new states: Illinois, Ohio and Nebraska |
|
1981 |
President Ronald Reagan breaks a strike by PATCO (Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization), beginning an era of attacks on workers in both the public and private sectors
AFSCME’s 60,000-member delegation, the largest from any single union, leads the AFL-CIO Solidarity Day — a massive demonstration in Washington, D.C., demanding fair treatment for American workers
City workers in San Jose, Calif., members of AFSCME Local 101, wage the first strike in the nation’s history over the issue of pay equity for women workers
AFSCME President Jerry Wurf dies after a long illness; Gerald McEntee — who had led AFSCME’s successful organizing drive in Pennsylvania in the 1970s and had served as director of Pennsylvania Council 13 — is chosen as the third International president |
|
1989 |
The National Union of Hospital and Health Care Employees (NUHHCE) affiliates with AFSCME and solidifies the union as the leading voice for the rights of health care workers |
|
1990 |
AFSCME membership surpasses 1.2 million |
|
1998 |
Delegates at AFSCME’s Convention commit to a bold program of aggressive organizing |
|
2001 |
60,000 public service workers in a dozen states and Puerto Rico organize with AFSCME — the largest single year of organizing in three decades |
|
2002 |
Another 55,000 workers join AFSCME; membership reaches 1.3 million |
|
2004 |
AFSCME Convention delegates passed the 21st Century Resolution, creating a committee to examine every aspect of the union and to make recommendations to the 2006 AFSCME Convention |
|
|
 |
.gif)
