WHEREAS:
For 90 years, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) has stood as a fierce and fighting union of public service workers; and
WHEREAS:
AFSCME was born in Wisconsin during the Great Depression, when state workers stood up for organizing rights and against political patronage. Arnold Zander became AFSCME’s first president in 1936. Two years later, 2,000 sanitation workers in Philadelphia struck against layoffs and pay cuts and won AFSCME’s first collective bargaining agreement with a major city; and
WHEREAS:
Through robust organizing, AFSCME grew to 73,000 members in the 1940s. AFSCME fought for stronger civil service laws and strove to create pension plans even as municipal workers went on strike in cities such as Detroit, Houston and San Francisco. In the 1950s, membership surged past 100,000 as AFSCME’s organizing prowess and national profile grew; and
WHEREAS:
Jerry Wurf was elected as our union’s second president in 1964. A year later, AFSCME’s newly rewritten constitution included a bill of rights for union members, a first for the American labor movement. A more aggressive and activist AFSCME emerged in the 1960s, attracting thousands of new members from coast to coast; and
WHEREAS:
AFSCME has a long history as a leader in the united fight for workers’ and civil rights, including during the historic 1968 AFSCME sanitation workers strike in Memphis, Tennessee. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in Memphis while supporting 1,300 striking AFSCME sanitation workers whose iconic, dignity-seeking slogan “I AM A MAN!” resonated across the nation; and
WHEREAS:
AFSCME intensified its activism over the next two decades as members turned up the heat in state-level fights. In 1970, road workers in Garrett County, Maryland, went on a 227-day strike — the longest public worker strike in U.S. history — as they sought recognition for the union they formed with AFSCME. Across the country, AFSCME fought for equality for women, including the historic fights for pay equity in Washington state and in San Jose, California, where AFSCME members went on strike in 1981 to push the city to fix disparities in compensation. AFSCME elected William “Bill” Lucy secretary-treasurer, the start of 38 years of his pathbreaking, legendary service helping to lead this union. More than 60 independent employee associations affiliated with AFSCME in this period; and
WHEREAS:
Gerald McEntee was elected AFSCME’s third president in 1981. AFSCME became the tip of the labor spear in the fight for collective bargaining rights, civil rights and social justice. AFSCME organized workers in corrections, health care, cultural institutions and transportation, and fought against the privatization of public services. AFSCME members helped end apartheid in South Africa and our union became a dominant political force in Washington, D.C., and state capitals; and
WHEREAS:
After a big push to give more workers a voice on the job in the 1990s, AFSCME achieved a milestone in 2001 as 60,000 public service workers in a dozen states and Puerto Rico organized with our union — the largest single year of organizing in three decades. On Sept. 11, 2001, AFSCME heroes ran toward danger in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks. Many stayed to help with rescue and recovery efforts long after the dust cleared; and
WHEREAS:
AFSCME members successfully fought off proposals to privatize Social Security; helped pass the Affordable Care Act, which brought health care to tens of millions more Americans; and helped elect Barack Obama, the nation’s first African American president. In 2012, AFSCME elected its fourth president, Lee Saunders, who also became our union’s first African American president; and
WHEREAS:
Faced with a surge of attacks from anti-worker billionaires and their political allies, AFSCME launched the AFSCME Strong organizing program, which focused on one-on-one conversations and volunteer member organizers, enabling more than 1 million member-to-member conversations in just one year. AFSCME Strong helped our union survive — and thrive — after a partisan and anti-labor U.S. Supreme Court ruled against our union in the 2018 Janus v. AFSCME Council 31 case. AFSCME retained most of its members and even grew in the aftermath of Janus; and
WHEREAS:
Tens of thousands of AFSCME members served as essential workers on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic, caring for the sick, protecting their communities, and serving despite the danger and the chaos. AFSCME members successfully pushed for $350 billion in aid to state and local governments and schools, saving public service jobs and giving communities the resources to bounce back from the pandemic’s devastation; and
WHEREAS:
AFSCME leads the labor movement in standing up to the anti-worker ideologues in the Trump administration and their allies in Congress. The battle is more urgent than ever before, but our union is winning fights to preserve collective bargaining rights, protect Medicare and Social Security, and mitigate the erosion of safety-net programs. AFSCME continues to grow in strength and in numbers, thanks to its Get Organized initiative; and
WHEREAS:
Since its founding in 1936, AFSCME has become one of America’s most powerful advocates for social and economic justice. Our union fights for collective bargaining rights, civil rights, women’s rights, LGBTQ+ rights, retirement security, Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, health care reform, and robust public services. In recent years, AFSCME has also led fights against income inequality, the political influence of billionaires and corporations, and the anti-worker MAGA movement; and
WHEREAS:
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said: “Less than a century ago, the laborer had no rights, little or no respect, and led a life which was socially submerged and barren. … The inspiring answer to this intolerable and dehumanizing existence was economic organization through trade unions. The worker became determined not to wait for charitable impulses to grow in his employer. He constructed the means by which a fairer sharing of the fruits of his toil had to be given to him. … Now everyone knows that the labor movement did not diminish the strength of the nation but enlarged it by raising the living standards of millions;” and
WHEREAS:
AFSCME is the nation’s largest and fastest-growing public service union with more than 1.4 million working and retired members. AFSCME members will summon the courage of those who fought before them and rely on 90 years of battle-hardened experience to continue fighting for democratic principles, social and economic justice, workers’ rights and public services.
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED:
Delegates to the 47th AFSCME International Convention salute every member who makes up the rich fabric of our 90-year history. Every day, they strengthen the voice of our union, stand up for workers’ rights and social justice and improve the vital services we provide in communities throughout the country. We vow to continue to mobilize and organize and lead. We will continue to pull together to build a better future for our members, their families, our communities and our country. And we will continue to fight to make the American dream a reality for all working families and retirees.
SUBMITTED BY:
International Executive Board