American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees
Encyclopedia
Trade union
A trade union, trades union or labor union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with...
in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and one of the fastest-growing, representing over 1.4 million employees, primarily in local and state government and in the health care industry. AFSCME is part of the AFL-CIO
AFL-CIO
The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations, commonly AFL–CIO, is a national trade union center, the largest federation of unions in the United States, made up of 56 national and international unions, together representing more than 11 million workers...
, one of the two main labor federations in the United States. Employees at the federal government level are primarily represented by other unions, such as the American Federation of Government Employees
American Federation of Government Employees
The American Federation of Government Employees is an American labor union representing over 625,000 employees of the federal government, about 5,000 employees of the District of Columbia, and a few hundred private sector employees, mostly in and around federal facilities...
, with which AFSCME was once affiliated, and the National Treasury Employees Union
National Treasury Employees Union
The National Treasury Employees Union is an independent labor union representing approximately 150,000 employees of 30 agencies of the United States government...
; but AFSCME does represent some federal employees at the Federal Aviation Administration
Federal Aviation Administration
The Federal Aviation Administration is the national aviation authority of the United States. An agency of the United States Department of Transportation, it has authority to regulate and oversee all aspects of civil aviation in the U.S...
and the Library of Congress
Library of Congress
The Library of Congress is the research library of the United States Congress, de facto national library of the United States, and the oldest federal cultural institution in the United States. Located in three buildings in Washington, D.C., it is the largest library in the world by shelf space and...
, among others.
According to their website, AFSCME organizes for social and economic rights of their protectorates in the workplace and through political action and legislative advocacy. It is divided into more than 3,500 local unions in 46 U.S. states, plus the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico , officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico , is an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of both the United States Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands.Puerto Rico comprises an...
. Each local union writes its own constitution
Constitution
A constitution is a set of fundamental principles or established precedents according to which a state or other organization is governed. These rules together make up, i.e. constitute, what the entity is...
, holds membership meetings, and elects its own officers. Councils
Committee
A committee is a type of small deliberative assembly that is usually intended to remain subordinate to another, larger deliberative assembly—which when organized so that action on committee requires a vote by all its entitled members, is called the "Committee of the Whole"...
are also a part of AFSCME's administrative structure, usually grouping together various locals in a geographic area.
History
AFSCME was founded in 1932 as the Wisconsin State Administrative, Clerical, Fiscal and Technical Employees Association (quickly becoming the Wisconsin State Employees Association) amid fears of the possible elimination of the civil serviceCivil service
The term civil service has two distinct meanings:* A branch of governmental service in which individuals are employed on the basis of professional merit as proven by competitive examinations....
and a return to patronage
Patronage
Patronage is the support, encouragement, privilege, or financial aid that an organization or individual bestows to another. In the history of art, arts patronage refers to the support that kings or popes have provided to musicians, painters, and sculptors...
jobs. Its driving force and first president was Arnold Zander.
It grew slowly over the next several decades, gradually changing from an association formed to protect civil service systems to a union interested in collective bargaining
Collective bargaining
Collective bargaining is a process of negotiations between employers and the representatives of a unit of employees aimed at reaching agreements that regulate working conditions...
. It started growing particularly quickly in the 1960s under the presidency of Jerome Wurf
Jerome Wurf
Jerome Wurf was a U.S. labor leader and president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees from 1964 to 1981.Wurf was born in New York City in 1919...
. In 1968, Martin Luther King, Jr.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Martin Luther King, Jr. was an American clergyman, activist, and prominent leader in the African-American Civil Rights Movement. He is best known for being an iconic figure in the advancement of civil rights in the United States and around the world, using nonviolent methods following the...
was assassinated while in Memphis, Tennessee
Memphis, Tennessee
Memphis is a city in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Tennessee, and the county seat of Shelby County. The city is located on the 4th Chickasaw Bluff, south of the confluence of the Wolf and Mississippi rivers....
to support a strike by the black sanitation workers' union, AFSCME Local 1733. In 1993 a documentary movie was produced, titled At the River I Stand, about the Memphis sanitation workers' strike that brought Martin Luther King Jr. to Memphis.
Leadership
Gerald McEntee
Gerald W. "Jerry" McEntee is an American union activist. Since 1981, he has been the International President of the 1.4 million-member American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees , one of the largest and most politically active unions in the AFL-CIO. McEntee succeeded Jerry Wurf as...
. McEntee was first elected AFSCME President in 1981 and was re-elected in July 2008 to another four-year term. McEntee is a vice-president of the AFL-CIO and is the chair of the AFL-CIO Political Education Committee. McEntee is an influential political player in the Democratic Party
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
.
For many years the Secretary-Treasurer was William Lucy. Lucy was first elected AFSCME Secretary-Treasurer in May 1972 and was re-elected in June 2008 to his latest four-year term. Lucy is a former President of Local 1675, Contra Costa County Employees Association of Contra Costa County, California
Contra Costa County, California
Contra Costa County is a primarily suburban county in the San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2010 census, it had a population of 1,049,025...
, where he was employed for 13 years. Lucy also served as president of the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists
Coalition of Black Trade Unionists
The Coalition of Black Trade Unionists is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization of African American trade union members affiliated with the AFL-CIO....
(CBTU).
On February 22, 2010, it was announced that William Lucy was retiring in the middle of his four-year term. His successor, Lee A. Saunders, was elected at the July 2010 AFSCME International Convention in Boston, Massachusetts. Saunders is a former Executive Assistant to President McEntee, and has served as Administrator of a number of AFSCME councils and large local unions across the country. .
Campaigns
Due to the wave of privatizationPrivatization
Privatization is the incidence or process of transferring ownership of a business, enterprise, agency or public service from the public sector to the private sector or to private non-profit organizations...
of public services, AFSCME has long pursued a policy of "following the work": organizing workers who perform work in the public interest, whether the operator is non-profit or commercial. In New York, for example, in February 2006, 1200 employees of Lifespire Inc., a New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
human services agency that provides services to the developmentally disabled, joined the Civil Service Employees Association
Civil Service Employees Association
The Civil Service Employees Association is a labor union, now Local 1000 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees . Founded by civil service workers for the State of New York as the Association of State Civil Service Employees on Oct. 24, 1910, the CSEA affiliated with...
(CSEA)/AFSCME Local 1000, AFSCME’s single biggest affiliate, through a card check
Card check
Card check is a method for American employees to organize into a labor union in which a majority of employees in a bargaining unit sign authorization forms, or "cards," stating they wish to be represented by the union...
campaign.
AFSCME is also currently running campaigns to organize home-based family child care providers. To date AFSCME has been able to secure gubernatorial Executive Order[s] recognizing the union as the representative of home-based child care providers in Wisconsin, Oregon, New York, and Michigan
Michigan
Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....
. In New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
, Gov. Corzine
Corzine
Corzine may refer to:* Dave Corzine , basketball player* Jon Corzine , CEO of MF Global, former politician, former CEO of Goldman Sachs...
signed an executive order on August 2, 2006 recoginizing AFSCME and the Communications Workers of America
Communications Workers of America
Communications Workers of America is the largest communications and media labor union in the United States representing about 550,000 members in both the private and public sectors. The union has 27 locals in Canada via CWA-SCA Canada representing about 8,000 members...
(CWA) as the unions representing child care providers in that state. In Michigan, the Child Care union is known as Child Care Providers Together-Michigan (CCPTM). CCPTM was organized with the help of the United Auto Workers
United Auto Workers
The International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America, better known as the United Auto Workers , is a labor union which represents workers in the United States and Puerto Rico, and formerly in Canada. Founded as part of the Congress of Industrial...
, and the UAW currently represents roughly 40% of CCPTM members. AFSCME also represents child care providers in Franklin
Franklin County, Ohio
Franklin County is a county located in the state of Ohio, United States. In 2010 the population was 1,163,414, making it the second largest county in Ohio and the 34th largest county in population in the United States. Franklin County is also the largest in the eight-county Columbus, Ohio...
and Lucas
Lucas County, Ohio
----...
counties in Ohio.
When Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich
Rod Blagojevich
Rod R. Blagojevich is an American politician who served as the 40th Governor of Illinois from 2003 to 2009. A Democrat, Blagojevich was a State Representative before being elected to the United States House of Representatives representing parts of Chicago...
signed an executive order that allowed the providers to collectively bargain with the state, the move launched a turf war
Turf war
According to Wordnet the definition of a turf war is "a bitter struggle for territory or power or control or rights". For example: a turf war erupted between street gangs; the president's resignation was the result of a turf war with the board of directors. In larger companies Turf wars could...
, with the Service Employees International Union
Service Employees International Union
Service Employees International Union is a labor union representing about 1.8 million workers in over 100 occupations in the United States , and Canada...
(SEIU) battling AFSCME for the exclusive right to organize the workers. AFSCME argued they would be better suited for negotiating with the state, while the SEIU claimed it already unofficially represented 20,000 of the workers. An independent mediator ruled that the SEIU and not AFSCME should represent nearly 49,000 home child care providers in that state. The mediator found that the SEIU had been trying to organize the workers since 1996, while AFSCME had started just a month earlier. Despite its success in organizing child care providers, AFSCME was rejected.
In California, AFSCME represents the lower paid workforce at all ten campuses of the University of California
University of California
The University of California is a public university system in the U.S. state of California. Under the California Master Plan for Higher Education, the University of California is a part of the state's three-tier public higher education system, which also includes the California State University...
. The union in 2007 resolved a pay equity dispute that had dogged the University for two years. It led a number of political and entertainment figures to refuse to cross an informational picket for the purpose of giving keynote speeches at graduation ceremonies.
Contributions to political campaigns
According to the Center for Responsive PoliticsCenter for Responsive Politics
The Center for Responsive Politics is a non-profit, nonpartisan research group based in Washington, D.C. that tracks money in politics and the effect of money and lobbying activity on elections and public policy and maintains a public online database of its information.Their database...
, AFSCME is the United States' largest single contributor to political campaigns, having donated more than US$38 million since 1990. The organization contributes almost exclusively to Democratic Party
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
campaigns; since 1990 the ratio of Democratic to Republican contributions by the AFSCME has exceeded 98:1. In addition to combating the privatization mentioned above, key political objectives for the group include raising the minimum wage
Minimum wage
A minimum wage is the lowest hourly, daily or monthly remuneration that employers may legally pay to workers. Equivalently, it is the lowest wage at which workers may sell their labour. Although minimum wage laws are in effect in a great many jurisdictions, there are differences of opinion about...
and opposing the substitution of vacation time for overtime
Overtime
Overtime is the amount of time someone works beyond normal working hours. Normal hours may be determined in several ways:*by custom ,*by practices of a given trade or profession,*by legislation,...
pay due workers. In June 2008, AFSCME, along with MoveOn.org, spent over US$500,000 on a television advertisement
Not Alex
Not Alex, also referred to as Baby Alex, is a political television advertisement which aired during the 2008 U.S. Presidential campaign. Created by MoveOn.org, the ad features a mother holding her baby, Alex, and telling the camera that John McCain couldn't have him as a future soldier in the Iraq...
critical of the presumed Republican presidential nominee John McCain
John McCain
John Sidney McCain III is the senior United States Senator from Arizona. He was the Republican nominee for president in the 2008 United States election....
.
External links
- Official website
- Vintage AFSCME Video Parody
- Disgrace Before God: Striking Black Sanitation Workers vs. Black Officialdom in 1977 Atlanta An article in New Beginnings: A Journal of Independent Labor about the 1977 sanitation workers strike led by AFSCME Local 1644