Abstract AFSCME has produced a regularly published magazine since its inception. Publication duties for this organ and other materials were accomplished by the Education and Publications Department for the first twenty years of AFSCME’s existence. The 1954 Convention, however, passed Resolution 14, establishing a Publications and Public Relations Department. This new department would continue to publish the AFSCME magazine and other materials and would also take on new media public relations duties both...

Abstract The 1960s began a period of significant growth for AFSCME, which meant an increased need for knowledgeable members and staff. AFSCME began an education program around 1962, and by 1966 the International Union had established the Education and Leadership Training Department, later known simply as the Education Department. This collection contains records of the Education Department, particularly in regards to the department's collaboration with the AFSCME Organizing Department, and...

Abstract Gordon W. Chapman was elected secretary-treasurer of AFSCME in 1937. He served until 1944 when he became executive assistant to AFSCME president Arnold Zander. In 1948, he was reelected to the office of secretary-treasurer. Chapman resigned from AFSCME in 1961 to accept a State Department appointment as special assistant for the coordination of international labor affairs. In 1962, he was once again elected as secretary-treasurer of AFSMCE where he served until his retirement in 1966 due to...

Abstract This collection primarily covers the end of Gordon Chapman’s tenure as Secretary-Treasurer, and all of Joseph Ames’s tenure. These years saw turbulence in the International Union’s politics where founding incumbent president Arnold Zander faced challenges from an opposing faction called the Committee on Union Responsibility (COUR). COUR candidate Jerry Wurf won the presidency at the 1964 convention. Gordon Chapman held the office of Secretary-Treasurer. In 1966, Chapman retired due to poor...

Abstract In early 1950, the United Public Workers union was expelled from the CIO for alleged communist activities, leaving behind an anti-communist group called the Government Workers Union. In February of 1950, the CIO chartered the Government Workers Union as the Government and Civic Employees Organizing Committee (GCEOC) and gave the new committee jurisdiction over federal, state, and local employees. In the next five years, GCEOC aggressively attempted to reach full union status within the CIO but...

Abstract Between 1975 and 1985, the Archives of Labor and Urban Affairs at Wayne State University and AFSCME undertook a cooperative oral history project to gather and preserve the memories of key persons who witnessed or played a major role in the development of AFSCME. Professor of History Philip Mason headed the project and interviewed several leading AFSCME members. Collection consists of audio recordings and transcripts of interviews with seven of AFSCME's important early figures: Gordon Chapman,...

Abstract This collection reflects the work done by and through the AFSCME Organizing Department, 1967-1972. Important subjects and people that appear in the collection include public employee organizing; recruitment; organizations; elections; strikes; Chairman of the AFSCME Judicial Panel Joseph L. Ames; International Field Director P.J. Ciampa; and International President Jerry Wurf.

Abstract In 1973, Richard N. Billings and John Greenya contracted with AFSCME to write a history of the union, resulting in the 1974 book

Abstract The AFSCME Program Development Department was created in January of 1973 to deal with matters such as health care, the deinstitutionalization of the mentally ill, employee protections, career development, and sex discrimination. It was funded by federal grant money until 1975 when the funds ran out, the department was disbanded, and its several functions were taken over by other AFSCME departments. The records in Part I reflect the Department's concerns with women's issues, sex...

Abstract AFSCME Publications is a collection comprised of serials created and collected by AFSCME International, District Councils, and Locals. The collection also contains material produced as part of AFSCME’s biannual international conventions and articles published about AFSCME from an academic standpoint. The publications in this collection arrived at the Reuther Library over time and came from multiple sources. The collection features AFSCME’s official publication, which was first known...

Abstract Al Bilik served on the District Council 51, Cincinnati, Ohio and was an active labor member within the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO). Sensitive to the relationship of the larger international union working with and depending on the strength of locals and councils, he helped American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Union members Victor Gotbaum, Rob Hastings, Jerry Wurf, Joseph Ames, Norm Schut and Father Albert...

Abstract Bob Johnson served Michigan’s AFSCME organizations in various roles throughout his life. In his early career, he helped Local 1182 organize and negotiate to win their first contract. Metropolitan Council 23 in Detroit elected him president soon thereafter. Johnson succeeded in his campaign to become president of Michigan’s powerful AFSCME District Council 25 in 1978. In 1980, he was elected an international vice president of the union to represent workers in the state of Michigan. Johnson died...

Abstract Between November 1981 and January 1982, Joseph C. Goulden interviewed 10 individuals associated with the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) and influential, longtime leader Jerry Wurf, for Goulden's biography of Wurf,

Abstract Olive R. Beasley led a career devoted to improving human and civil rights for minority groups. She served as secretary and later as executive director of the Michigan Committee on Civil Rights and was a member of the Fair Employment Practices Commission. She continued to serve its successor, the Michigan Civil Rights Commission as executive director of the Flint office. She also held numerous posts in labor and community organizations in Detroit and Flint including president of AFSCME Local 52,...

Abstract The State Workers Organizing Committee (SWOC) was a semi-caucus and political movement that worked within several unions, including the Welfare Employees Union (WUE), the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), the Michigan State Employees Association (MSEA), and the United Auto Workers (UAW) in the late 1970s and early 1980s. SWOC was born from within the WEU and served as an activist organization that played a key role in establishing local union chapters,...

Abstract Susan E. Holleran was a labor journalist for AFSCME's national headquarters and its international magazine. Additionally, she was a founding member of the Coalition of Labor Union Women (CLUW), a member of the National Organization of Women (NOW), active in community service activities of the Washington, D.C. AFL-CIO, and coordinator of the first national conference on pay equity which resulted in the founding of the National Committee on Pay Equity in 1979. Holleran died of cancer on December...