This is the first segment of AFGE’s 4-part series: AFGE at 90: How AFGE members have beaten the odds for nearly a century
Missed any of the other segments of the series? Read them here:
AFGE turns 90 this year. From the very beginning, our union’s mission has been not just to empower our members in the workplace but to give the American people a government that works for them and to strengthen our democracy.
During the first three decades after AFGE was founded, federal workers had no collective bargaining rights. We won improvements in pay, sick leave, annual leave, and retirement security through political pressure since bargaining was still a distant dream.
Unlike many other unions, we have also been required to operate in an “open shop” environment. That means no one is a member of AFGE just by virtue of their employment in the federal government. Every single member of AFGE has made a deliberate, affirmative choice to join and pay dues because they understand the benefit of being part of a union.
These unique challenges have made AFGE’s history one marked by union members overcoming obstacles, with each era bringing its own challenges, some of which were designed specifically to destroy government workers, their spirit, and their union.
From humble beginnings as a tiny union 90 years ago, today we are the country’s largest union representing federal and D.C. government employees. Without the will of AFGE members standing firmly together to fight the odds, we wouldn’t be here today.
This is our story.
Part 1: It was the best of times, it was the worst of times
AFGE was born during some of the most difficult times: the Great Depression and a conflict within the American Federation of Labor (AFL), which was the umbrella organization of unions at the time.
At the AFL convention in 1931, the National Federation of Federal Employees (NFFE) voted to leave the AFL after losing a debate over its decision to organize craft workers, which other skilled trades unions saw as a jurisdictional threat. 42 unionists who disagreed with NFFE’s vote to leave the AFL stayed and formed AFGE.
On Aug. 18, 1932, AFGE received a charter from the AFL and held our first convention a few months later – on Oct. 17. The delegates elected John Shaw as national president and kept Helen McCarthy, who had helped organize the new union, as chief organizer.
Against the backdrop of the Great Depression, our young union immediately faced immense challenges. The year AFGE was founded, President Herbert Hoover began implementing his Economy Act of 1932, which slashed federal workers’ pay by 15%, halted all hiring, wiped out promotions and transfers, and eliminated the 30-year optional retirement.
At the time, federal workers had no collective bargaining rights. There was no law that determined the hours they should work in a day or a week. There was no overtime pay for holidays, and not even a law requiring the government to give its workers paid annual and sick leave.
If there is no wind, row
By the time Franklin D. Roosevelt took office in March, 1933, the U.S. was in the throes of a Great Depression and thousands of banks had already closed their doors. Later that year, AFGE members voted in our new president – E. Claude Babcock.
FDR’s administration was a mixed bag for federal workers. He proposed a second devastating Economy Act and vetoed a bill that would restore the 15% pay cut, overtime, and pay adjustments federal workers had suffered. To get a raise, AFGE members worked hard to get Congress to override the veto, which it did overwhelmingly.
But FDR also appointed labor-friendly Frances Perkins as Secretary of the Department of Labor. Babcock would work closely with Perkins and others in the FDR administration to win improvements in retirement benefits, annual and sick leave, and more fairness on the job. In 1934, our union was able to help create the Government Employees Sick Benefit Association and made improvements in the Civil Service Retirement Act and Classification Act, which classified civilian positions.
One of the most worker-friendly bills to date was also signed into law by FDR – the Fair Labor Standard Acts, which “put a ceiling over hours and a floor under wages" – as the president himself said – by creating the right to a minimum wage, establishing overtime pay for those working more than 40 hours a week, and prohibiting most child labor. FDR also created Social Security. Both the law and the social safety net program still stand today, providing crucial benefits to workers, including AFGE members.
Another major win for AFGE under FDR was that the War Department, which was later named the Department of Defense, granted workers the right to organize.
Most important for federal workers, the spoils system, which remained entrenched despite the 1883 Pendleton Act, was eliminated. The system had harmed public employees and the effectiveness of American government, allowing the mission of government agencies to be distorted for partisan political purposes. But, under FDR, almost 14,000 jobs were taken off the patronage roles, giving those workers a voice and job security. AFGE’s effectiveness in lobbying Congress grew. By 1936, the union had grown to more than 37,000 members.
Concerns about the involvement of federal workers in electoral politics also led to the passage of the Hatch Act in 1939. The law prohibited nearly all partisan political activities by federal employees. Confusion over its scope and fear of being in violation of the act led to political paralysis among government workers. Some mistakenly believed they were not even allowed to vote. It would take AFGE more than 50 years to reform the Hatch Act. The 1993 reform law allowed federal employees to engage in partisan political activities during off-duty hours so that they can exercise their democratic rights as American citizens.
The war years
In the 1940s as the United States entered World War II, union members across America willingly signed up for the war effort, and AFGE pledged our full support. The government geared up for war, making labor peace at home a priority. FDR expanded Civil Service to another 100,000 federal workers, issued protections for those whose jobs were abolished to make room for war agencies, and provided paid overtime for federal workers. AFGE finally won uniformity in salary increases.
But some in Congress tried to exploit union workers’ patriotism. In 1942, Rep. Howard Smith from Virginia introduced a bill lifting the limit on hours worked, banning overtime pay, and making union contracts illegal. Rep. Lyle Boren from Oklahoma wanted to suspend all laws limiting work hours and to impose $10,000 fines on unions calling strikes.
Federal workers, including AFGE members, organized against these anti-worker bills and successfully defeated them.
The Red Scare
After the war, tensions between the U.S. and the Soviet Union grew. To contain the growing fears of communism that swept across America, President Truman signed an executive order authorizing a security program to perform security checks on federal workers to “drive out” subversive and communist elements operating in federal offices. A Congress-enacted Loyalty Review Board listed 91 organizations it considered subversive. AFGE endorsed a loyalty bill that required fingerprints of all federal workers. Loyalty boards were set up in every agency. Worried about the potential abuse of power, Truman assured federal workers of full government protection from unfounded suspicion.
But the Red Scare plagued the government when Sen. Joseph McCarthy, in an attempt to distract the public from charges of bribery and embellishment of a military record, announced in a speech that he had a list of “known communists” in the State Department. The distraction worked, and McCarthy launched a five-year witch hunt that forced thousands of labor activists, community leaders, and others out of their jobs. People were terrified of speaking out against McCarthy for fear he would turn his accusations on them.
It wasn’t until the Eisenhower administration that the McCarthy-era Loyalty Review Board was abolished.
Next week in Part 2, we’ll explore the union’s unprecedented growth, breakthroughs in improving working conditions, and the launch of the “A-76” outsourcing policy that would haunt government workers for decades to come.
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