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AFGE Celebrates 92 Years of Empowering Government Workers

AFGE Celebrates 92 Years of Empowering Government Workers

August 12, 2024

Categories: The Insider

For 92 years, AFGE’s mission has been to improve the lives of government workers and make sure they have the resources they need to serve the American people. Whether fighting for fair compensation or improved working conditions, our union is a major source of support for government employees who provide vital services to the American people.

When our union was chartered in 1932 at the height of the Great Depression, it was a tough time to be a union. Up to 15 million people, about 20% of the population at the time, were unemployed. Over 9,000 banks either had closed or were closing their doors. Government employees were easy targets for austerity measures. Furloughs were the norm. Overtime pay was eliminated. Retirement-age employees were forced out of their jobs. If two members of the same family worked for the government, one had to be laid off before other workers during a reduction in force.   

But we have come a long way. Because of our fighting spirit, we have weathered many storms and managed to land on our feet. From securing President Kennedy’s executive order creating a system to recognize federal employee unions, to preventing wholesale privatization of government jobs, to winning a historic 31% pay raise for TSA officers, AFGE never stops fighting for what we believe in.

“AFGE has won so many legislative and policy battles that seemed impossible. But this union never gives up.  I think the reason is that members, leaders and staff all believe so fervently in our cause that we take on huge challenges without fear of failure,” said AFGE Public Policy Director Jacque Simon, who has been with AFGE for more than 35 years and is the force behind the annual and locality pay raises our members have been receiving.

Our grassroots mobilization work is also a prime example of our union’s foresight. Several of our accomplishments stem from our ability to educate and build relationships with members of Congress. As Field Mobilization Director Amy Lloyd, who has been with AFGE for 24 years, explains:

“I joined AFGE in May 2000 as the SWAMP (Stop Wasting America’s Money on Privatization) campaign was building. This was the first of many mobilization campaigns I have been fortunate to be a part of as AFGE developed staff support to build local activists by having the foresight to hire a team of LPOs (Legislative Political Organizers) to work with locals to elect and build relationships with their members of Congress to work with them on issues important and vital to government employees including to protect their right to organize and be represented by a union as well as increase contributions to AFGE PAC to support those candidates.”

“In 2013 during AFGE’s Leadership Conference, AFGE leaders created the local LPC (Legislative Political Coordinator) program and have worked with LPOs to build an army of local leaders to mobilize their members to be activists on issues that range from getting fair pay increases to stopping government shutdowns,” Lloyd continued “As AFGE leaders and members have faced repeated attempts to eliminate their right to organize and have a union, they have banded together to fight back and say “I’m sticking with my union.” I’m proud to have been a small part of defeating so many of those challenges and the great successes they’ve achieved. The motto “Who are We? AFGE!” rang true in 2000 and to this day in 2024.” 

Let’s take a trip down memory lane and explore some of our early accomplishments that led to the workplace rights we have today. As AFGE celebrates 92 years on Aug. 18, we are more determined than ever to make government a better place to work!

When the union was chartered in 1932, AFGE represented only 542 federal workers. By 1936, our union grew to 37,000 members. Fueling our growth were AFGE’s hard-won improvements in sick leave, annual leave, and retirement security as well as the elimination of the spoils system.
From the founding of the union, civil rights were high on the minds of AFGE members. In 1939, five years after the AFL passed a resolution banning discrimination, AFGE began an organizing drive in Washington, D.C. by drawing up a Bill of Rights for African Americans in federal and local Washington governments.
AFGE finally won uniformity in salary raises as the government geared up for World War II in the 1940s, making labor peace at home a priority.
Throughout the 1950s, AFGE continued to fend off efforts to wipe out the civil service, including the launch of the A-76 contracting out policy. Decades later, AFGE won legislation banning the use of A-76 governmentwide, which is still in effect today.
In 1960, we won establishment of the Federal Employee Health Insurance Program (FEHBP) to provide affordable health care coverage for federal workers.
In 1961, we secured President Kennedy’s executive order granting labor relations and federal employee union recognition. This was considered the most significant victory in that era for our union and federal employees, allowing us to come together as one to secure a better future for our families. As pay and working conditions improved, more employees felt empowered and joined AFGE. As a result, our union’s membership grew by 159% in the ensuing decade, enabling us to make even greater gains for workers.   
In 1966, after building on years of organizing and political successes, AFGE and the Department of Labor signed an agreement that would lay the foundation for an exclusive bargaining agreement between the union and DOL field office employees. It would become the foundation for exclusive representation agreements for departments across the federal government in the decades to come.
Taking the lead in creating a union response to racist policies and practices in the federal sector, AFGE in 1968 created the Fair Practices Department at a time when America faced the most difficult challenges of its time regarding race. The department was expanded to the Women’s and Fair Practices Departments in 1974.
In 1969, AFGE members lobbied and won several improved retirement benefits, including a pension formula based on the three highest consecutive years of service that’s still in use today.
AFGE’s first organized political action came with the Committee on Federal Employee Political Action Education, formed in 1972. The group’s mandate was to register voters, educate them and get them to the polls on Election Day.
In 1972, AFGE won passage of a wage grade law which provided unprecedented gains to federal blue-collar workers as it sets pay rates in line with local prevailing rates and provides equal pay for substantially equal work. Before the law, there was no central authority to establish wage equity. 
In 1978, AFGE helped secure passage of the Civil Service Reform Act, a landmark law that affects every federal government employee to this day. The law expanded collective bargaining rights for federal workers and created the Federal Labor Relations Authority (FLRA) to promote effective labor-management relations and resolve conflicts between agencies and unions. In codifying these rights in law rather than relying on presidential executive orders, AFGE protected federal employees when the anti-worker administrations sought to destroy their rights.
In the 1980s, AFGE fought efforts to eliminate pensions for government employees. AFGE led the fight with a coalition of unions to create the Federal Employee Retirement System (FERS) as the replacement for the Civil Service Retirement System (CRSR), which President Ronald Reagan was successful in ending.