For 94 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 federal and D.C. government employees who provide vital services to the American people.
When our union was chartered at the height of the Great Depression on Aug. 18, 1932, 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 had either 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.
Fast forward to today, and our challenges continue. After reaching a modern-day peak of nearly 332,000 members at the beginning of 2025, our membership numbers began a precipitous slide as the Trump administration launched a coordinated assault on federal workers’ jobs and our negotiated rights.
But we are a fighting union, and we have no intention of backing down. Because of our fighting spirit, we have weathered many storms and managed to land on our feet.
We have gone to court and paused or reversed many of the administration’s most egregious actions targeting our members’ jobs and workplace rights. We ensured that employees who were forced off the job or made to work without pay during this fiscal year’s three historic government shutdowns received the compensation they were owed. And we are starting to see membership gains thanks to on-the-ground recruiting efforts and the decision by many of our members to safeguard their union membership by enrolling in AFGE E-Dues.
Times are challenging right now, but we will survive and even thrive in the months and years ahead. Why? Because We Are AFGE!
For 94 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.
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Hundreds of AFGE leaders and activists are newly empowered to stamp out discrimination in federal and D.C. government workplaces thanks to the training they received at the 2026 S.T.A.N.D. Conference.
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Federal employees at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are hoping the agency’s newly confirmed leader will work to repair the relationship between workers and management.
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