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68-659: It was founded on April 14, 1923, by the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America . As of 30 July 2023, Amalgamated Bank had $ 7.8 billion in assets. Through its Institutional Asset Management and Custody Division, Amalgamated Bank is one of the leading providers of investment and trust services to Taft–Hartley plans in the United States. The bank oversees over $ 45 billion in investment advisory and custodial services. In August 2018, Amalgamated Bank filed an initial public offering and became publicly traded on

136-566: A bank, Amalgamated Bank , that would serve labor's interests. Hillman and the ACWA had strong ties to many progressive reformers, such as Jane Addams and Clarence Darrow . Hillman was, on the other hand, opposed to revolutionary unionism and to the Communist Party USA . While Hillman had maintained warm relations with the Communist Party during the early 1920s—at a time when his leadership

204-534: A chapter within the American Federation of Government Employees . AFSCME received a separate charter from the AFL in 1936. In the 1930s, AFSCME was primarily a union for white-collar civil service workers, including librarians, social workers and clerical staff. These workers were legally without the right to collectively bargain , let alone strike —rights which Zander did not support. The union grew slowly over

272-518: A fellow veteran of the Hart. Schaffner & Marx strike of 1910, succeeded Hillman upon his death in 1946. The Amalgamated continued to grow during the 1950s, crossing the 300,000 member threshold in 1951, but, like other garment unions, faced long-term pressures from the flight of unionized work to non-union manufacturers in the South and abroad. The ACWA had played a leading role in the funding and leadership of

340-459: A four-month lockout in New York City , but came away in an even stronger position. By 1920, the union had contracts with 85 percent of men's garment manufacturers and had reduced the workweek to 44 hours. Under Hillman's leadership, the union tried to moderate the fierce competition between employers in the industry by imposing industry wide working standards, thereby taking wages and hours out of

408-886: A halfway house for Socialists and other leftists who wanted to support FDR's reelection but were not prepared to join the Democratic Party. Dubinsky later split from the Labor Party over personal and political differences with Hillman to found the Liberal Party of New York . ACWA represented strikers in the Farah strike , 1972–1974. Lindsay, Debra. The Clothes Off Our Back: A History of ACTWU 459. Manitoba Labour History Series, Winnipeg: Manitoba Labour Education Centre, 1995. ISBN   0-9695258-6-9 American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees ( AFSCME )

476-459: A long history of helping union movements. It once opened its bank vaults on a Saturday to provide $ 300,000 in bail for striking workers. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People ( NAACP ) received $ 800,000 to post a cash bond within 24 hours. In 1973, bank employees worked all weekend to keep striking Philadelphia teachers out of jail. In 1982, Amalgamated made a $ 200,000 loan to

544-577: A new union known as UNITE HERE . After a bitter internal dispute in 2009, the majority of the UNITE side of the union, along with some of the disgruntled HERE locals left UNITE HERE, and formed a new union named Workers United , led by former UNITE president Bruce Raynor . In 1914, the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America—also known as "ACWA" or simply "the Amalgamated"—formed as a result of

612-628: A pioneer in aggressively recruiting women and black workers. In 1968, Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated while in Memphis, Tennessee to support a strike by the African-American sanitation workers ' union, AFSCME Local 1733. By 1969, AFSCME was unionizing 1,000 new workers each day. The organization saw its greatest period of growth in the 1970s. In 1973, AFSCME concluded a three-year organizing campaign of 75,000 Pennsylvania employees. It

680-458: A union president, secretary-treasurer and 35 regional vice presidents. Notable Secretary-Treasurers include Gordon Chapman (1937–1944, 1948–1961, 1962–1966), Joseph Ames (1966–1972) and William Lucy (1972–2010). Starting in the 2000s, AFSCME began campaigns to organize home-based family child care providers. In 2005, when Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich signed an executive order allowing home child care providers to collectively bargain with

748-491: Is known for its involvement in political campaigns, almost exclusively with the Democratic Party . AFSCME was one of the first groups to take advantage of the 2010 Citizens United decision, which allowed unions and corporations to directly finance ads that expressly call for the election or defeat of a candidate. Major political issues for AFSCME include single-payer health care , protecting pension benefits, increasing

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816-564: Is the largest trade union of public employees in the United States. It represents 1.3 million public sector employees and retirees, including health care workers, corrections officers, sanitation workers, police officers, firefighters, and childcare providers. Founded in Madison, Wisconsin , in 1932, AFSCME is part of the AFL–CIO , one of the two main labor federations in the United States. AFSCME has had four presidents since its founding. The union

884-714: The Amalgamated Housing Cooperative , the first union-supported housing development in the United States, which is located in The Bronx . In the late 1920s, Amalgamated Bank had a "Travel Department" that advertised "Visit Soviet Russia" in New Masses magazine. In 1957, it financed the construction of Park Reservoir Housing Cooperative in the Bronx, which was the first affordable housing development created under New York State's Mitchell-Lama Housing Program . Amalgamated has

952-785: The Congress of Industrial Organizations . It merged with the Textile Workers Union of America (TWUA) in 1976 to form the Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers Union (ACTWU), which merged with the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union in 1995 to create the Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees (UNITE). UNITE merged in 2004 with the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees Union (HERE) in 2004 to create

1020-537: The Fair Labor Standards Act . Within the AFL, the ACWA was one of the strongest advocates for organizing the mass production industries, such as automobile manufacture and steel, where unions had almost no presence, as well as the textile industry, which was only partially organized. Hillman was one of the original founders in 1935 of the Committee for Industrial Organizing, an effort led by John L. Lewis , and

1088-655: The International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union (ILGWU, or ILG), in years to come, it had far less influence over the ACWA. The Amalgamated solidified its gains and extended its power in Chicago through a series of strikes in the last half of the 1910s. The Amalgamated found it harder, on the other hand, to make gains in Baltimore , where it was able to sign an agreement with one of the largest manufacturers that, like HSM (Hart Schaffner and Marx) in Chicago, sought labor peace, it found itself at odds with an unusual alliance of UGW locals,

1156-516: The NASDAQ , under the ticker symbol "AMAL". The bank offers personal banking, small business banking solutions, commercial banking, and institutional investing services across New York, California, Massachusetts, Washington, D.C., and Colorado. On March 16, 1923, the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America chartered the Amalgamated Bank of New York. On April 14, 1923, the bank opened its doors to

1224-594: The United Federation of Teachers as well as other groups such as the Democratic Governors Association , Economic Policy Institute , League of Conservation Voters , Organizing for Action , and Public Citizen . Workers United remains a client, e.g., Philadelphia Joint Board, Workers United. Amalgamated Bank has a long history of shareholder activism: Since its founding in 1923, Amalgamated Bank has been dedicated to supporting American workers and

1292-514: The United Negro College Fund (UNCF) after UNCF accepted a $ 25 million contribution from Charles and David Koch . Starting in 2003, AFSCME had supported UNCF with annual donations of $ 50,000–60,000. In 2012, AFSCME, SEIU , and the American Federation of Teachers agreed on a politics-only alliance for the 2012 national election campaign. In 2016, AFSCME and SEIU announced an extension of that agreement, leading to speculation about

1360-554: The University of California system. In 2007, AFSCME resolved a two-year dispute with the University of California that raised pay for the system's lowest paid workers. Since the late 1960s, AFSCME has become one of the most politicized unions in the AFL–CIO. Since 1972, AFSCME has been a primary force within the progressive wing of the Democratic Party , playing a major role in setting

1428-567: The minimum wage , preventing the privatization of government jobs, and expanding unemployment benefits. AFSCME is divided into approximately 3,400 local unions in 46 U.S. states, plus the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico . AFSCME was formed out of the Wisconsin State Employees Association (WSEA), which was founded in Madison, Wisconsin , in 1932 to represent approximately 50 Wisconsin civil service employees. The WSEA

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1496-642: The ACWA followed the Mine Workers and other unions out of the AFL in 1937 to establish the CIO as a separate union confederation. With the new federation establishing itself as a viable alternative to the AFL, Hillman would serve as its first vice president. The ACWA experienced prodigious growth during the CIO's early years. At the federation's founding in 1935, the ACWA's members numbered roughly 100,000, but by 1940, they had more than doubled, counting 239,000 members in 265 locals. The ACWA provided major financial support for

1564-654: The ACWA. The ACWA merged with the TWUA in 1976 to form the Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers Union . The ACWA had been active in trying to form a labor party in the 1920s, combining some elements of the Socialist Party with supporters of La Follette. Hillman used the ACWA as a base, along with the ILGWU led by David Dubinsky , in founding the American Labor Party in 1936, an ostensibly independent party that served as

1632-821: The ACWA. The AFL finally allowed the ACWA to affiliate in 1933. Hillman and the ACWA were supporters of the New Deal and Roosevelt from the outset. FDR named Hillman to the Labor Advisory Board of the National Recovery Administration in 1933 and to the National Industrial Recovery Board in 1934. Hillman provided key assistance to Senator Robert F. Wagner in the drafting of the National Labor Relations Act and to Secretary of Labor Frances Perkins in winning enactment of

1700-606: The Amalgamated during the 1920s, also acquired influence within the ACW. Among his allies within the ACW were Beckerman and Philip Orlofsky, another officer in Cutters Local 4, who made sweetheart deals with manufacturers that allowed them to subcontract to cut-rate subcontractors out of town, using Buchalter's trucking companies to bring the goods back and forth. In 1931 Hillman resolved to act against Buchalter, Beckerman and Orlofsky. He began by orchestrating public demands on Jimmy Walker ,

1768-585: The American Labor Movement. The bank strives to purchase as many products as possible that have been made by union workers in America. In addition, the bank aims to hire union contractors for its building and construction projects and to have its outside printing produced by union printers with the union label displayed. The bank also does its best to fly on unionized airlines and stay at unionized hotels. In 2015, Amalgamated Bank announced that it would become

1836-700: The Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan and Queens. The cards are now an acceptable form of government-issued photo documentation for purposes of verifying the customer's identity when opening an account under the Customer Identification Program ("CIP") requirements of the Bank Secrecy Act. Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America ( ACWA ) was a United States labor union known for its support for "social unionism" and progressive political causes. Led by Sidney Hillman for its first thirty years, it helped found

1904-539: The CIO's Department Store Workers Organizing Committee. Hillman and Lewis eventually had a falling out, with Lewis advocating a more independent tack in dealing with the federal government than Hillman. Lewis, however, gradually distanced himself from the CIO, finally resigning as its head and then withdrawing the United Mine Workers from it in 1942. Hillman remained in it, still the second most visible leader after Philip Murray , Lewis' successor. Jacob Potofsky ,

1972-599: The ILGWU in this era. The CP did not refuse to put up a fight when it broke with Hillman and the ACW leadership. The struggle was most acute in outlying areas, such as Montreal , Toronto and Rochester, where the CP and its Canadian counterpart were strongly entrenched. In New York City the fight was often physical, as Hillman brought in Abraham Beckerman, a prominent member of the Socialist Party with close ties to The Forward , to use strongarm tactics on communist opponents within

2040-666: The Textile Workers Organizing Committee, an organization founded by the CIO in 1939 as part of its effort to organize the South. The TWOC, which later renamed itself the Textile Workers Union of America, grew to as many as 100,000 members in the 1940s, but made little headway organizing in the South in the decades that followed. In 1961, the International Glove Workers' Union of America merged into

2108-526: The Textile Workers Organizing Committee, which sought to establish a new union for textile workers after the disastrous defeat of the United Textile Workers' strike in 1934. The Textile Workers Union of America, with more than 100,000 members, came out of that effort in 1939 as part of Operation Dixie . The ACWA also helped create the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Workers Union of America through

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2176-637: The U.S. through the Allpoint Network. Amalgamated Bank specializes in providing loans and banking services to political and advocacy groups, nonprofit organizations, labor unions and Middle Market companies. Some notable clients of the bank include labor unions as the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees , the International Association of Firefighters , the Service Employees International Union , and

2244-501: The UGW leadership against the strikers by endorsing a settlement that the strikers rejected. The same split surfaced again the following year when the Forward and members of the Socialist Party who had a stake in the AFL supported the new union, but only tepidly, when it split from the UGW and the AFL. While the Forward played a direct role in the internal politics of the other major garment union,

2312-650: The UGW regularly raided it, furnishing strikebreakers and signing contracts with struck employers, in the years to come. The Amalgamated's battles with the UGW's leadership also soured the union's relations with Abraham Cahan and the Daily Forward , which Cahan edited. During the 1913 strike by the United Brotherhood of Tailors in New York City, Cahan and the United Hebrew Trades had taken sides with

2380-477: The United Garment Workers mistrusted the more militant local leadership in Chicago and in other large urban locals, which had strong Socialist loyalties. When it tried to disenfranchise those locals' members at the UGW's 1914 convention, those locals, representing two thirds of the union's membership, bolted to form the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America. The AFL refused to recognize the new union and

2448-499: The bank will invest more than $ 100 million to rehabilitate and build thousands of affordable units in New York. As part of its commitment to affordable housing, Amalgamated Bank also helped create a new product launched in April 2016, which was the first of its kind to offer home buyers down-payment protection should they face turbulent market conditions. In an effort to open up the benefits of

2516-666: The banking system to all people, Amalgamated Bank accepts 12 forms of identification for account opening, including IDNYC , New York City's municipal identification card . Access to banking in NYC has long been an issue. The NYC Department of Consumer Affairs estimates that around 1 million adult New Yorkers do not have bank accounts, but instead use fringe financial services like check cashers to pay bills, cash payroll checks, buy money orders and conduct other financial transactions. IDNYC cards can be obtained by city residents at no cost and can be used at any of Amalgamated Bank's NYC branches across

2584-519: The competitive calculus. The ACWA tried to regulate the industry in other ways, arranging loans and conducting efficiency studies for financially troubled employers. Hillman also favored "constructive cooperation" with employers, relying on arbitration rather than strikes to resolve disputes during the life of a contract. As he explained his philosophy in 1938: The ACWA also pioneered a version of "social unionism" that offered low-cost cooperative housing and unemployment insurance to union members and founded

2652-463: The contradictions between the IWW's politics and its alliance with small contractors and the AFL eventually undercut its support among Lithuanian workers. The ACWA also benefited from the relatively pro-union stance of the federal government during World War I , during which the federal Board of Control and Labor Standards for Army Clothing enforced a policy of labor peace in return for union recognition. With

2720-537: The corrupt Tammany Hall Mayor of New York, to crack down on racketeering in the garment district, Hillman then proceeded to seize control of Local 4, expelling Beckerman and Orlofsky from the union, then taking action against corrupt union officials in Newark, New Jersey . The union then struck a number of manufacturers to bar the subcontracting of work to non-union or cut rate contractors in Pennsylvania and New Jersey . In

2788-707: The corrupt head of the Baltimore Federation of Labor , and the Industrial Workers of the World , who undermined the Amalgamated's strikes and attacked strikers. Complicating the picture further were the ethnic bonds between the many Lithuanian members of the IWW and the subcontractors whom the Amalgamated was trying to put out of business and the anarcho-syndicalist politics of many Lithuanian workers, who had developed their politics in opposition to czarist oppression in their homeland. The Amalgamated eventually prevailed, as

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2856-406: The course of that strike the union picketed a number of trucks run by Buchalter's companies to prevent them from bringing finished goods back to New York. While the campaign cleaned up the ACW, it did not drive Buchalter out of the industry. The union may, in fact, have made a deal of some sort with Buchalter, although no evidence has ever surfaced, despite intensive efforts of political opponents of

2924-520: The earliest racketeers. "Little Augie" Jacob Orgen took over the racket, providing muscle for the ILGWU in the 1926 strike. Louis "Lepke" Buchalter had Orgen assassinated in 1927 in order to take over his operations. Buchalter took an interest in the industry, acquiring ownership of a number of trucking firms and control of local unions of truckdrivers in the garment district, while acquiring an ownership interest in some garment firms and local unions. Buchalter, who had provided services for some locals of

2992-548: The first bank in the nation to raise all employee wages to a minimum of $ 15 per hour. Amalgamated announced the news on the heels of the release of a study by the National Employment Law Project detailing a great discrepancy in wages in the banking industry. According to the study, while full-time bank tellers earn $ 25,800/year on average, a typical bank CEO makes in the tens of millions of dollars annually after full compensation packages are included. In New York,

3060-685: The first publicly traded financial services company to be a public benefit corporation. Headquartered in New York City, Amalgamated Bank has 5 branches, 3 in New York City, 1 in Washington D.C., and 1 in San Francisco. There is also 24-hour access through online and mobile banking. Amalgamated Bank offers comprehensive financial services for individuals, small businesses and commercial clients. Products include: deposits, loans, investments, cash management, residential and commercial mortgages. Checking customers have access to over 40,000 surcharge-free ATMs across

3128-435: The legislative agenda and in choosing Democratic presidential candidates. In the 1990s, AFSCME was the top U.S. donor to Bill Clinton . According to OpenSecrets , AFSCME is the United States' fifth largest organizational contributor to federal campaigns and parties, having donated more than $ 126 million since the 1990 election cycle. The organization contributes almost exclusively to Democratic Party campaigns; since 1990

3196-487: The next several decades, gradually changing from an association formed to protect civil service systems to a union interested in collective bargaining . In August 1936, AFSCME had 119 locals with just under 4,000 members, expanding to 9,737 by the end of 1936. By 1940, AFSCME had nearly 30,000 members. AFSCME innovated the revival of police unionism in the late 1930s, organizing police officers and employees at correctional facilities. In 1964, Jerry Wurf defeated Zander as

3264-411: The presumptive Republican presidential nominee John McCain . Until the 2010 Citizens United decision, funding for political campaigns came from voluntary contributions to a political action committee called AFSCME PEOPLE ("Public Employees Organized to Promote Legislative Equality"). With the loosening of restrictions by this Supreme Court case, AFSCME has widened its political funding base through

3332-791: The public on East 14th Street, Manhattan, next door to a former site of Tiffany's on Union Square . Within a short time, 2,400 people had deposited $ 450,000 with the bank. Within weeks, it had to expand vertically onto two floors above in the same building. In the Liberator magazine, the bank advertised its ownership and operations by the Amalgamated Clothing Workers. It listed chairman Hyman Blumberg , president R. L. Redheffer, vice president Jacob S. Potofsky , cashier Leroy Peterson, and other directors: Gold, Sidney Hillman , Max Lowenthal , August Bellanca , Fiorello H. La Guardia , Abraham Miller , Joseph Schlossberg , Murray Weinstein , Max Zaritsky , and Peter Monat . In 1927, Amalgamated Bank financed

3400-474: The ratio of Democratic to Republican contributions by the AFSCME has exceeded 99:1. In addition to combating privatization of public sector jobs, key political objectives for the group include raising the minimum wage and opposing the substitution of vacation time for overtime pay due workers. In June 2008, AFSCME, along with MoveOn.org , spent over US$ 500,000 on a television advertisement, Not Alex , critical of

3468-497: The revolt of the urban locals against the conservative AFL affiliate the United Garment Workers . The roots of this conflict date to the 1910 Chicago garment workers' strike , when a spontaneous strike by a handful of women workers led to a citywide strike of 41,000 garment workers. The bitter strike pitted the strikers against not only their employers and the local authorities, but also their own union. The leadership of

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3536-461: The state, a turf war broke out between AFSCME and the Service Employees International Union for the exclusive right to organize them. SEIU filed charges with the AFL–CIO against AFSCME, resulting in SEIU winning the right to unionize Illinois's home healthcare workers and AFSCME dropping its bid to do so. AFSCME represents 24,000 custodians, food workers, gardeners, and other campus service workers in

3604-412: The striking National Football League Players Association even though they did not even have an account at the bank. In May 2018, the Amalgamated Bank merged with New Resource Bank of San Francisco. In August 2018, Amalgamated became a public company and filed for an initial public offering of stock to trade on the Nasdaq Global Market under the ticker symbol "AMAL." In March 2021, the bank became

3672-402: The study found that the median wage for bank tellers is $ 13.31 per hour leaving 39% of New York State bank tellers enrolled in public assistance programs. Amalgamated Bank's CEO-to-worker pay ratio is 17:1. Throughout its history, Amalgamated Bank has consistently funded the construction and renovation of affordable housing developments. Through its Affordable Housing Construction Loan program,

3740-400: The support of key progressives, such as Walter Lippman , Felix Frankfurter , and Charles Rosen the union was able to obtain government support in organizing outposts such as Rochester, New York as part of an experiment in industrial democracy . That experiment ended in 1919, when employers in nearly every industry with a history of unionism went on the offensive. The ACWA not only survived

3808-501: The union has approximately 3,400 local unions and 58 councils and affiliates in 46 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. Every local union writes its own constitution, designs its own structure, elects its own officers and sets its own dues. The Washington, D.C.–based AFSCME headquarters coordinates the union's actions on national political and policy issues. AFSCME holds a biennial International Convention at which basic union policies are decided. Every four years, AFSCME elects

3876-436: The union's international president. AFSCME was racially integrated in the 1960s under Wurf and began to grow more quickly. Under Wurf, who initiated the most aggressive unionizing campaign in the organization's history, AFSCME broke from earlier patterns of civil service reform and initiated a more militant form of unionization designed to achieve parity with private sector workers. During Wurf's tenure, AFSCME became known as

3944-512: The union, such as Thomas Dewey and Westbrook Pegler , to find it. Buchalter claimed, before his execution in 1944, that he had never dealt with either Hillman or Dubinsky, head of the ILGWU. The Great Depression reduced the Amalgamated's membership to one third or less of its former strength. Like many other unions, the ACWA revived with the passage of the National Industrial Recovery Act , whose promise of legal protection for workers' right to organize brought thousands of garment workers back to

4012-673: The union. By the end of the decade, the CP was no longer a significant force in the union. While battling the CP, Hillman turned a blind eye to the infiltration of gangsters within the union. The garment industry had been riddled for decades with small-time gangsters, who ran protection and loansharking rackets while offering muscle in labor disputes. First hired to strongarm strikers, some went to work for unions, who used them first for self-defense, then to intimidate strikebreakers and recalcitrant employers. ILG locals used "Dopey" Benny Fein , who refused on principle to work for employers. Internecine warfare between labor sluggers eliminated many of

4080-402: The use of member dues. AFSCME is not required to publicly disclose the identity of its donors, or the size of their contributions. AFSCME was the biggest outside spender in the 2010 midterm elections, spending a total of $ 87.5 million in support of Democratic Party candidates. AFSCME led the failed 2012 recall effort against Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker . In 2014, AFSCME cut ties with

4148-422: The votes and was re-elected without opposition in July 2016. Previously, Saunders had been elected as secretary-treasurer in 2010 after Bill Lucy retired. During Saunders' tenure, the union has increased its membership and its political involvement. Reyes stepped down as secretary-treasurer in 2017. AFSCME's International Executive Board elected Elissa McBride to the position in March 2017. According to AFSCME,

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4216-445: Was being challenged both by the Forward on the right and by Lithuanian and Italian syndicalists and Jewish anarchists within the union on the left—those relations cooled in 1924 when the CP withdrew its support for the Farmer-Labor Party created to support La Follette's candidacy for President . From that point forward Hillman battled the CP activists within his union, but without the massive internecine strife that nearly tore apart

4284-496: Was elected president of AFSCME following Wurf's death in 1981. AFSCME continued to grow in the 1980s, unionizing university employees and nursing home staff and merging with other unions. In 1982, the union voted to endorse the passage of federal, state, and local legislation to extend civil rights to gay and lesbian citizens. In 1989, a third of the locals and the headquarters of the dissolving National Union of Hospital and Health Care Employees (NUHHCE) joined AFSCME. In 1992, AFSCME

4352-404: Was launched amid fears of politically based firings within the state, the possible elimination of the civil service and a return to patronage jobs. Arnold Zander , Wisconsin's state personnel administrator, emerged as one of the early leaders of the union. Soon after its formation, WSEA was granted an American Federation of Labor charter as Federal Labor Union 18213. One of its first projects

4420-441: Was paid a gross salary of $ 1,020,751 in 2012, his last year on the job. McEntee's use of $ 325,000 in union money to charter private jets in 2010 and 2011 became an issue in the campaign to succeed him. At the 2012 AFSCME Convention in Los Angeles , Lee Saunders was elected president of AFSCME. Laura Reyes was elected secretary-treasurer. Saunders defeated Civil Service Employees Association president Danny Donohue with 54% of

4488-467: Was the first national union to back Bill Clinton in his presidential bid. AFSCME led an effort to oppose Clinton's signing of the North American Free Trade Agreement . In the late 1990s, AFSCME expanded its membership into Puerto Rico and Panama. The union was an early supporter of Barack Obama 's 2008 presidential campaign. In 2011, McEntee announced his intention to retire from the union, declining to run for another term as president in 2012. McEntee

4556-418: Was the largest organizing campaign in U.S. labor history. During Wurf's presidency, AFSCME's membership grew from 200,000 to approximately one million. The union eclipsed the one-million-member mark in 1978. AFSCME set up its first political action committee in 1971. AFSCME supported George McGovern 's 1972 presidential bid as well as Jimmy Carter 's successful presidential bid in 1976. Gerald McEntee

4624-454: Was to protect civil service jobs in Wisconsin after a newly elected Democratic legislature revealed its intention to eliminate Republicans from the civil service. The group succeeded, with assistance from the American Federation of Labor (AFL). AFSCME's history is documented through its archives at the Walter P. Reuther Library in Detroit, Michigan. In 1935, after meetings between Zander and AFL President William Green , AFSCME became

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