Public Services International

AFSCME Communications Department Records

jruss — Mon, 11 Jun 2012 14:06:22 -0400

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 at headquarters, and importantly, in the field. Recognizing that current field staff’s duties did not include crafting AFSCME’s message during organizing campaigns and strikes, it was hoped that the new department would provide skilled public relations professionals on the ground. The new department was created on April 1, 1956. The Publications and Public Relations Department existed until 1971 when the name was changed to the Public Affairs Department. This existed until 2011 when the name was changed again to the Communications Department.

The AFSCME Communications Department Records document the public activities of the Department, AFSCME International, and AFSCME officials. Records include speech transcripts; press releases; surveys and polls; documents related to AFSCME biennial conventions such as transcripts of proceedings, correspondence, and planning documents; correspondence; publications; meeting minutes; clippings; photographs, slides, and negatives; audio and video recordings; and posters.

AFSCME Office of the President: Gerald W. McEntee Records

jruss — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 14:07:42 -0400

Gerald W. McEntee became president of AFSCME in 1981. Some of the issues reflected in Part I of this collection include the anti-apartheid movement; health care reform, especially under the Clinton White House; affirmative action; AIDS; presidential politics and union campaign support; international labor relations; and legislative affairs. The records also include information on state locals and councils, AFSCME's relationship to other labor unions and organizations, and AFSCME's judicial panel cases.

Part II of the AFSCME Office of the President: Gerald McEntee Records consists of documents created mostly between 1996 and 2003, while the bulk of Part I was created between 1981 and 1995. As a result, Part II contains evidence of AFSCME’s reactions to changes in the labor movement in a post-NAFTA economy. These changes are evident in the internal functions of AFSCME’s Executive Office, affiliates, and in the union’s work within the AFL-CIO and allied organizations.

AFSCME Office of the President: Jack Howard Records

jruss — Tue, 04 Dec 2012 15:25:52 -0500

International affairs were handled out of the AFSCME Office of the President. Sometime after 1969, Jack Howard joined the AFSCME staff. When Gerald McEntee became president of AFSCME in late 1981, Jack Howard became his executive assistant. In this role, Howard was responsible for, among other things, international affairs. As such, Howard also worked closely with Secretary-Treasurer William Lucy who was heavily involved in international affairs, eventually becoming president of Public Services International (PSI) in the mid-1990s. The records in this collection reflect Howard’s supervision of AFSCME’s international affairs in the 1980s and 1990s. Howard retired from AFSCME in the early 2000s.

This collection contains correspondence, schedules, publications, planning documents,
photographs, workshop materials, and reports related to AFSCME’s activities in foreign
countries, both as a union itself and in interaction with foreign public employee unions and
international organizations. Also covered are exchange visits between AFSCME and
foreign public employee union leaders.

AFSCME Office of the Secretary-Treasurer: William Lucy Records

jruss — Tue, 23 Aug 2011 14:21:25 -0400

The AFSCME Office of the Secretary-Treasurer oversees the general financial health of the international union, keeping records for its locals, councils, and the headquarters staff. The Office keeps files on council and local trusteeships, maintains per capita dues payments by locals and councils, issues charters to new locals, and suspends and disbands locals or councils when problems arise. William Lucy held this position for 38 years, 1972-2010.

Lucy joined AFSCME as a civil engineer in Contra Costa, CA in 1956. A decade later, he was working for the International in Washington, D.C. Proving his leadership abilities during the 1968 sanitation workers strike in Memphis, during which Martin Luther King, Jr., was assassinated, Lucy became AFSCME Secretary-Treasurer in 1972. Alongside his work with AFSCME, Lucy also served with countless labor, civil rights, and civic organizations to advance causes for blacks, women, and workers locally in Washington, D.C., nationally, and internationally. Lucy helped found the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists (CBTU) in 1972 to represent African Americans in the labor movement. He was instrumental in the Free South Africa Movement's efforts to end apartheid in South Africa. He served as president of Public Services International (PSI) and as a member of the AFL-CIO Executive Council. These activities are reflected in the Records. Lucy retired from the position of Secretary-Treasurer in July 2010 at the AFSCME biennial convention.

The AFSCME Office of the Secretary-Treasurer: William Lucy Records document the activities and operations of AFSCME International, the Office of the Secretary-Treasurer, and AFSCME’s state and local councils. The Records also convey the actions of William Lucy in a number of labor and civil rights organizations, including TransAfrica, the NAACP, CBTU, PSI, and the AFL-CIO. The Records include correspondence, reports, speeches, financial information, legal documents, convention transcripts and proceedings, publications, and meeting minutes. Several boxes of audio recordings of International Executive Board meetings are included, and a very small number of photographs appear in the collection.

SEIU International Affairs Records

aorchard — Fri, 16 Nov 2012 10:30:15 -0500

The Service Employees International Union (SEIU) was founded in 1921 as a union of flat janitors. Over the years it has grown in size and scope, now comprising three divisions: healthcare, property services, and public services. While most of SEIU’s members reside in the United States, the SEIU is an international union with members and affiliates in countries all over the world. The records of SEIU’s International Affairs Department document the SEIU’s relationships with companies, unions, organizations, and labor activists in other countries, as well as detail departmental operations. Document formats found within the records primarily include correspondence, meeting minutes and agenda, booklets, and reports.

(12243) Public Services International African tour

jruss — Mon, 07 Feb 2011 16:06:51 -0500

A Public Services International (PSI) delegation toured Africa and is pictured here with local trade unionists. AFSCME President Arnold Zander, a member of the PSI delegation, is seated third from right.

(12244) Public Services International in Mexico

jruss — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 11:58:18 -0500

Leaders of organized labor participate in the 1955 May Day celebration in Mexico. The arrow on the left points to Mexican president Adolfo Ruiz Cortines who was marching to the city square to raise the flag. The right arrow points to AFSCME president Arnold Zander who marched with Public Services International.

(12245) Public Services International Executive Board Meeting

jruss — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 12:13:48 -0500

Members of Public Services International Executive Board meet in Washington, D.C. in 1963. From left: Klaus Schroeter of Germany, PSI General Secretary Paul Tofahrn, PSI President Adolph Kummernuss, AFSCME President Arnold Zander.

(12246) Japanese trade unionists visit

jruss — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 12:26:45 -0500

AFSCME Council 27 field representative Euell Rader greets a delegation from Japan’s public employee trade union, JICHIRO, in Palo Alto, California. Left to right: Rader, Masamatsu Sugawara, general treasurer of Tokyo Metropolitan Workers Union; Akira Noda, president of the Hiroshima Prefectural branch of JICHIRO; Suehiro Ueda, general secretary of the Osaka City Workers Union; Vasuo Maruyama, vice president of JICHIRO; Richard Kriegel, Public Services International Inter-American Representative; and an unidentified interpreter.

(12247) Public Services International Executive Board Member

jruss — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 13:53:05 -0500

Eric Berglund, member of the Public Services International (PSI) Executive Board, also served as the head of the Swedish Federation of State Employees Unions.

(12248) Public Services International Executive Board Member

jruss — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 13:59:54 -0500

Stan Little, president of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) also served as a member of the Public Services International Executive Board.

(12249) Public Services International Executive Board Member

jruss — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 14:07:04 -0500

S. I. Amole of the Nigerian Union of Local Authorities Staff (NULAS) also served as an executive board member of Public Services International.

(12250) Public Services International Executive Board Member

jruss — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 14:13:27 -0500

D. P. Long, general secretary of the New Zealand Public Service Association, also served as an executive board member of Public Services International.

(12251) Public Services International Executive Board Member

jruss — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 14:17:45 -0500

Jorgen Knudsen, president of the Danish Municipal Workers Union, also served as an executive board member of Public Services International.

(12252) Public Services International Executive Board Member

jruss — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 14:21:26 -0500

Bengt Blomdahl of Stockholm, Sweden, served as an executive board member of Public Services International.

(12253) Public Services International Executive Board Member

jruss — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 14:27:43 -0500

Moshe Bar-Tal, general secretary of the Union of Public Service, Clerical, and Administrative Employees in Israel, also served as an executive board member of Public Services International.

(12254) Public Services International Executive Board Member

jruss — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 14:33:40 -0500

Jan Hoogerwerf, president of the Netherlands General Union of Civil Servants, also served as an executive board member of Public Services International.

(12255) Public Services International Executive Board Member

jruss — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 14:37:34 -0500

Arne Born, president of the Norwegian Union of Municipal Employees, also served as an executive board member of Public Services International.

(12256) Public Services International World Congress

jruss — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 14:59:52 -0500

New York Mayor John Lindsay (left) and AFSCME President Jerry Wurf chat with guests at a reception at New York City’s Gracie Mansion for the Public Services International 1973 World Congress.

(12257) Public Services International World Congress

jruss — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 15:04:36 -0500

AFSCME President Jerry Wurf (left) attended the Public Services International 1973 World Congress in New York City.

(12258) Public Services International World Congress

jruss — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 15:08:56 -0500

Delegates stand at the Public Services International 1973 World Congress in New York City.

(12259) Public Services International World Congress

jruss — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 15:16:03 -0500

Leaders at a reception at New York City mayoral home, Gracie Mansion, for the Public Services International 1973 World Congress. From left: AFSCME President Jerry Wurf, New York City Mayor John Lindsay, AFSCME District Council 37 leader Victor Gotbaum.

(12260) Public Services International World Congress

jruss — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 15:20:37 -0500

Delegates at the Public Services International 1973 World Congress in New York City.

(12261) Public Services International World Congress

jruss — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 15:25:21 -0500

AFSCME President Jerry Wurf (right) speaks with Moshe Bar-Tal, general secretary of the Union of Public Service, Clerical, and Administrative Employees in Israel, at the Public Services International 1973 World Congress in New York City.

(12262) Public Services International World Congress

jruss — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 15:29:43 -0500

Leaders prepare to speak at the Public Services International 1973 World Congress in New York City. From left: New York Mayor John Lindsay, AFSCME President Jerry Wurf, and AFSCME District Council 37 President Victor Gotbaum.

(12263) Public Services International World Congress

jruss — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 15:37:13 -0500

Author and activist Michael Harrington speaks at the Public Services International 1973 World Congress in New York City.

(12264) Public Services International World Congress

jruss — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 15:40:50 -0500

Italian delegates listen to a speaker at the Public Services International 1973 World Congress.