American Federation of Government Employees

The American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) is an American labor union representing over 750,000 employees of the federal government, about 5,000 employees of the District of Columbia, and a few hundred private sector employees, mostly in and around federal facilities. AFGE is the largest union for civilian, non-postal federal employees and the largest union for District of Columbia employees who report directly to the mayor (i.e., outside D.C. public schools). It is affiliated with the AFL–CIO.

History

Berniece Heffner was the first national Secretary and Treasurer of the AFGE Movement.

Henrietta Olding, pictured here in 1917, was an early vice president of District 2. She was a labor rights and women's rights activist within the movement.
AFGE was founded on October 17, 1932, by local unions loyal to the American Federation of Labor (AFL) and left the National Federation of Federal Employees (NFFE) when that union became independent of the AFL (NFFE in 1998 became part of the IAMAW, which is affiliated with the AFL–CIO).

AFGE is a federation of local unions, with each local maintaining autonomy through operating under local constitutions that comply with the AFGE National constitution ratified originally during its founding in 1932.

Federal employees' right to organize and bargain binding labor contracts was established in law by the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978, which AFGE helped to draft, and which states that collective bargaining in the federal sector is in the public interest while also barring the right to strike.


AFGE has played a crucial role[according to whom?] in the struggle for women's rights and civil rights in the federal sector, and was one of the first unions to establish a Women's Department and a Fair Practices Department, with the officer over those departments holding a seat on the National Executive Committee (NEC) and with Women's and Fair Practices Coordinators elected in each AFGE district since the early 1970s.

In 1932, civil service employees came together to stand up for basic workplace rights, forming the American Federation of Government Employees. Our union began at a precarious time for America’s working people, including government workers. Politicians were actively seeking to dismantle the nation’s civil service, workers at the time faced wage cuts, increased furloughs, and career opportunities had become increasingly rare. Rights we now take for granted, such as health insurance, overtime, and weekends were virtually nonexistent.
AFGE continued to grow and thrive across the nation in the following two decades. More and more chapters were formed in locations around the country, and with those chapters came more victories for our members. The Federal Pay Act of 1945, passed thanks to the tireless efforts of AFGE members, raised pay by almost 16 percent, the highest single pay increase for federal workers in modern history. Workplace victories continued into the 1950s, with AFGE members fighting for and winning within-grade pay increases, transportation allowances for transferred workers, and payment for accrued annual leave, overtime, and night and holiday work.