AFSCME as a political union

Article Abstract:

AFSCME has emerged as the third largest union in the U.S. and the largest public-sector affiliate of the AFL-CIO. Since the 1960s, its leadership has vigorously pursued organizing and political action. Despite its highly visible role in U.S. politics, little systematic research exists on the union in this context. I examine AFSCME's political apparatus, the scope of its electoral and legislative involvement, its political ideology and legislative priorities, and its political effectiveness. I also explore the controversy regarding the use of compulsory dues for political purposes, and AFSCME's resulting rebate procedure. I find that AFSCME donates a considerable portion of its resources to political action (between 10 percent to a third of its budget at the international level), that its political ideology is focused heavily on expanding the rights and economic status of public employees, and that AFSCME has emerged as a prominent, if not the prominent, political union in the U.S. labor movement. (Reprinted by permission of the publisher.)

Labor Unions and Similar Labor Organizations, Unions-Govt Employee, American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, Public employees' unions

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Union commitment and membership support for political action: an exploratory analysis

Article Abstract:

Union political activity has always been controversial, even among union members. Research has shown that a sizable minority of union members question the propriety of union political involvement and disagree with union leaders on public policy issues. It has also shown, however, that union members' commitment to the union may be positively associated with members' political support. This study extends this research by statistically estimating the relationship between union commitment and members' support for their national union's political involvement. Based on the questionnaire response of several hundred local union members, the findings support a positive relationship between union commitment and political support. (Reprinted by permission of the publisher.)

Working class

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Compensation, employment, and the political activity of public employee unions

Article Abstract:

It has been hypothesized that because public employee unions are politically influential, they have a bargaining advantage over their private-sector counterparts. Previous studies, however, have not directly measured the political activities of public employee unions and have instead usually used some type of unionization proxy. This paper uses unpublished data from the International City Managers Association to develop a more direct measure of union political activity. Using this measure, it is found that an increase in union political activity leads to higher compensation and employment for public employee union members. (Reprinted by permission of the publisher.)

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