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Public Workers William A Hunter College From the SelectedWorks of William A. Herbert 2019 Public Workers William A. Herbert This work is licensed under a Creative Commons CC_BY-NC International License. Available at: https://works.bepress.com/william_herbert/45/ CHAPTER 11 by William A. Herbert Public Workers ublic workers began self-organ- izing in New York City in the late 19th and early 20th cen- Pturies, coinciding with an increase in governmental services and the ad- vent of civil service reform. Various associations of federal, state, immunity from hard work. The ste- and local government workers reotype is more than a century old. formed along occupational (post- It was used in a May 1911 speech by al, sanitation, and clerical workers; President William Howard Taft to teachers, police, and firefighters) justify placing conditions on public and departmental lines, or accord- workers “that should not be and ing to civil service status. An early, ought not be imposed upon those important goal of many employee who serve private employers.” associations was enforcement of It remains a rhetorical tool used to civil service rules, a goal shared by create divisions between public- government-reform groups to end and private-sector workers, and political patronage-based deci- to attack collective bargaining, job sion-making. security protections, and pensions. Organizational strength varied. Some early New York public Interunion rivalries and factional dis- employee organizations affiliated putes, as well as political and strate- with the labor movement, which had gic differences, permeate much long sought to make government a of the city’s public-sector labor his- “model employer” as a means of per- tory. Among the most unified have suading private employers to follow been occupation-specific organiza- suit, particularly in efforts to win the tions. Over time, the racial, ethnic, eight-hour workday. and gender composition of the city In the late 19th century postal workforce has substantially changed and sanitation workers joined the as well, with the uniformed services Knights of Labor. Later the Amer- requiring litigation to compel a diverse ican Federation of Labor (AFL) char- and integrated workforce. tered public-sector organizations One thing has not changed: the and advocated for laws to improve persistent stereotype of government working conditions in government, workers as a privileged class with even when it eschewed legislative job security, pensions, and alleged solutions for industrial workers. The 142 UNION CITY: 1898–1975 New York City Teachers Union affili- ization as undermining their pro- ated with the AFL in 1916. Two years fessional status. And some had no later, the Uniform Fireman’s Asso- choice: the Patrolmen’s Benevolent ciation (UFA) joined as well. Other Association was prohibited by mu- employee organizations remained nicipal law from affiliating with the nonaligned, priding themselves on labor movement, even after the AFL being protective associations of civil had lifted its two-decade ban on servants, rather than defining them- chartering police unions. (The lifting selves as unions bent on collective of the ban led to Boston’s dramatic bargaining. Resistance to unioniza- 1919 police strike after officers were tion came from another employee fired because their union accepted group—those holding white-collar an AFL charter.) government jobs who viewed union- Traditional Means of Collective Advocacy: Lobbying and Political Action he fact that they worked employment. A prime example of for the government caused the exercise of that power is the ex- public-sector workers to rely clusion of government workers from Ton strategies and tactics different the right to unionize and engage in from their private-sector counter- collective bargaining guaranteed parts. State power necessitates by the 1935 National Labor Relations public-sector unions to develop and Act (NLRA), the 1937 New York maintain good working relationships State Labor Relations Act, and the with public officials. The government 1938 New York State Constitution. has the power to grant or deny labor Without collective bargaining, Strikebreakers rights to its workers and to create public employee organizations lob- “Breaking Garbage Strike at $5 a day,” and enforce laws concerning public bied and engaged in political action 1911 to improve working conditions. Most tives. The civil liberties of govern- public-worker organizations limit- ment workers were suppressed, ed their focus to bread-and-butter and workers were retaliated against, issues: wages, hours, pensions, and based on political or union activities. job security. The latter was what Presidential gag orders had prohib- attracted many workers, including ited federal workers from lobby- African Americans, women, and ing Congress concerning working ethnic minorities, to public service. conditions. The New York City Early legislative victories brought Charter once banned police officers, elements of industrial democracy to firefighters, and teachers from joining New York’s public sector by giving or supporting organizations that employees a voice in the workplace lobbied, and teachers were subject to through due process disciplinary loyalty oaths. procedures, a salary classification During the first half of the 20th system, equal pay for women teach- century, legislation made gradual in- ers, and platoon systems for fire- roads. The federal Lloyd-La Follette fighters and police. Act of 1912 was the first important A prominent practitioner of law to protect the civil liberties of maintaining close working rela- public workers. The law overturned tionships with elected officials, the presidential gag order, granted party leaders, and candidates was postal workers the right to form an organization of workers in city a union, and codified tenure protec- departments known as the Civil tions for many federal workers. Service Forum, long led by onetime Another important civil liberties Deputy Comptroller Frank J. Prial development was the 1920 Civil who owned the civil service news- Rights Law provision signed by paper, The Chief. The Civil Service New York Governor Alfred E. Smith Forum closely aligned itself with protecting the right of public work- politicians and it opposed collec- ers to petition government officials. tive bargaining and strikes. The Extending that individual right into organization’s close collaboration a collective right to file departmental and entanglement with partisan grievances with union represen- political forces undermined its or- tation became a priority for many ganizational independence. organizations, but such procedures The effectiveness of lobby- did not get codified until the 1950s ing and informal negotiations was and 1960s. Even today, most work- limited. Public officials had no legal place-related speech and petitions by obligation to meet or confer with individual public employees remain subordinates or their representa- unprotected by the First Amendment. Early Examples of Militant Public Unionism in New York City obbying and political action more militant strain. Early examples were never the sole means include periodic strikes by sani- adopted by municipal work- tation workers over wages, hours, Lers. From the beginning there was a and workloads, including an April 144 UNION CITY: 1898–1975 1911 strike that was defeated with police brutality and aligned itself strikebreakers. with others in advocating for the In the 1930s militancy grew unemployed. The New York City among other groups of city work- Teachers Union worked with com- ers. Bricklayers and other building munity groups to improve public trades workers struck over wages schools by supporting increases in on projects funded by the feder- funding, the hiring of African-Amer- al Works Progress Administration ican and Puerto Rican teachers, (WPA). Many of the more militant the introduction of African-Amer- public-sector unions were Commu- ican history and culture into the nist led. A union of city relief workers, curriculum, and a ban on racist and the Association of Workers in Public anti-Semitic textbooks. Relief Agencies (AWPRA), demand- In 1936 the AWPRA joined ed the right to bargain collective- the American Federation of State, ly, led demonstrations and sit-ins, County and Municipal Employees challenged civil service exams as (AFSCME), an AFL affiliate. The having an adverse impact on African AFSCME’s primary mission at its Americans, and protested anti-union founding was to expand and en- retaliation. Informal negotiations be- force the civil service system. New tween the AWPRA and agency offi- York AWPRA leaders VVW Flax- cials resulted in a 1935 departmental er and William Gaulden became disciplinary procedure that included AFSCME vice presidents, making union representation, a review of the Gaulden one of the highest-rank- discipline by a neutral board, and a ing African Americans nationally in ban on discrimination based on race, union leadership. creed, or union activity. Following the creation of the Social unionism, which links Committee for Industrial Organi- workplace issues with broader social zation (CIO), the AWPRA and its justice causes, grew as well during members formed the nucleus of a the Depression Era. The AWPRA competing CIO public-sector union, opposed race discrimination and the State, County and Municipal Abram Flaxer, 1937 Photograph by Harris and Ewing Abram Flaxer, a leader of public relief workers, became an important figure in the city’s emerg- ing CIO union politics during
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