Title: AFSCME. Local 1, Wisconsin State Employees Association: Records
Inclusive Dates: 1937-1967

Creator:

• AFSCME. Local 1, Wisconsin State Employees Association

Call Number: U.S. Mss 98A

Quantity: 2.1 c.f. (3 archives boxes, 2 flat boxes, and 1 oversize folder)

Repository:

Wisconsin Historical Society, Division of Library, Archives, and Museum Collections

Archival Locations:

Wisconsin Historical Society (Map)

COLLECTION MAY BE STORED OFF-SITE: see catalog entry to request materials and for additional information.

Abstract:

Records of Local 1 of the Wisconsin State Employees Association, a Madison area labor union whose members are employees of Wisconsin government agencies. The local is affiliated with AFSCME (American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees). Local 1 was created in 1942, after a restructuring within WSEA. The records consist of administrative and governance files including the Local 1 constitution, resolutions passed, member lists, newsletters, and office procedures; minutes from Local 1 Meetings and WSEA Executive Meetings; correspondence with WSEA, with AFSCME, and with members; and monthly financial statements including monthly balance sheets and statements of profit and loss. Also included is an undated poster for an all-state employees' picnic attended by Governor Philip La Follette.

Language: English

URL to cite for this finding aid: http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-us00098a

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Local 1 of the Wisconsin State Employees Association (WSEA) was a Madison-based labor union whose members were employees of government agencies, including but not limited to state offices, state parks, and universities. Local 1 was an affiliate of the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), a national labor organization founded by members of the Wisconsin State Employees Association in 1935. Two of the founders of AFSCME, Arnold Zander and Matthew Felber, held membership in Local 1. Until 1942, the name “Local 1” referred to the branch of AFSCME that served all Wisconsin government workers. Prior to that time, locals of the Wisconsin State Employees Association were referred to as “chapters.” A reorganization in 1942 made WSEA chapters into locals, and the name Local 1 came to refer to the branch of WSEA that served Wisconsin state employees chiefly in the Madison area. After the reorganization, Local 1 further subdivided itself into Chapters, with each chapter representing a specific workplace.

Members of Local 1 sometimes referred to it as the “catch-all” union. After the 1942 restructuring, some state employees formed unions specific to their occupations. The remaining state employee chapters, chiefly but not exclusively those from administrative departments, reorganized themselves into Local 1. Because of this, Local 1 had a tendency to lose members to more focused local unions. In 1946, for example, some Local 1 members voted to leave Local 1 and join Local 171 which represented the University of Wisconsin Heat and Water Department.

Local 1's goals, as stated in its constitution, were to improve efficiency in civil service, to advance the welfare of civil service workers in Wisconsin, and to promote the organization of workers, particularly public employees. The union accomplished these goals by petitioning, advocating for specific reforms, cooperating with state officials, and promoting favorable legislation.

Local 1 maintained an office in Madison whose responsibility was to keep track of dues payments and disseminate information from AFSCME and WSEA to local members regarding union action around the nation, upcoming seminars and conventions, and legislation currently before Congress. The parent bodies of Local 1 (WSEA and AFSCME) expected the local to elect officers, hold regular meetings, and elect delegates for national and international AFSCME conventions. It was the responsibility of the board and officers of Local 1 to act on incoming correspondence and to attend meetings of WSEA and other labor organizations. The Local 1 Executive Board also appointed stewards to workplaces where there were no organized chapters. A grievance committee existed within Local 1 to deal with workplace problems submitted to them by members. The Executive Board had the responsibility of hearing the cases of employees who had been dismissed from civil service and acting on behalf of the Local to address such cases. From time to time Local 1 staged a membership drive to try to attract more members and to reinstate those whose memberships had lapsed. Local 1 had five standing committees as specified in its constitution: education and program, publicity, membership, auditing, and entertainment and social.

Presidents of WSEA Local 1 for the period covered by the records include Gordon Chapman, H.C. Thayer, Matthew Felber, Erwin Voigt, Luke McSherry, Peter Haskins, Monica McMahon, Ray Connor, Mat Schleck, Arthur Richardson, Edward Bull, and John Reynolds. In 1970 WSEA changed its name to the Wisconsin State Employees Union (WSEU).

The records of AFSCME Local 1 of the WSEA cover the years 1937 through 1967. Information specific to Local 1 is most prominent in the files from the 1940s. Files kept after that time tend to reflect office housekeeping or consist of mass mailings and other general incoming correspondence from AFSCME and WSEA.

The value of the collection lies in its documentation of how Local 1 fit into the overall structure of the union. Additionally, the correspondence provides an idea of what issues and activities concerned Local 1 and its parent bodies. The correspondence also reveals how Local 1 related to its members, and how it cooperated with other labor and political organizations. Additionally, the resolutions, brochures, and letters to legislators show the ways in which unions attempted to influence policy and advocate for workers and shows the leading role that Wisconsin labor organizations played in establishing AFSCME and supporting the national labor movement during the mid-20th century.

The collection is arranged into four series: Administration and Governance, Minutes, General Correspondence, and Financial Records.

The ADMINISTRATION AND GOVERNANCE series include constitutions, resolutions, forms, membership lists, newsletters, and records of the retirement committee. The constitutions consist of constitutions and revisions for Local 1 (1943, 1945, and 1963), AFSCME (1956, 1957, 1958, and 1960), and WSEA (1943 and 1947).

The resolutions are arranged chronologically and focus on topics such as price control, the Social Security Act, organization of public employees, salary increases, a 40-hour work week, reclassification of employees, the Workers Education Bureau, worker benefits, and attempts by AFSCME to sway the vote on a referendum. The bulk of the resolutions are from the 1940s and bear the signature of Matthew Felber, a founder of AFSCME who served as an officer of Local 1 until 1946.

Also included are samples of blank forms used by the Local 1 office staff for finances, dues reporting, and ordering supplies. In addition, the series includes a sample of a membership card, a membership application, a grievance reporting form, and an office manual created to ease the 1942 transition from Local 1 as a chapter of WSEA to Local 1 as an AFSCME local. This office manual includes notes on how information is reported to Local 1's parent bodies, a list of WSEA chapter officers, and the names of board and committee members.

The membership lists were generated by the AFSCME office and are complete for the years 1943 to 1947 and 1958 to 1965. They are arranged chronologically, by department within each year, and alphabetically by employee name within each department. The membership reports are helpful because they show which government agencies and departments employed Local 1 members as well as the number of members Local 1 had each year.

The Local 1 newsletters are arranged by date, with several issues missing. Topics covered in the newsletter include meeting announcements, personal items about members, notes from meetings, event summaries, and reports. The newsletter contains mostly jokes, stories, and personal information such as birth and marriage announcements. The business items contained here are summaries of complete reports and minutes found elsewhere in the collection.

The Retirement Committee was formed in 1939 by members of Local 1 to advocate for the creation of a pension program for state employees and to educate retirees on how to receive their pensions. The records of the committee include meeting minutes, drafts of legislation, proposals for a retirement system, reports, and instructions for retirees.

The series of MINUTES consist of Local 1 Executive Board meetings, Local 1 membership meetings, and WSEA Executive Board meetings. All of the minutes are arranged chronologically within their respective folders. The Local 1 minutes provide a record of monthly meetings through 1961. The WSEA minutes are less regular, beginning in 1963. Items discussed at the WSEA meetings include workplace grievances and the actions taken. The minutes of the Local 1 board complement the correspondence series in this collection. Occasionally incoming correspondence was read and discussed at meetings, and any action taken on it is recorded in the minutes. Topics of meetings regularly included the election of officers and delegates, and the reception of new members. Information on resolutions passed by Local 1 can also be found in the minutes.

The GENERAL CORRESPONDENCE series (1937-1967) is arranged chronologically with incoming and outgoing correspondence interfiled. The bulk of the incoming correspondence is from other labor organizations including the Wisconsin State Employees Association, the AFL-CIO, AFSCME, and the Wisconsin Federation of Labor. Topics include updates on bills under consideration in the legislature, information on labor strikes and disputes, union restructuring, and upcoming events. Many of these letters are mass mailings that were sent to all locals. Delegate reports from the AFSCME international conventions are interfiled with the correspondence. The bulk of the outgoing correspondence concerns union restructuring, meetings and events. Also included are letters to national and state legislators and their replies including Robert M. La Follette Jr., Alexander Wiley, Frank Keefe, Merlin Hull, William Stevenson, Harry Sauthoff, Howard McMurray, Thad Wasielewski, Alvin O'Konski, Robert Henry, Andrew Biemiller, John Byrnes, Joseph McCarthy, and governors Gaylord Nelson and John Reynolds. Other significant correspondents include Arnold Zander, co-founder and first president of AFSCME and a member of WSEA Local 1; Gordon Chapman, General Secretary of AFSCME; and Jerry Wurf who succeeded Zander as international president of AFSCME.

The FINANCIAL RECORDS series consist of monthly statements (1945-1967), Local 1's 990 tax forms (1945-1960), yearly profit and loss statements, and cash books (1950-1962). Each monthly statement is a concise document summarizing the profit and loss figures for the month along with a monthly balance. Expenses are itemized, though not in great detail. By comparing the monthly financial records to the correspondence of the same time period, it is possible to determine whether an event that was mentioned in the correspondence, such as a union action or a political event, had a financial impact on the local.

Acquisition Information

Presented by AFSCME Local 1, Madison, Wisconsin, 1970.

Processing Information

Processed by Amanda Grell (archives intern), 2003.

U.S. Mss 98A	Series: Administration and Governance
Box   1 Folder   1	Local 1 and AFSCME Constitutions and Resolutions, 1943-1963
Box   1 Folder   2	Retirement Committee Records, 1939-1950
Box   1 Folder   3	Local 1 Blank Forms; List of Property Owned, 1946; Newsletter, , 1946-1951 (incomplete)
Box   1 Folder   4	Local 1 Office Procedures, 1941
Box   2	Membership Reports, 1943-1947, 1958-1965
	Series: Minutes	⇧
Box   3 Folder   1-3	Local 1 Meeting Minutes (monthly), 1942-1961
Box   3 Folder   4	WSEA Executive Meeting Minutes, 1963-1967
Box   4 Folder   1-7	Series: General Correspondence, 1937-1967	⇧
	Series: Financial Records	⇧
Box   3 Folder   5-8	Local 1 Monthly Financial Statements and 990 Forms, 1945-1960
Box   3 Folder   9-10	Local 1 Monthly Financial Statements, 1961-1967
Box   5 Volume   1-3	Cash books, 1950-1962
	Series: Visual Materials	⇧
Oversize Folder	All-state employees' picnic poster, undated