The Oldest Union Representing Federal Employees
The National
Federation of Federal Employees was proud to
celebrate its 90th anniversary on September 17,
2007. This organization has a long history of
supporting working-class federal employees and
their families. NFFE was founded in 1917 and
was headed by H.M. McLarin, NFFE’s first
president. It was the first union in the United
States to represent civil service federal
employees (postal workers unions have been
around longer). Today, NFFE is affiliated with
the International Association of Machinists and
Aerospace Workers, and with them, represents
nearly 100,000 federal workers.
NFFE
was officially created at a labor convention in
Washington, D.C. on September 17, 1917. It
formed as an affiliate of the AFL and was at
the time the only “vertical” union,
representing several trades and industries.
NFFE and other unions were able to form after
1912, when Congress passed the Lloyd-Lafollette
Act to overturn Theodore Roosevelt’s previous
executive order. Roosevelt’s mandate,
frequently referred to as the “gag rule,”
had previously prevented unionized activity.
NFFE started as a chartered
organization under the American Federation of
Labor. It separated from the AFL in 1931, but
reunited with them in 1999 when it affiliated
with the Machinists. At its founding, NFFE was
unique in its inclusion of women, electing
Florence Etheridge to the first national
council, making her one of the few women with
leadership positions in labor at the time. In
1963, NFFE was a strong proponent of the Equal
Pay Act, which mandated pay equity between men
and women in the workplace.
President Warren G. Harding and the NFFE Executive Council on the White House lawn in 1921
At its
formation, NFFE was considered progressive for
having a retirement bill and a dues
classification system. In 1919, Congress
established the Joint Congressional Committee
on the Reclassification of Salaries. After many
years of research and collaboration with
legislators, the first classification act was
instituted in 1923. Since then, it has been
amended several times. Initially, the system
was limited to departmental service in
Washington, D.C., but it later expanded to
nationwide federal departments. This expansion
was due largely to the efforts of Luther
Steward, the NFFE president at the time.
Decreases in turnover and improvements in
morale were evident across the board.
Over the course of 1916 and 1917,
individual locals formed across the country, in
places such as New York, Michigan, Nebraska and
Oregon. They represented a wide variety of
agencies, including the Department of Defense
(then the War Department), the Forest Services
and Immigration Services. All of the individual
locals were consolidated into NFFE at its
formation at the convention. The wider labor
community was skeptical of NFFE’s plans at
its conception, suggesting that an organization
with such diversity in its members could not
stay focused or efficient. On the contrary,
this diversity made it easier for NFFE to
increase its membership nationally. The variety
of issues brought forward to the national
leadership has broadened the scope and power of
its legislative agenda.
In recent
decades, NFFE has made great gains in enhancing
the life of its members, improving support
systems, increasing benefits and expanding
insurance coverage. In the 1950s, NFFE
significantly contributed to the establishment
of national systems of unemployment insurance,
group life insurance, and health benefits for
employees and dependents. In 1986, NFFE
announced the formation of FEAA, the Federal
Employees Education and Assistance Fund. This
organization, which still exists today, has
helped working families by providing them with
emergency funds and scholarships.
NFFE
is headquartered in Washington, D.C., and
consists of some 200 locals nation-wide. Many
of NFFE’s members are consolidated into
agency-wide bargaining units. Agencies with the
highest concentration of union membership
include the Department of Defense, the Forest
Service the Department of Veterans Affairs,
General Services Administration, Passport
Service, Park Service, Army Corps of Engineers,
and Housing and Urban Development.