page_title: American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees
section_title: Union organizing campaigns
hierarchical_section_title: American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees / Union organizing campaigns
caption_attribution_description: English: Photos from around Zuccotti Park on Day 36 of Occupy Wall Street in New York, Friday, October 21.
context_page_description: The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees is the largest trade union of public employees in the United States. It represents 1.3 million public sector employees and retirees, including health care workers, corrections officers, sanitation workers, police officers, firefighters, and childcare providers. Founded in Madison, Wisconsin, in 1932, AFSCME is part of the AFL–CIO, one of the two main labor federations in the United States. AFSCME has had four presidents since its founding.
  The union is known for its involvement in political campaigns, almost exclusively with the Democratic Party. AFSCME was one of the first groups to take advantage of the 2010 Citizens United decision, which allowed unions and corporations to directly finance ads that expressly call for the election or defeat of a candidate. Major political issues for AFSCME include single-payer health care, protecting pension benefits, raising the minimum wage, preventing the privatization of government jobs, and extending unemployment benefits.
context_section_description: Starting in the 2000s, AFSCME began campaigns to organize home-based family child care providers. In 2005, when former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich signed an executive order that allowed home child care providers to collectively bargain with the state, the move launched a turf war, with the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) battling AFSCME for the exclusive right to organize the workers. SEIU filed charges with the AFL-CIO against AFSCME, resulting in SEIU winning the right to unionize Illinois's home healthcare workers and resulting in AFSCME dropping its bid to do so.
  AFSCME represents 24,000 custodians, food workers, gardeners, and other campus service workers in the University of California system. In 2007, AFSCME resolved a two-year dispute with the University of California that raised pay for the system's lowest paid workers.
caption: Members marching in solidarity with Occupy Wall Street in New York, October 2011
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