Structure of our larger Union

Our Parent Union is the AFL-CIO.

The AFL-CIO is governed by a quadrennial convention at which all federation members are represented by elected delegates of our unions. Convention delegates set broad policies and goals for the union movement and every four years elect the AFL-CIO officers. These officers make up the AFL-CIO Executive Council, which guides the daily work of the federation.

At the state level, 51 state federations coordinate with local unions and together give working families a voice in every state capital through political and legislative activity.

Also chartered by the AFL-CIO are nearly 543 central labor councils, which likewise give working families a voice in cities, towns and counties.

AFSCME and Council 57

In the AFSCME structure, Local Unions join together in Councils to provide professional field representation, secretarial and bookkeeping services, research, education and training and to take maximum advantage of international Union resources and programs. District Council 57 was chartered by the International Union in 1962 to provide administrative and field services to AFSCME Local Unions in San Mateo County. Since then the Council has grown to represent more than 22,000 public and private sector workers in 45 Local Unions in California; members in Council 57's affiliated Local Unions work for county governments, school districts, cities, special governmental districts, hospitals, private sector health and transportation agencies and the State of California.

LOCAL 101

Our Local represents workers at the City of San Jose, VTA, San Jose Unified and the Water District. They hold their monthly meetings on the third Thursday of each month at the Union office.

Just a little history

AFSCME members in San Jose, Calif., went on strike to win pay equity in 1981. This successful nine-day strike was the first time workers had walked off the job to demand pay equity. The San Jose success is attributed in large part to the local union’s extensive internal education campaign. Each phase of the struggle — study, bargaining, impasse and strike — was carefully explained to the members, and union leaders called repeated votes to assess the level of support. The union made it clear that pay equity for female-dominated jobs meant raising the wages of those jobs — never lowering or freezing comparably rated male jobs. It also stressed the issue of fairness, the “discriminatory hold employers have over wages for ‘women’s work’”... and “the struggle to bring dignity to the workplace,” as its leaflets described the struggle.