At his home in Naples, Florida, Gerald W. McKenty, long-time president of one of the country’s largest public-sector trade unions, died on Sunday. He was 87 years old.
His death was confirmed by the United States State, County, and Municipal Staff Federation (AFSCME), which led from 1981 to 2012.
As union president, he helped increase its active membership from about 1 million to over 1.2 million at peak times, while leading the main battle against the privatization of government programs.
But as Washington became more and more hostile to the union, he was probably best known for increasing the influence of the labor movement in electoral politics during the Republican era.
“He is an important figure in the relocation of unions in politics,” said Joseph McCartin, a labor historian at Georgetown University who studies civil servant trade unions. “I think his calling card is, above all, exactly what he used the union’s political power to make sure the union might have turned to strike in previous times.”
After McKenty took office, the union began spending heavily on state parliamentary elections, and the legislature helped determine public service funding and parliamentary control. I thought it was important for both ward changes.
Later, in the 1992 presidential election, McKenty persuaded the union’s International Executive Committee to support then-Governor of Arkansas, Bill Clinton. Iowa.
Formal support seemed to come in late winter or early spring, but the union expressed support a few weeks before many Democratic voters and some of the party’s founders were still skeptical of Mr Clinton. With the support of the union, Mr. Clinton was able to describe himself as an acceptable candidate within the party capable of ending the Republican’s 12-year rule of the president.
“Harkin was a really good friend for labor. I don’t know why everyone could be a better friend for workers,” recalls Linda Canaan Stevens, who was working in the union’s political sector at the time. “But McKenty pushed this forward-you must be able to win. That’s the reality of the situation.”
Shortly after becoming chairman of the AFL-CIO in support of John J. Sweeney in 1995, McKenty became chairman of the Federal Political Commission, effectively fulfilling his role as the king of democracy. Formalized. Steve Rosenthal, the top staff member of the committee at the time, remembered him as a moody but supportive boss who promised to expand the role of workers in federal elections.
One of Rosenthal’s early presentations to McKenty was a plan to create a political mobilization device, including organizers and telephone banking, that would work all year round, not just in the months leading up to the election day. It was a feature.
Rosenthal recalls: “When I was done, he said. And every five or six years, someone makes the same plan. I tell him how great it is, and they do it all year round. If you can understand how to raise money, go for it.
Still, McKenty has been active in making AFL funds available for political campaigns. He was over $ 30 million in the 1996 and 1998 election cycles and over $ 40 million in 2000.
“This is a much larger program than AFL has done so far and has been quite successful,” said Rosenthal, in between the 1996 Clinton and ballot candidate wins. He pointed out the election of the Democratic Party in the election. In 1998, it was rare for a party to rule the White House. “He drove the train.”
In the 2000 presidential election, McKenty used his perch at the top of AFL’s political committee to secure the support of Vice President Al Gore. The AFL rarely approved candidates in the disputed Democratic primary, but McKenty believed it was important to integrate the labor movement behind Gore.
Steve Elmendorf, who worked closely with McKenty, said, “Jerry had the view that you should be with the people you are with and be with you early. Missouri in the 1990s. As a top aide to Congressman Richard Gefferd, a Democrat in the state.
Not all of McKenty’s political bets went well. In late 2003, he helped AFSCME support Howard Dean, the former governor of Vermont, for the Democratic presidential nomination. Dr. Dean was also approved by the powerful Service Employees International Union, but his campaign ran aground shortly after finishing third at the 2004 Iowa Caucus.
Still, democratic agents said support reflects McKenty’s philosophy that workers need to take greater risks in politics to maintain relevance. “He knew we needed to be bold,” Rosenthal said. “I think Dean is one example.”
Gerald William McKenty was born on January 11, 1935 in Philadelphia to William and Mary Josephine (Creed) McKenty. His father was a city sanitary truck driver who helped organize his colleagues.
McKenty graduated from La Salle University in Philadelphia in 1956. After a short service in the Army, he engaged in traffic monitoring at the Philadelphia Department of Transportation Engineering intersection, during which time he participated in AFSCME.
He was survived by his wife Barbara (Rochford) McKenty. His daughters, Patricia Gehren, Kathleen Hammock, Kelly Hamlin. His sister, Mary Casale. 10 grandchildren; and 5 great-grandchildren.
Within a few months of joining AFSCME, McKenty became a member of the Philadelphia Regional Assembly of the Union. In 1970, Pennsylvania passed a law allowing state employees to bargain collectively, and McKenty helped convince them to join AFSCME.
In 1973, he became a top staff member of the AFSCME Council on behalf of the entire state. In that post he helped negotiate a contract that included generous health insurance and prescription drug benefits. A few years later, McKenty led the strike when the state tried to withdraw from the agreement. This is one of the biggest strikes in US history involving civil servants. Both sides resolved within a few days.
McKenty was chosen to replace AFSCME Longtime leader Jerry Wolf After his death in December 1981. He won his presidency in 1984. According to the union, McKenty prioritized gender equal pay in contract negotiations in the 1980s.
During his more than 30 years in office, McKenty played a leading role in resisting government cuts and privatization required by Republican officials and moderate Democrats.He helped lead Successful campaign Defeat President George W. Bush’s Proposal Partially privatize social security Year 2005.
In 2011, when Scott Walker, the newly elected governor of Wisconsin, began calling for the withdrawal of collective bargaining rights for state civil servants, McKenty was at the forefront of opposition, including a large-scale protest in the state capital. I helped to stand.
“Jerry led the workers’ response to the assault in Wisconsin,” said Larry Cohen, then president of the Communications Workers of America. Call us all, what is it? “
Cohen said his own union has begun holding monthly town hall meetings involving tens of thousands of store managers, partly because of that vigilance.
The results of these efforts were mixed. Mr Walker was very successful in curbing the right to negotiate in Wisconsin, and Republican governors and legislators later did the same for civil servants in nearby states like Michigan. In 2018, the Supreme Court ruled that civil servants in any state could opt out of joining or paying dues and withdraw mandatory fees in more than 20 states. This decision led to a reduction in the union budget.
However, the union revoked the Wisconsin-style rollback of Ohio’s collective bargaining rights through a voting bill in 2011, and opposition to such labor gained momentum, especially among teachers in the second half of the decade. Created a wave of movement. ..
“They weren’t completely prepared for the radical backlash that accompanies Walkers and others,” historian McCartin said. “In the honor of McKenty, he delved into when it became clear how the onslaught was happening.”
