AFSCME Oral History Project

The first part of this interview with Joe Ames is not transcribed and begins already in progress. Ames recalls the last years of President Zander and the highlights of those years are discussed. The controversy behind Leo Kramer’s book Labor’s…

This interview takes place in two parts. Part I discusses the Kubista’s early life and education. Kubista began to work for the Wisconsin State Employees Association in 1934 conducting research on a part-time basis. Kubista discusses his research and…

William J. McEntee began his career as a union activist in 1924 after getting a job with the city of Philadelphia as a street cleaner. The street cleaners first organized under the Teamsters. The affiliation did not last and the cleaners were briefly…

Dr. Joseph Mire was an economist and the first Education and Research Director of the AFSCME from 1943-1955. Dr. Mire was born and raised in Vienna, Austria and was active in the European labor movement. He emigrated to the U.S. in 1941 and taught…

Ed Dailey grew up in Youngstown, OH during the depression. After working in a series of odd jobs Dailey found steady work with the Street Department of the city of Youngstown in 1934. Dailey formed an unofficial group with the other truck drivers and…

Joe Collins was born into a pro-union family in Brooklyn, NY. Collins briefly worked for the Edison Company before taking a civil servant job with the city of New York. Collins became chairman of the Civil Service Organization and was actively…

This interview covers Al Church’s early years with the AFSCME. Church entered the service in 1942 and was discharged in 1946. He returned to Hibbing, MN and took a managerial position with a construction company until he found employment with the…

This interview is conducted in two parts. Part I discusses Chapman’s early years in Wisconsin, graduating from the University of Wisconsin in 1931 during the Depression. In 1934 a college fraternity brother asked Chapman to help him out with the…