History

March 03 – 04, 1978

Founding Convention

December 07, 1978

Conrad Springer, first Council 25 Secretary-Treasurer, died of a heart attack.

January 1979

Lloyd Simpson (incumbent Executive Vice President) was elected Secretary-Treasurer by the Executive Board at a “recent meeting” in Ann Arbor.

July 1979

Larry Roehrig was elected Secretary-Treasurer at a “recent” Board meeting in Marquette.  Lloyd Simpson was mentioned as Executive Vice President.

October 9 – 11, 1981

Council 25 Convention elects the team of Johnson, Glass, and Roehrig. Lloyd Simpson steps down during convention, “for personal reasons best known to myself.”

August 07, 1982

Robert Johnson, first Council 25 President, died.

September 1982

Michigan AFSCME News carried a report that Henry J. Mueller was elected Executive Vice President by the Executive Board (Lansing), and carried photos of Glass being sworn in as president and Mueller being sworn as exec.

September 1985

Michigan AFSCME News reported that Muller had resigned as Exec. and accepted the post of Michigan Area Director, and that the Exec would remain vacant until the convention in October.

October 11, 1985

Council 25 Convention delegates elected Glass and Roehrig by a landslide, and amended the constitution to abolish the office of Exec.

Summer 1986

City of Detroit units strike.

September 19, 1992

The Executive Board, meeting in Muskegon, suspended Glass from office as president.

October 31, 1992

Glass resigned as president, and the Executive Board elected Flora Walker “Acting Interim President.”

January 09 – 10, 1993

Special Convention elects Flora Walker President.

November 16, 1998

Flora Walker retires and resigns as President. Executive Board names Albert Garrett Interim President.

November 8, 2000

Local 875, McLaren Nurses (Flint), strikes; 600 nurses stay out for 73 days!

2003

Campaign to organize Caregivers.

October 07 – 09, 2005

Fifteenth Constitutional Convention re-elects Garrett and Roehrig by acclaim.

November 14, 2006

Consent Election allows child care providers to vote in Child Care Providers Together Michigan, 92 percent to eight percent.

January 1, 2008

Child Care Providers Together Michigan first contract becomes Effective.

Spring 2008

Republican campaign for Right-to-Work law begins and continues to date (2012).

2008

Council 25 joins coalition Health Care for America Now.

Spring 2011

With a Republican governor and Republican majorities in both Houses of the Legislature, Michigan legislation takes a sinister turn, including stripping child care workers of their bargaining rights, giving emergency financial managers unprecedented powers, ands other measures. Council 25 fights back.

Autumn 2011

Council 25 has launched a drive for a referendum on PA 4 – the emergency manager act.

February 29, 2012

Council 25 and supporters file referendum petitions on PA4.

November 06, 2012

Voters reject PA4, supporting the Council 25 position.

The history of AFSCME began in 1932, as the country suffered through a severe economic depression, when a small group of white-collar professional state employees met in Madison, Wisconsin, and formed what would later become Wisconsin State Employees Union/Council 24. The reason for the group’s creation was simple: to promote, defend and enhance the civil service system. They also were determined to help spread the civil service system across the country. Read More >>