This memo from Dwight is one of my favorite finds, reaching out through time and space. I now call myself a labor archeologist (?). Also, I can relate to having done work on something only to find it is no longer needed 😂😭 #archives #PayEquity #1980s

That's some real AFSCME spirit! Members in Minnesota show off AFSCME license plate, circa 1980. @afscme.bsky.social #cars #vanityplate #licenseplate

Happy Public Service Recognition Week! #PSRW #PSRW2026 #LaborHistory Here's a little history 🧵of public service recognition: (Moving this over from that other social site)

Happy Labor History Month! The Reuther Library has been preserving Labor's heritage since 1959. #LaborHistory #LaborHistoryMonth #Archives @reutherlibrary.bsky.social

Mourn the dead, fight like hell for the living....#WorkersMemorialDay buttons from @afscme.bsky.social @reutherlibrary.bsky.social

An organized group is a terrible weapon to behold! From the @afscme.bsky.social Organizing and Field Services Department records, circa 1974. #Unions #Peanuts #Organize

Map Your Labor History This May #LaborHistoryMonth begins May 1. Now is the perfect time to remind your fellow #union members that #LaborHistory happened in communities large and small across the United States, including yours. Find out more: tinyurl.com/3czt294e#LaborHistoryMonth#union#LaborHistory#History #RoadTrip

How many names can give you the nickname "Jerry"? Find them in the @afscme.bsky.social archives: Jerome "Jerry" Wurf - President, 1964-1981 Gerald "Jerry" McEntee - President, 1981-2012 Girard "Jerry" Clark - Director, Political Action, 1971-circa 1990 I'll be on the lookout for more!

“Dear John: I hope this ruins your day.”

Off-topic: today is Wayne State University’s Giving Day! Your AFSCME Archivist is also co-founder of the WSU Libraries affiliate of Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library. If you can, we’d be so grateful for donations. Help us get more books in the hands of the littlest Detroiters!

We’re on strike today! Support our fight for a fair contract by NOT visiting the @propublica.org website or engaging with ProPublica stories today. Tell ProPublica’s management you won’t cross the picket line: actionnetwork.org/petitions/te...

It's officially baseball season! @afscme.bsky.social @aflcio.org #baseball

A 1968 telegram with a statement from @afscme.bsky.social Pres. Jerry Wurf and S-T Joe Ames on the death of Martin Luther King, Jr. on April 4, 1968: "THE DEATH OF DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING IS A CALAMITY FOR THE PEOPLE OF AMERICA. THE SHAME OF MEMPHIS IS THE SORROW OF THE NATION."

Did you know... 1. The @reutherlibrary.bsky.social has a podcast? 2. That it has been going strong for 7 years? 3. Each episode features real experts who know what they are are talking about? 4. It has a theme song that slaps?? reuther.wayne.edu/node/15454

Me, processing the "miscellaneous" #archives folders:

The promise vs the reality….from the Rhode Island State Employee, July 1960. @afscme.bsky.social #LaborHistory #LaborUnions

It ain't your daddy's union #WomensHistoryMonth #WomensHistory #LaborHistory #LaborUnions @oregonafscme.bsky.social @oregonaflcio.bsky.social @afscme.bsky.social @reutherlibrary.bsky.social

This horse, from an @afscme.bsky.social @dc37nyc.bsky.social organizing pamphlet, is wishing you a Happy Lunar New Year! #YearOfTheHorse

Processing an addition to the @afscme.bsky.social Communications Department records and today I happened to add this folder to my inventory… #archive #JesseJackson #LaborHistory #CBTU @reutherlibrary.bsky.social

The @afscme.bsky.social blimp took to the skies during Solidarity Day, 1981, in Washington, DC. #LaborHistory #Solidarity #blimp #protest

The @afscme.bsky.social blimp took to the skies during Solidarity Day, 1981, in Washington, DC. #LaborHistory #Solidarity #blimp #protest

Excited to see references to Puerto Rico's labor history in last night's #BadBunny #SuperBowl halftime show. Here are some members of Servidores Públicos Unidos at @afscme.bsky.social's 2002 convention in Vegas #LaborHistory

Black History Month reminds us that one voice can lead to a chorus of collective action that refuses to be silenced. Read President Lee Saunders' op-ed on how Black history teaches us about today’s fight for working people: www.afscme.org/blog/what-a-...

Politicians Beware: Your Political Health is at Stake. Photo from "Emergency Drive for Health Care" protests, which took place across the US in 1991. @afscme.bsky.social participated along with @jwj.org Citizen Action, and Families, U.S.A.

Black history is American history is AFSCME history! One way you can celebrate Black History Month is by learning about the important folks who contributed to that history. I’ll share some stories to get you started. @afscme.bsky.social #BlackHistoryMonth #BlackHistory #labor #LaborHistory #history

Some further reading on this subject for folks who'd like to learn more about general strikes as a tactic (and about the one that's already being planned for 2028): www.teenvogue.com/story/uaw-ge...

I see some @afscme.bsky.social buttons 👀👀

Similarly in 1970, @afscme.bsky.social president Jerry Wurf wrote to Rep John McCormack to support the holiday to "honor Dr. King's unswerving devotion to the proposition that all Americans of every race, color and background can live and work together in dignity and peace." #MLKDay #LaborHistory

Did you know it took 15+ years for #MartinLutherKing Day to become official? In this letter, @afscme.bsky.social secretary-treasurer and #CBTU president Bill Lucy wrote to Rep Katie Hall to urge hearings for HR 800. It became law later that year and the 1st #MLKDay observed in 1986. #LaborHistory

Did you know it took 15+ years for #MartinLutherKing Day to become official? In this letter, @afscme.bsky.social secretary-treasurer and #CBTU president Bill Lucy wrote to Rep Katie Hall to urge hearings for HR 800. It became law later that year and the 1st #MLKDay observed in 1986. #LaborHistory

March for the ERA flyer, January 13, 1980 #ERA #EqualRightsAmendment #LaborHistory #LaborUnions

Last year I wrote an article called "Fifty Years of Labor History Preservation and Progress: The Evolution of the Walter P. Reuther Library" and then I did this interview. Thanks to @portaljournal.bsky.social! #LaborHistory #Archives @reutherlibrary.bsky.social youtu.be/RUI9Dfh9RRo?...

“No freedom, no football.” In the 1970s, professional football players went on strike for free agency. @afscme.bsky.social members in Colorado joined Broncos players on the picket line. #NFL #NFLPA #Broncos #Denver #football #LaborHistory #Solidarity

No one has a cooler cubicle than me! #DollyParton #ImaginationLibrary #AFSCME #Archives

Thanks to Stefanie A. Caloia for speaking about her article, "Fifty Years of Labor History Preservation and Progress: The Evolution of the Walter P. Reuther Library." Read the full article on portal’s preprint site. @afscme-archivist.bsky.social @reutherlibrary.bsky.social

Treat yourself to #union representation this holiday season! Flyers, circa 1970s. @afscme.bsky.social @aft.org @aftarchivist.bsky.social @reutherlibrary.bsky.social

Random find today at the Reuther Library. @reutherlibrary.bsky.social #LaborHistory #LaborUnions #archives

There ARE solutions to the affordability crisis, especially when it comes to childcare costs. States & localities are developing policies that work for working families while providing living wages & benefits for providers. My new blog post digs into the challenges & the possible paths forward.

Wondering how to relate labor contracts to the hockey fan demographic? 🤔 How about a "City of Yzerman Bargaining Scenario"? @afscme.bsky.social @detroitredwings.bsky.social @detroitredwingsnhl.bsky.social @notdetroitredwings.bsky.social #Hockey #DetroitRedWings #LGRW #LaborUnions #LaborHistory

It is indeed the key takeaway from my book!

Sharp Nurses are set to begin a 3-day strike. They formed in the mid-1990a and in 1998 achieved their first contract. Here they are during that first contract fight: #Nurses #LaborUnions #LaborHistory #SanDiego @afscme.bsky.social

The latest episode of Tales from the Reuther Library features @afacwa.org president @flyingwithsara.bsky.social! Check it out on your favorite podcast app. @reutherlibrary.bsky.social #LaborHistory #podcasts

Is that Ron Burgundy in the archives?? 👀 Nope, it's Russ Murray, Executive Director of @ocsea11.bsky.social, in 1985. OCSEA affiliated with AFSCME in 1983, the same year Ohio public employees got the right to collectively bargain. #LaborHistory #Anchorman #CollectiveBargaining #PublicEmployees

Gloria McCabe, @afscme.bsky.social Council 97 member, had an unusual commute to work w/ the AZ Department of Economic Security. 4X a year, she and colleagues traveled all day by horse into the #GrandCanyon to the most remote Native American reservation in the US. #NativeAmericanHeritage #Arizona

As of this morning, Starbucks workers across the country are officially ON STRIKE. And we're prepared for this to become the biggest and longest ULP strike in Starbucks history. Say #NoContractNoCoffee with us: DON'T BUY STARBUCKS for the duration of our open-ended ULP strike! $SBUX

It's #NativeAmericanHeritageMonth and here's a local story from 1981 of @afscme.bsky.social member Joan Sobbe, a bus driver for Huron Valley Schools in MI. Sobbe, of Ottawa heritage, volunteered with and served as chair for the Indian Education Program beginning in 1974. #LaborHistory #HuronValley

Yesterday was the 50th anniversary of the sinking of the #EdmundFitzgerald on #LakeSuperior. This documentary from @clickondetroit.com uses the WDIV archives at @reutherlibrary.bsky.social and features our AV department's #Steenbeck (film viewing machine): www.clickondetroit.com/features/202...

*waves from across Woodward* www.artnews.com/art-news/new... #LaborUnions #art #ArtMuseums #CulturalWorkers @cwuafscme.bsky.social

Tom Warzel of AFSCME CSEA Local 1000, appeared on The Late Show in 1997. Letterman gave the "man on the street" 5 seconds to exercise his constitutional right to free speech on air. Warzel said: “Everyone should belong to a union.” @afscme.bsky.social #CSEA #Letterman #LateShow #Unions #LaborHistory

Always ask your local archivist!