AFSCME AS A POLITICAL UNION

AFSCME has emerged as the third largest union in the U.S. and the larg est public sector affiliate of the AFL-CIO. Since the 1960s, its leade rship has vigorously pursued organizing and political action. Despite its highly visible role in U.S. politics, little systematic research e xists on the union in this context. I examine AFSCME's political appar atus, the scope of its electoral and legislative involvement its polit ical ideology and legislative priorities, and its political effectiven ess. I also explore the controversy regarding the use of compulsory du es for political put-poses, and AFSCME's resulting rebate procedure. I find that AFSCME donates a considerable portion of its resources to p olitical action (between IO percent to a third of its budget at the in ternational level), that its political ideology is focused heavily on expanding the rights and economic status of public employees and that AFSCME has emerged as a prominent, if not the prominent, political uni on in the U.S. labor movement.