Are Apparent Factional Battles at AFGE Challenging Union President?

Internal politics at AFGE, which represents more Federal employees than any other union in the Federal sector, are getting interesting.

The American Federation of Government Employees, AFL-CIO (AFGE) represents more Federal employees than any other union in the Federal Sector.

According to a recent court decision, the union fired its national Secretary/Treasurer Eugene Hudson Jr., an elected official, without providing him a fair hearing. The court ordered him to be restored to his position. Hudson, according to the court decision (quoting Hudson), is slated to run against the current President, J. David Cox Sr. in an upcoming 2018 election at the Union’s convention.

Coincidentally, the Washington Post reported that AFGE’s president dismissed from the presidency of his union local, a rival candidate in the 2012 national election. Fired were former Local 12 president Alex Bastani, and other local leaders for not using “proper financial controls”.  According to the Post article Mr. Bastani and other Local officers are challenging their removal.

Local 12’s website lists a lot of people in acting officer jobs and, interestingly, reports, “The 2017 General Election has been cancelled.”

Mr. Hudson, whose picture and biography disappeared from AFGE’s national website site earlier this year is back up as of this writing.  Fast work.

If you’re asking what the heck is going on at AFGE, you’re not alone.  Transparency has not been evident in AFGE’s internal affairs.  According to Department of Labor Reports, AFGE is the union that has had more criminal convictions for finance-related wrongdoing than any other union in the U.S. and all other public sector (Federal, State, Local) unions put together.

None of the above is an opinion on my part.  But if I were a member, I’d sure like to know what’s going on.

About the Author

Bob Gilson is a consultant with a specialty in working with and training Federal agencies to resolve employee problems at all levels. A retired agency labor and employee relations director, Bob has authored or co-authored a number of books dealing with Federal issues and also conducts training seminars.