18 Facts About Gerald McEntee

Gerald William McEntee was an American trade union official.

Gerald McEntee served as president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, an affiliate of the AFL-CIO, from 1981 to 2012.

Gerald McEntee's father, William, worked as a city sanitation worker and helped organize fellow municipal workers during the 1930s; his mother, Mary Josephine, was a housewife.

Gerald McEntee studied economics at La Salle University, graduating with a bachelor's degree in 1956.

Gerald McEntee served a short stint in the US Army.

Gerald McEntee worked as a political strategist for the powerful municipal union until 1969.

The drive to organize Pennsylvania undertaken by Gerald McEntee was described by Eric Arnesen as "the largest and most successful organizing campaign in US labor history", helping to elevate his reputation nationally.

Gerald McEntee was elected Executive Director at the founding convention of AFSCME Council 13 in Pennsylvania in 1973, and as an International Vice President of AFSCME a year later.

Gerald McEntee subsequently presided over one of the largest public worker strikes in US history at the time when the state attempted to renege on its agreement several years later.

Gerald McEntee was eventually elected president of AFSCME after the death of Jerry Wurf in December 1981.

Gerald McEntee was re-elected to a full term three years later.

Gerald McEntee oversaw a significant increase in the use of AFL funds for campaign finance, with over $30 million in the 1996 and 1998 elections and over $40 million in the 2000 election.

Gerald McEntee was later responsible for the AFL's endorsement of Al Gore in 2000, as well as stymieing a 2005 plan by George W Bush to partially privatize Social Security.

Gerald McEntee supported John Sweeney in his rise to power in the AFL-CIO.

Gerald McEntee was a member of the Democratic National Committee and was a "super delegate" in the Pennsylvania 2008 Democratic National Convention delegation.

Gerald McEntee later married Barbara Rochford in 1989, and remained married to her until his death.

Gerald McEntee died on July 10,2022, at his home in Naples, Florida.

Gerald McEntee was 87, and had a stroke prior to his death.