Ken Blaylock

Kenneth T. Blaylock (July 15, 1935 – October 10, 2018) was an American labor union leader.

Born in North Carolina to a family with Cherokee origins, Blaylock became a plumber in Alabama. He served on the Maxwell Air Force Base, and became active in the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), serving as vice-president for the union's southern region, and then from 1976 as president. He was also elected as a vice-president of the AFL-CIO in 1977, and in 1981 as president of the federation's Public Employee Department.{{cite news |last1=Singzinger |first1=Keith |title=KENNETH T. BLAYLOCK: The Federal Labor Leader And His Counteroffensive |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1986/12/15/kenneth-t-blaylock-the-federal-labor-leader-and-his-counteroffensive/38cb0df9-a83a-4fea-9282-076fe05c99b7/ |access-date=18 June 2023 |newspaper=Washington Post |date=December 15, 1986}}

As leader of the AFGE, Blaylock was a strong supporter of the controversial Civil Service Reform Act of 1978. Under his leadership, membership of the union fell as government employment contracted, and the union's finances suffered as members rejected Blaylock's proposals to consolidate districts and raise membership fees. He became known as an opponent for funding for the El Salvadoran government and Nicaraguan contras, in contrast to the AFL-CIO's leadership. In 1987, he was suspended from his government post for 60 days for violating the Hatch Act by speaking in support of Walter Mondale during the 1984 United States presidential election, although this had no effect as he had been on leave since becoming union president, and the charge was overturned in 1988.{{cite news |last1=Havemann |first1=Judith |title=Hatch Act Conviction Is Overturned |newspaper=Washington Post |date=August 12, 1988}}

In August 1988, Blaylock was defeated for re-election by John Sturdivant.{{cite news |last1=Swoboda |first1=Frank |title=Organization Man Takes Helm Of Shaky Federal Union |newspaper=Washington Post |date=August 26, 1988}} He retired to Montgomery, Alabama, where he died in 2018.{{cite web |title=AFGE Mourns Loss of Two Iconic Labor Leaders |url=https://www.afge.org/publication/afge-mourns-loss-of-two-iconic-labor-leaders/ |website=AFGE |access-date=18 June 2023}}