Public Employee Department

The Public Employee Department was a division of the AFL-CIO, bringing together unions representing government workers.

The Government Employees' Council of the American Federation of Labor (AFL) was founded in 1945. When the AFL merged into the AFL-CIO, the council was maintained, and by 1963 it had more than 20 union affiliates.{{cite journal |last1=Newland |first1=Chester |title=Trends in Public Employee Unionization |journal=The Journal of Politics |date=August 1964 |volume=26 |issue=3}} In 1974, a new Public Employee Department was founded, absorbing the council. On formation, it had 24 affiliated unions, representing more than 2 million public employees.{{cite book |title=important Events in American Labor History 1778-1978 |date=1979 |publisher=United States Department of Labor |location=Washington DC}}

By the 1990s, the department's focus was on developing a framework for labour and management co-operation. It was dissolved in 1998.{{cite journal |last1=Langevin |first1=Mark |title=Between Fragmentation and Globalization |journal=Labor Studies Journal |date=2009 |volume=35 |issue=3}}