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The Public Employees Federation (PEF) was founded in 1979 to represent members of the Professional, Scientific, and Technical (PS&T) bargaining unit of New York State. PS&T employees had formerly been represented by CSEA, the state's largest public employee union. PEF founders believed that the concerns of the PS&T unit were not adequately represented by CSEA, the majority of whose members were non-professional state employees. PEF's stated mission is to "provide the leadership necessary for PEF members to achieve employment security, higher wages, better working conditions, and improved retirement benefits." Materials in this collection document PEF activities at both the state and division level. There is extensive coverage of executive board activities from 1978 through mid-2000, annual conventions, committee meetings, and contract negotiations. Also included are files for PEF Division 169, PEF's Environmental Conservation Division. These include correspondence, agendas and minutes for labor/management meetings, material on committees, and administrative files. This collection also documents the activities of reform groups and political parties within PEF (most notably, the Statewide Coalition for a Democratic Union) and PEF's relationships with its national affiliates, the Service Employees International Union and the American Federation of Teachers. Particularly strong is the collection of bulletin board postings, which includes almost everything posted on Division 169 PEF bulletin boards from 1979 through 2000. There are also official PEF publications, including a near-complete run of PEF's official monthly newsletter to members, The Communicator.

This collection contains the papers of Edward J. Bloch (1924-2014), a native of New York who served in the military between 1943 and 1946 with assignments in Okinawa during World War II and post-war North China, taught science in Istanbul, Turkey (1947-1950), and dedicated the majority of his career to labor concerns as a representative for the labor union United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America (1950-1984). Edward Bloch also served as President of the Labor Action Coalition of New York (1975 to the late 1990s), Director of the Interfaith Impact for the New York State Council of Churches (1987-1995), and ran unsuccessfully for two different congressional district seats (1984, 1986, 1995-1996). Among the many honors Bloch received during his lifetime is the Purple Heart, which he was awarded for his actions during World War II.

The Education Division of Communication Workers of America, Local 1104 represents "employees eligible for union membership who are employed as: graduate students holding State-funded positions as Graduate Assistants or Teaching Assistants employed by the State University of New York." The collection includes news clippings, contracts, photographs, administrative records, as well as ephemera such as t-shirts, buttons, hats, and cup holders.

The Ralph Boyd, Sr. Papers contain personal and professional correspondence, news clippings, work manuals and agendas that document his career as a General Electric employee, community activist and member of the Schenectady branch of the NAACP.

The Fred Pfeiffer Papers document Pfeiffer's work with labor unions and activist organizations in the Albany, N.Y., area from the mid-1970s to 2007.

The City Teachers Association of Schenectady was founded in 1918 to promote standards of professionalism in teaching. The group was chartered as a union, the Schenectady Federation of Teachers, in 1944. Local 803 went on strike in 1975 in violation of the NYS Taylor Law. The local is affiliated with New York State United Teachers, American Federation of Teachers.

The Sheet Metal Workers International Association, Local 83 Records document the day-to-day operations of the union from the years 1892-1984 using meeting minutes and other documents refrenced in the minutes including correspondence, treasurer's reports, newsletters and strike bulletins.

Chartered in 1934, as the Tri-City Newspaper Guild of Albany, Schenectady, and Troy, the Guild signed its first contract with the Albany Times Union in 1937. The collection includes correspondence, minutes, contracts, and organizing files. The majority of material in the collection is photocpied.

The records of United University Professions (UUP) document the activities of the union and collective bargaining agent for the faculty and non-teaching professionals of the State University of New York. They begin in the 1960s with UUP's antecedents, the State University Professional Association (SUPA) and the Senate Professional Association (SPA), and continue through June 2000 for the materials produced by UUP's Communications Department, and through May 1993 for most other series.

This collection documents the day-to-day activities of Council 82, the New York State Law Enforcement Officers Union, during its first two decades of existence.