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Dates' Selector PageImportant Years In American Labor History -- 1972 to 1995
1972 -- President Richard Nixon orders ninety-day wage and price freezes to curb inflation. Organized labor opposes the initiative.
1973 -- Adoption of the Rehabilitation Act prohibiting discrimination against "qualified, handicapped individuals" and requiring reasonable accommodation where appropriate for such individuals.
1974 -- Application of the Age Discrimination Act in Employment to federal employees.
1978 -- Passage of the Civil Service Reform Act overhauling federal sector labor and management relations; establishing the Merit Systems Protection Board, Office of Personnel Management and Federal Labor Relations Authority.
1981 -- Strike by Professional Air Traffic Controllers Union, (PATCO). President Ronald Reagan orders employees back to work and fires strikers.
1981 -- The first AFL-CIO Solidarity Day March in Washington, D.C. attended by 500,000 union members and over 6,000 AFGE officers, members, family and staff.
1984 -- The "Ad Hoc Committee for an American Solidarity Movement" is formed. The Committee declared that; "American Unions are under attack" and seeks to improve the reputation of labor organizations in America.
1989 -- The Minimum Wage is scheduled to rise to $4.25 by 1991. The Minimum Wage had remained at $3.35 for eight years despite rapid increases in the cost of living during that time.
1990 -- Passage of the Federal Employees' Pay Comparability Act intended to close the gap between federal and private sector employees' pay.
1993 -- Passage of the Family and Medical Leave Act.
1993 -- President Clinton issues Executive Order 12871 establishing the National Partnership Council and broadening the scope of bargaining for federal employee labor organizations.
1994 -- Hatch Act Reform changes allow more freedom for federal employees' political activities.
1994 -- Congressional elections result in a Republican majority in both houses of Congress.
1995 -- Anti-government domestic terrorist Timothy McVeigh detonates a truck bomb at the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The resulting blast kills 169 children, women and men including employees and AFGE members working for the Social Security Administration and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
1995 -- Millions of federal workers are locked-out of their jobs for six days when House Republicans refuse to pass a stop-gap spending measure to fund the government. Some 800,000 federal employees are furloughed or forced to work without pay while the budget dispute continues through the Holiday Season.