Minutes; membership and election records; executive officer files; grievances, health and safety and health benefits files; Humboldt Transit Authority (HTA) files; Local 1684 formation history; negotiations; office correspondence; publications; salary statistics; records of state, county and municipal boards; and strike files.

The earliest materials in the collection are in the scrapbook with clippings dating back to 1961. The most contemporary material is dated 1990. The bulk of the material is 1965-85. Significant gaps are the following: Executive officers’ files - Pert to Evers 1979-81, Minutes/Shop Steward 1974-75, Negotiations 1964-69, Salary 1970-81, State, County, and Municipal Boards 1971-75, Strikes 1968-82.

The social aspects of union life are seen in the union’s practice of announcing member’s birthdays in the newsletters and the company picnics every summer. Counties began to unite in December 1960 in their bargaining efforts for good conditions. Local 1684 had an extraordinary degree of expansion, growing faster than any other union affiliated with the AFL-CIO, a record 500% growth in membership when most unions were into negative figures, as reported in a news clipping dated August 18, 1967.

Important legislative bills were introduced, as reported by the Union Steward News, including the right of state employees to bargain in 1973. AFSCME fought the tendency to privatize jobs, and the members were interested in comparable worth/pay equity in March 1986.

Individuals referred to frequently in the collection are: Steve Antongiovani, HCEA President April 1961 C. Clark, Accident Free Miles Record, Bus Driver January 20, 1984 Jerry Clark, AFSCME Business Manager December 1980 Michael J. Evers, President September 1982 (2/18, 3/25) Claud James, HCEA President 1965-66 William F. Landis, Business Manager, 1968-75 Harvey Larson, Local 1684's 1st President 1966-67 Richard Ogelsby, President Local 1684 1969, 1973-74 Dan Raffaelli, President HCEA May 1967 Dorothy Shirke, HCEA President August 1960 James Spallino, President Local 1684 December 1970 Ken Thompson, HCEA President January 1963 Wesley Windsor, HCPE Local President May 1968 Jerry Wurf, International AFSCME President 1966-75 Scot Yarnell, Local 1684 President May 1986

Subjects, organizations and events noted in the collection are: Redwood National Park Plan 1966-75 Sale of General Hospital 1966-75 Humboldt Taxpayers’ League 1967-75 Working Poor of Humboldt County 1970-71 Citizen’s Committee to Keep the People’s Medical Center 1974-75 Hoopa Medical Center 1976-82 Clerical Parity 1979-81 Agency Shop Research 1980-87 Personnel Action Procedures 1984

Various issues of AFSCME newspapers, local and national, are part of the collection, including: The Humboldt County Employees, Vol II, April 1958 The HCEA Mirror, 1960-63 HCEA Bulletin, January 1963, September 1966 The Steward, Vol. 1, No. 1, March 1968 - 1974 AFSCME Collective Bargaining Newsletter, Vol. 1, October 1976 Articles documenting high wage settlements Collective Bargaining Reporter, September 1982 Article documenting bargaining for child care