[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 149 (Thursday, October 30, 1997)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E2137-E2138]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      HONORING JOHN N. STURDIVANT

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. THOMAS M. DAVIS

                              of virginia

                    in the house of representatives

                       Thursday, October 30, 1997

  Mr. DAVIS of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, it is with deep sadness that I 
rise today to announce the passing of John N. Sturdivant, whose 
contributions to our Federal Government and its workers are beyond 
measure. John died on October 28, 1997 after fighting a valiant battle 
against leukemia. It is hard for me to believe that such a vibrant and 
dynamic citizen is gone.
  John served as the president of the American Federation of Government 
Employees [AFGE] since 1988. Since that time, he strengthened this 
union and ensured that our Federal employees had a much stronger voice 
in government. John fought to make sure that our civil service received 
the respect it deserved. When he took over the helm of the AFGE, it was 
a floundering union without a distinct mission or an activist style. 
John quickly changed that; it was not long before he was lobbying for 
amending the Hatch Act to give Federal employees a greater level of 
participation in the political process.
  I often worked closely with John throughout the years and 
particularly during the two Government shutdowns in 1995 and 1996. I 
will miss the strong spirit and single-minded devotion that John 
brought to his mission. John recognized that it is easy for politicians 
to make Federal employees a faceless symbol of a large bureaucracy and 
he knew that this was simply unacceptable. Instead, he reminded elected 
officials at every level that civil servants often work for less 
compensation than the private sector. In fact, John was the leader who 
won locality pay for Federal workers to bring their salaries more in 
line with the private sector.
  I know that John will be missed by those he served who were lucky to 
have his tireless energy working for them. My deepest condolences go to 
John's family. John will be a friend and advocate that I will never 
forget. A recent article in the Washington Post clearly illustrates Mr. 
Sturdivant's contributions to our region and the Federal Government.

                       [From the Washington Post]

       John N. Sturdivant, 59, who as president since 1988 of the 
     American Federation of Government Employees helped lobby 
     Congress to ease a 57-year ban on political activities for 
     federal workers and rallied public support to end two 
     government shutdowns, died Oct. 28 at Inova Fairfax Hospital. 
     He had leukemia.
       AFGE, one of the largest federal unions, has about 178,000 
     active members in 1,100 locals and represents about 600,000 
     workers in 68 federal agencies. Many have jobs in the Defense 
     Department, Veterans Affairs Department and Social Security 
     Administration. They add up to more than one-third of the 
     federal work force.
       Mr. Sturdivant was a primary labor spokesman on Capitol 
     Hill and with the Office of Management Budget, pushing for 
     pay raises and improved conditions and retirement benefits. 
     He worked with legislators to create ``locality pay,'' a 
     salary system that attempts to bring federal compensation 
     into line with the private sector.
       Downsizing of government and budget pressures constantly 
     dogged Mr. Sturdivant's effort to preserve federal jobs. 
     After Congress failed to agree on a budget in 1995, and many 
     government operations were suspended, Mr. Sturdivant accused 
     House Republicans of trying to destroy government and 
     denigrate federal workers.
       The changes he and other federal labor leaders helped bring 
     about in the Hatch Act three years ago came as unions were 
     launching a multimillion-dollar counterattack on the 
     congressional Republicans. Off-duty federal employees had 
     been barred from political activity that included holding 
     office in a party, distributing campaign literature and 
     soliciting votes.
       The Hatch reforms permitted employees to contribute money, 
     attend fund-raisers and volunteer for work such as staffing 
     phone banks.
       Mr. Sturdivant, of Vienna, had long been active in 
     Democratic politics, serving on the party's national 
     committee and the Virginia and Fairfax County central 
     committees, and he encouraged his members to get involved.
       He also directed AFGE to contribute $300,000 last year to 
     organized labor's blitz against the GOP and assigned 22 of 
     his organizers to get-out-the-vote effort.
       This month he received the Spirit of Democracy award of the 
     National Coalition on Black Voter Participation.
       AFGE is a major affiliate of the AFL-CIO, and Mr. 
     Sturdivant, who was one of the highest ranking African 
     Americans in the labor movement, was vice president of the 
     federation's executive council. He also was a trustee of its 
     George Meany Center for Labor Studies.
       ALF-CIO President John Sweeney said this year that Mr. 
     Sturdivant had been at the forefront of helping the 
     federation ``focus more on diversity in the labor movement 
     and in leadership development.''
       Mr. Sturdivant also was a member of the National 
     Partnership Council, a Clinton administration initiative to 
     improve labor-management relations in the executive branch. 
     He came in for criticism after the 1996 election when he 
     asked his staff to compile a list of career officials who 
     could be

[[Page E2138]]

     ``identified'' as opposing the Clinton administration's 
     labor-management policies. At the time, efforts where 
     underway to reinvigorate the council concept, which had 
     helped reduce the number of union grievances at some 
     agencies.
       Mr. Sturdivant fought against privatization of government 
     work, which threatened to reduce the ranks of AFGE-
     represented employees by one-fourth. But this year he 
     announced that AFGE had negotiated its first contract to 
     represent employees of a private contractor, Hughes 
     Electronic Corp. Hughes took over the work of the closed 
     Naval Air Warfare Center.
       While the union continued to oppose contracting federal 
     work, Mr. Sturdivant said that where the battle was over 
     individual agencies, ``our policy is to pursue the work.''
       Labor Secretary Alexis M. Herman said yesterday that Mr. 
     Sturdivant had been ``one of the labor movement's brightest 
     lights'' and ``one of its most articulate advocates for 
     working families.''
       Mr. Sturdivant was born in Philadelphia and raised in 
     Bridgeport, Conn. He was a graduate of Antioch University, 
     and he studied law at George Washington University. He served 
     in the Air Force.
       He went to work for the government in 1961 in Winchester, 
     Va., where he was an electronics technician with the Army 
     Interagency Communications Agency, later part of the Federal 
     Emergency Management Agency. He was president of the AFGE 
     local in Winchester for eight years before being appointed to 
     the national staff of the union in Washington.
       He was organizing director and administrative assistant to 
     two AFGE presidents in Washington and then was elected 
     executive vice president in 1982. The union was on the brink 
     of bankruptcy when he defeated Kenneth T. Blaylock, a 14-year 
     incumbent, in 1988. Mr. Sturdivant imposed an austerity 
     program, collected delinquent dues and was soon able to 
     announce that he had balanced the budget.
       He was reelected to a fourth term as president in August, 
     along with Secretary-Treasurer Bobby L. Harnage, who will 
     succeed him.
       Mr. Sturdivant's marriage to Muriel T. Sturdivant ended in 
     divorce.
       Survivors include his companion, Peggy Potter of Vienna; a 
     daughter, Michelle Sturdivant of Alexandria; his mother, 
     Ethel Jessie of Bridgeport; and a brother, a stepbrother, and 
     a sister.

     

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