Since 1945, the Office and Professional Employees International Union (OPEIU) has been at the forefront of the movement to organize professional workers, helping to attain the wages, benefits, and workplace conditions all working people need and deserve. OPEIU’s demonstrated, decades-long commitment to working people is embodied by our democratic structure and is driven—as any union should be—by its members. With more than 100,000 members throughout the United States and Canada, OPEIU represents employees and independent contractors in nonprofits, technology, credit unions, hospitals and medical clinics, insurance, higher education, hotels, transportation, shipping, aircraft manufacturing, utilities, administrative offices, and more.

Brief History of OPEIU

In 1906, Local 1 in Indianapolis became the first clerical federal charter issued by the AFL (American Federation of Labor) representing a union for Stenographers, Typists, Bookkeepers, and Assistants. However, clerical employees weren’t widely organized until the Wagner Act of 1935, which gave workers collective bargaining and organizing rights. This propelled thousands of clerical employees into action, forming dozens of clerical union charters.

At the AFL convention in 1936, Mollie Levitas presented the first resolution calling for an international union of office workers. Nine years later, the AFL issued a charter to Office Employees International Union (OEIU) at a convention in Cincinnati, Ohio. In 1965, ten years after the AFL merged with the CIO (Congress of Industrial Organizations) to become the AFL-CIO, our union changed its name to the Office & Professional Employees International Union (OPEIU).

OPEIU reached a landmark of 110,000 members in the United States in 2010 and continues to grow through organizing new members around the US, Canada, New Zealand, and Puerto Rico. OPEIU is committed to advancing economic justice for working people no matter their occupation; professional organizations and Guilds affiliated with OPEIU are a diverse group including physicians, registered nurses, pharmacists, chiropractors, appraisers, podiatrists, clinical social workers, hypnotists, teachers, and helicopter pilots.