<P> The police strike chilled union interest in the public sector in the 1920s . The major exception was the emergence of unions of public school teachers in the largest cities; they formed the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), affiliated with the AFL . In suburbs and small cities, the National Education Association (NEA) became active, but it insisted it was not a labor union but a professional organization . </P> <P> In the mid 1930s efforts were made to unionize WPA workers, but were opposed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt . Moe points out that Roosevelt, "an ardent supporter of collective bargaining in the private sector, was opposed to it in the public sector ." Roosevelt in 1937 told the nation what the position of his government was: "All Government employees should realize that the process of collective bargaining, as usually understood, cannot be transplanted into the public service...The very nature and purposes of government make it impossible for administrative officials to represent fully or to bind the employer in mutual discussions with government employee organizations . </P> <P> Change came in the 1950s . In 1958 New York mayor Robert Wagner, Jr. issued an executive order, called "the little Wagner Act," giving city employees certain bargaining rights, and gave their unions with exclusive representation (that is, the unions alone were legally authorized to speak for all city workers, regardless of whether or not some workers were members .) Management complained but the unions had power in city politics . </P> <P> By the 1960s and 1970s public - sector unions expanded rapidly to cover teachers, clerks, firemen, police, prison guards and others . In 1962, President John Kennedy issued Executive Order 10988, upgrading the status of unions of federal workers . </P>

What were labor unions during the great depression