Rash's Surname Index
Notes for William Joseph MCENTEE
CITY UNION PIONEER WILLIAM MCENTEE
William J. McEntee, a veteran Pennsylvania labor leader who negotiated pioneering contracts for public employees, died Sunday. He was 79 and lived in Northeast Philadelphia.
He was a principal organizer of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) District Council 33 and in 1943 was elected president of the council. He was a founding member of AFSCME Local 427 and served as an international vice president of the union for 22 years beginning in 1946.
As president of the council, he negotiated a contract that established the first public employees' health and welfare fund in the country. He also negotiated the first agency-shop contract for public employees.
His son, Gerald W. McEntee, is international president of AFSCME.
A founder of John F. Kennedy Memorial Hospital in Philadelphia, McEntee served as its executive director in the mid-1960s. For a number of years, he was a vice president of the city's Central Labor Council.
Born in Philadelphia, McEntee dropped out of school after the seventh grade to help his father, a widower, support the family. He worked in a silk factory and attended school part time. He went on to work as a laborer, truck driver and street cleaner. He began his union career organizing the street cleaners.
In addition to his son, he is survived by his wife, Mary; a daughter, Mary Casele; and a sister, Helen Delaney.
Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated Friday at St. Albert the Great Catholic Church, 212 Welsh Road, Huntingdon Valley, Montgomery County. Burial will be in Holy Cross Cemetery, Baily Road and Wycombe Avenue, Yeadon, Delaware County.
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