Gerald McEntee

Gerald W. "Jerry" McEntee is an American former union official. From 1981 to 2012, he was the president of the 1.4 million-member American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), the largest union of public employees in the United States and an affiliate of the AFL-CIO. McEntee succeeded Jerry Wurf as AFSCME President in 1981, serving until his retirement 2012. McEntee was paid a gross salary of $1,020,751 in 2012, his last year on the job. McEntee's use of $325,000 in union money to charter private jets in 2010 and 2011 became an issue in the campaign to succeed him.

McEntee is seen by some as the "power behind the throne" in John J. Sweeney's rise to power in the AFL-CIO, and his rivalry with Andy Stern of the SEIU is seen by some as one of the underlying themes in the break between that federation and the Change to Win Federation.

McEntee began his career as a labor leader in Pennsylvania in 1958 by going to work as an organizer for his father who was an AFSCME official in Philadelphia. He was elected Executive Director at the founding convention of AFSCME Council 13 in Pennsylvania in 1973 and an International Vice President of AFSCME in 1974. He holds a bachelor's degree in economics from La Salle University in Philadelphia, and is a graduate of the Harvard Trade Union Program. A native of Philadelphia, McEntee and his wife Barbara live in Washington, D.C. He is a contributing writer for the Huffington Post. He is a member of the Democratic National Committee and was a "super delegate" in the Pennsylvania 2008 Democratic National Convention delegation.