Michael Wayne Padwee was born on December 4, 1942 in Jersey City, New Jersey. He graduated from Weehawken High School in 1960, and received a B.S. in Chemistry from Rutgers University in 1964, an M.A. in History from Rutgers in 1966, an M.L.S. from Queens College in 1975, and an M.S.W. from Columbia University in 1982.

A long-time political activist, Michael Padwee was a founding member of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) chapter at Rutgers University, starting in 1963. He was arrested with civil rights leader James Farmer when the Rutgers Chapter joined in picketing the 1964 World's Fair in New York. Padwee went on to form a chapter of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) at Rutgers. As a member of SDS, he helped sponsor a series of "teach-ins" at the University, including a controversial speech by alleged Communist, and then Rutgers professor, Eugene Genovese. He also organized a number of protests and helped set up Community Action Projects in the New Brunswick Community. In late 1971, Padwee became active in the New American Movement (NAM). He participated as a voting delegate at the founding convention of NAM and went on to help form a NAM chapter in New York City, where he served as Secretary. He also participated in the city-wide Committee for Independent Political Action (CIPA), which was involved in campaigns of third-party candidates, including James Weinstein's campaign as an independent socialist for the Congressional seat in the 19th District.

Padwee began working at the New York City Department of Social Services, Human Resources Administration, as a caseworker in the summer of 1966, when he was assigned to the Veterans' Welfare Center. Almost immediately he joined the Social Service Employees Union (SSEU); the union, now SSEU, AFSCME DC 37, Local 371, was then independent, formed when caseworkers split from Local 371 in 1962. In early 1967, Mr. Padwee was elected as an alternate delegate in the union and began distributing his own newsletter, Dishonorable Discharge, at the Veterans' Welfare Center. In the spring of 1968, he ran unsuccessfully for a delegate position in the union. Shortly thereafter he became a co-grievance chairman for the Center. While at the Veterans' Center, Mr. Padwee was active in a number of union caucuses and subgroups including Welfare Workers for Peace, Rank and File Committee, "Coalition," Members for Militant and Democratic Unionism, and the Welfare Chapter of the Movement for a Democratic Society. In 1968-69 when a spirited debate went on within the local union over whether to re-affiliate with DC37, Padwee was active in the Anti-Merger Caucus. The SSEU fought for higher wages and better working conditions, but was also seen by much of its membership as a vehicle for affecting wider social and political issues such as child welfare, homelessness, the AIDS crisis, anti-Apartheid and civil rights struggles and the movement against the Vietnam War. The union caucus Welfare Workers for Peace, won the support of the local for anti-war demonstrations and organized members to pass an anti-war resolution that was drafted by Padwee. The SSEU became the first union in the country to vote by referendum to call on the U.S. to withdraw from Vietnam.

Throughout the 1968 and 1969 struggles within the SSEU over re-affiliation with District Council 37 Padwee was deeply involved in organizing an opposition to re-affiliation. When the issue was resolved by a pro-merger vote of the membership, his workplace, the Veterans' Welfare Center, was one of only four centers to vote against the measure. Padwee resigned from the union for a short time, but returned in May of 1969, when he transferred to the Bureau of Child Welfare Division of Homefinding. He left the Welfare Department in November of 1969 to move to Baltimore, and returned to NYC and was rehired by the Division of Homefinding in April of 1970.