AUSBE was formed as a result of the of re-organization of some government departments into statutory boards, as well as existing statutory boards hiving off certain functions to a new corporatised entity, resulting in a much smaller statutory board retaining only the regulatory function. With these re-organisation, members of the new or re-organised statutory boards ceased to in be the various unions they used to be under. AUSBE was thus formed to look after the interest of these employees. To jumpstart AUSBE, the three Unions affected by the change invested a lot of support for its formation. They were the Amalgamated Union of Public Employees (AUPE), the Singapore Port Workers Union (SPWU), and the Port Officers Union (POU). These Unions provided financial assistance and administrative support.
Since its formation in 1997, AUSBE has been growing. By 2009, nine new or newly re-organised statutory boards joined AUSBE, making a total 12 branches. They are: