:American Federation of Teachers

{{Infobox organization

| name = American Federation of Teachers

| location_country = United States

| members = 1.7 million

| logo = American Federation of Teachers logo.svg

| native_name =

| upright = 0.7

| logo_alt = The lowercase letters A F T set in cursive script inside a blue shield shape.

| image =

| founded = {{Start date|1916|04|15}}{{cite book|title=Report of the Commissioner of Education Made to the Secretary of the Interior for the Year|date=1918|publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office|page=107}}

| abbreviation = AFT

| predecessor = American Federation of Teachers and Students

| affiliation = AFL–CIO, Education International, Public Services International

| dissolved =

| merged =

| headquarters = Washington, D.C.

| key_people = Randi Weingarten, president

| website = {{official url}}

| footnotes =

}}

The American Federation of Teachers (AFT) is the second largest teacher's labor union in America (the largest being the National Education Association). The union was founded in Chicago. John Dewey and Margaret Haley were founders.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cI0ZBQAAQBAJ&dq=american+federation+of+teachers+was+founded+by+john+dewey&pg=PT303|title = Building Teachers: A Constructivist Approach to Introducing Education|isbn = 9781285530116|last1 = Martin|first1 = David Jerner|last2 = Loomis|first2 = Kimberly S.|date = June 25, 2013| publisher=Cengage Learning }}{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AZlZAAAAYAAJ&q=%22american+federation+of+teachers%22+%22dewey%22+%22founder%22|title = American Flint|year = 1968}}{{cite book|last1=Lasley, II|first1=Thomas J.|last2=Hunt|first2=Thomas C.|title=Encyclopedia of Educational Reform and Dissent|date=2010|publisher=SAGE|isbn=9781412956642|page=56}}{{cite encyclopedia |title=Margaret Haley (1861–1939) |encyclopedia=The American Midwest: An Interpretive Encyclopedia| first=Daniel| last=Golodner| editor1-first=Andrew R.L.| editor1-last=Cayton| editor2-first=Richard| editor2-last=Sisson| editor3-first=Chris| editor3-last=Zacher| date=2006|publisher=Indiana University Press |location=Bloomington, Indiana| isbn=978-0-253-34886-9| page=1332}}

About 60 percent of AFT's membership works directly in education, with the remainder of the union's members composed of paraprofessionals and school-related personnel; local, state and federal employees; higher education faculty and staff, and nurses and other healthcare professionals. The AFT has, since its founding, affiliated with trade union federations: until 1955 the American Federation of Labor, and now the AFL–CIO.

History

{{thumb|content=

{{center|Total membership (US records; ×1000){{Cite OLMS|filenum=000-012}}}}{{Graph:Chart

| height = 160

| xAxisTitle = Year | xAxisAngle = -40

| x = 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

| yAxisTitle = Members | yAxisMin = 0 | yAxisFormat = | yGrid =

| y = 707, 736, 741, 770, 816, 829, 823, 832, 856, 889, 888, 873, 848, 1567, 1597

}}

----

{{center|Finances (US records; ×$1000)}}{{Graph:Chart

| height = 160

| yAxisTitle = Value | yAxisFormat = | yGrid = | colors = red, blue, green, orange

| xAxisTitle = Year | xAxisAngle = -40

| x = 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

| y1 = 79475, 80588, 79781, 87415, 99821, 88925, 96155, 101268, 107479, 104342, 115384, 93110, 98480, 104654, 86826

| y2 = 23494, 22989, 22637, 23005, 35116, 23923, 34229, 45257, 47648, 45970, 72915, 49267, 42534, 65047, 60413

| y3 = 130684, 141419, 133657, 166865, 184799, 188679, 219427, 196489, 209609, 193752, 223977, 211477, 326148, 320608, 344706

| y4 = 122110, 151841, 133783, 164465, 179963, 195007, 214264, 196631, 195596, 206048, 207795, 234474, 316490, 334586, 334326

}}|caption={{legend0|red|Assets}} {{legend0|blue|Liabilities}} {{legend0|green|Receipts}} {{legend0|orange|Disbursements}}}}

AFT was founded in Chicago, Illinois, on April 15, 1916. Charles Stillman was the first president and Margaret Haley was the national organizer. On May 9, 1916, the American Federation of Labor chartered the AFT. By 1919, AFT had 100 local affiliates and a membership of approximately 11,000 teachers, which amounted to 1.5% of the nation's teaching force. In its early days, AFT distinguished itself from the National Education Association (NEA) by its exclusion of school administrators from membership. Facing opposition from politicians and boards of education, membership in AFT declined to 7,000 by 1930. During this period, the organization had little impact on local or national education policy.{{cite book|last1=Arnesen|first1=Eric|title=Encyclopedia of U.S. Labor and Working-class History, Volume 1|date=2007|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=9780415968263|pages=87–90}}

AFT membership climbed during the Great Depression, reaching 33,000 by 1939. During the 1930s, AFT, whose members had historically been primary school teachers, saw influential college professors join the union. Also during the 1930s, the Communist Party gained influence within the AFT. In 1941, under pressure from the AFL, the union ejected three local unions in New York City and Philadelphia (including its prominent early member, the New York City Teachers Union, AFT Local 5) for being communist-dominated. The charter revocations represented nearly a third of the union's national membership.

The 1940s were marked by a series of teacher strikes, including 57 strikes that occurred from 1946 through 1949. By 1947, AFT had a membership of 42,000. The 1960s and 1970s also saw numerous teacher strikes, including 1,000 strikes involving more than 823,000 teachers between 1960 and 1974.

AFT membership was 59,000 in 1960, 200,000 in 1970, and 550,000 in 1980. In 2017, membership was around 1.6 million, and the union had due income of $35 million.{{Cite news|url=https://www.aft.org/about/financial|title=Financial Statements|date=2014-09-08|work=American Federation of Teachers|access-date=2018-07-08|language=en}}

Since 1977, AFT has published a quarterly magazine for teachers covering various issues about children and education called American Educator. In 1998, the membership of the NEA rejected a proposed merger with AFT. The AFT's membership is half that of the NEA.

Presidents of the AFT

;Albert Shanker

In 1974, Albert Shanker was elected president of AFT. He served in this role until his death on February 22, 1997.{{cite news|last1=Potter|first1=Halley|last2=Kahlenberg|first2=Richard|title=The Original Charter School Vision|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/31/opinion/sunday/albert-shanker-the-original-charter-school-visionary.html?_r=0|access-date=14 September 2015|work=New York Times|date=August 30, 2014}} For 27 years, Shanker wrote a weekly column entitled "Where We Stand" that ran as an advertisement in The New York Times. Shanker was an early advocate of charter schools. He also called for a national competency test for teachers, merit pay for teachers, and more rigorous requirements for high school graduation.{{cite news|last1=Berger|first1=Joseph|title=Albert Shanker, 68, Combative Leader Who Transformed Teachers' Union, Dies|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1997/02/24/nyregion/albert-shanker-68-combative-leader-who-transformed-teachers-union-dies.html|access-date=14 September 2015|work=New York Times|date=February 24, 1997}} During his tenure as AFT president, Shanker was jailed twice for leading illegal strikes.{{cite news|last1=Fiske|first1=Edward|title=Albert Shanker: Where He Stands|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1989/11/05/education/profile-albert-shanker-where-he-stands.html|access-date=14 September 2015|work=New York Times|date=November 5, 1989}}

;Sandra Feldman

Sandra Feldman served as AFT's president from 1997 to 2004. Feldman helped craft the No Child Left Behind Act.{{cite news|last1=Berger|first1=Joseph|title=Sandra Feldman, Scrappy and Outspoken Labor Leader for Teachers, Dies at 65|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/20/nyregion/sandra-feldman-scrappy-and-outspoken-labor-leader-for-teachers-dies-at-65.html|access-date=14 September 2015|work=New York Times|date=September 20, 2005}}

;Edward J. McElroy

Edward J. McElroy, the AFT's secretary-treasurer since 1992, was elected president of the AFT in 2004, replacing Feldman.{{cite news|last1=Greenhouse|first1=Steven|title=Teachers' Union President to Step Down; New Yorker Is Seen as Successor|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/13/education/13teachers.html|access-date=14 September 2015|work=New York Times|date=February 13, 2008}} On February 12, 2008, McElroy announced he would retire at the union's regularly scheduled biennial convention in July. On July 14, 2008, Randi Weingarten was elected to succeed him.{{cite news|last1=Green|first1=Elizabeth|title=Obama Tells Teachers Union He Opposes Vouchers|url=http://www.nysun.com/new-york/obama-tells-teachers-union-he-opposes-vouchers/81801/|access-date=4 February 2015|publisher=New York Sun|date=July 14, 2008}}

;Randi Weingarten

On July 14, 2008, Randi Weingarten, then the president of the United Federation of Teachers, was elected to succeed McElroy as AFT president. In September 2008, she announced the launch of the AFT Innovation Fund, a union-led, private foundation-supported effort to provide grants to AFT unions to develop and implement innovations in education.{{cite news|last1=Mathews|first1=Jay|title= American Federation of Teachers Announces Innovation Fund|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/03/AR2009050301872.html|access-date=18 June 2014|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=May 4, 2009}} In 2014, Weingarten announced that AFT was ending a five-year funding relationship between the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the AFT Innovation Fund.{{cite news|last1=Emma|first1=Caitlin|title=Exclusive: AFT shuns Gates funding|url=http://www.politico.com/tipsheets/morning-education/2014/03/exclusive-aft-shuns-gates-funding-success-academy-lawsuit-simmering-defenders-of-the-common-core-feds-grant-california-a-testing-pass-212543|access-date=15 September 2015|publisher=Politico|date=March 10, 2014}}

Political activities

Since 1980, AFT and the NEA have contributed nearly $57.4 million to federal campaigns, an amount that is about 30 percent higher than any single corporation or other union. About 95 percent of political donations from teachers' unions have gone to Democrats.{{cite news|last1=Brill|first1=Steven|title=The Teachers' Unions' Last Stand|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/23/magazine/23Race-t.html?pagewanted=all|access-date=15 September 2015|work=New York Times|date=May 17, 2010}}

In 2008, AFT provided a campaign contribution of $1,784,808.59 to Hillary Clinton and $1,997,375.00 to Barack Obama.{{cite web|title=Independent Expenditures Supporting/Opposing 2008 Presidential Campaigns|url=http://www.fec.gov/press/press2008/2008indexp/2008iebycommittee.pdf|publisher=FEC|access-date=15 September 2015}}

In July 2015, AFT endorsed Democrat Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential race. Clinton and AFT president Randi Weingarten are longtime friends.{{cite news|last1=Moser|first1=Laura|title=The American Federation of Teachers Endorsed Hillary Clinton—and Not Everyone's Happy About It|url=http://www.slate.com/blogs/schooled/2015/07/13/aft_hillary_clinton_endorsement_not_everyone_s_pleased_with_the_early_pick.html|access-date=14 September 2015|publisher=Slate|date=July 13, 2015}} AFT's official endorsement of Clinton caused controversy among some AFT members who felt that the endorsement came too soon and did not reflect the wishes of rank-and-file AFT members, some of whom supported Bernie Sanders.{{cite news|last1=Shah|first1=Nirvi|title=American Federation of Teachers endorses Hillary Clinton for president|url=http://www.politico.com/story/2015/07/aft-endorses-hillary-clinton-for-president-119988|access-date=14 September 2015|publisher=Politico|date=July 11, 2015}}{{cite news|last1=Karni|first1=Annie|title=Unions seethe over early Clinton endorsement|url=http://www.politico.com/story/2015/07/unions-seethe-over-early-clinton-endorsement-120206|access-date=15 September 2015|publisher=Politico|date=July 16, 2015}}

Members' dues underwrite much of AFT's political activities.{{cite news|title=National Education Association And American Federation Of Teachers Give Millions To Various Outside Causes, Political Campaigns|url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/13/countrys-two-largest-teac_n_1672335.html|access-date=15 September 2015|publisher=Huffington Post|date=July 13, 2012}}{{cite news|last1=Mundy|first1=Alicia|title=Teachers Unions Give Broadly|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702303644004577520841038165770|access-date=15 September 2015|publisher=Wall Street Journal|date=July 12, 2012}} In 2015, four California teachers sued AFT and its California unit, the California Federation of Teachers, over the use of member dues for political activities. The plaintiffs argued that unions were violating their constitutional right to free speech by forcing them to either support union-favored causes and candidates or lose access to important job benefits such as disability and life insurance.{{cite news|last1=Brown|first1=Emma|title=California teachers unions face new legal challenge over dues|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/local/wp/2015/04/07/california-teachers-unions-face-new-legal-challenge-over-dues/|access-date=15 September 2015|newspaper=Washington Post|date=April 7, 2015}}

In 2018, the landmark Supreme Court ruling in Janus v. AFSCME resolved this matter, concluding that public sector union fees violate the First Amendment, compelling nonmembers to "subsidize private speech on matters of substantial public concern". Unions will, subsequently, need to gain the affirmative consent of individual teachers before enrolling them in the union.

Activities

=Race relations=

The AFT was one of the first trade unions to allow African-Americans and minorities to become full members of their trade union.{{cite journal| last1=Dewing| first1=Rolland| title= The American Federation of Teachers and Desegregation |journal= Journal of Negro Education |volume=42 |issue=1 |year=1973 | pages=79–92| doi=10.2307/2966795| jstor=2966795}} In 1918, the AFT called for equal pay for African-American teachers, the election of African Americans to local school boards and compulsory school attendance for African-American children. In 1919, the AFT called for equal educational opportunities for African-American children, and in 1928 called for the social, political, economic, and cultural contributions of African Americans to be taught in the public schools.Eaton, The American Federation of Teachers, 1916–1961, 1975, p. 61-72.

In 1951, the union stopped chartering segregated locals.{{cite book|last1=Hiram Perlstein|first1=Daniel|title=Justice, Justice: School Politics and the Eclipse of Liberalism|date=2004|publisher=Peter Lang|isbn=9780820467870|page=24}} It filed an amicus brief in the 1954 U.S. Supreme Court desegregation case Brown v. Board of Education. In 1957, the AFT expelled all locals that refused to desegregate. This resulted in the loss of over 7,000 members.{{cite book|last1=Wayne Ross|first1=E.|last2=Mathison|first2=Sandra|title=Battleground Schools|date=2007|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group| isbn=9780313339417|page=632}} In 1963, the AFT actively supported the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.

=Collective bargaining=

By the late 1940s, AFT was slowly moving toward collective bargaining as an official policy. By the end of the 1970s, collective bargaining agreements covered 72% of public school teachers.

=Active shooter drills=

In 2020, the union along with the National Education Association issued a report expressing opposition to active shooter drills being held in schools, calling on the drills to be revised or eliminated.{{cite news |title=Teachers unions express opposition to active shooter drills |url=https://www.wcpo.com/news/national/teachers-unions-express-opposition-to-active-shooter-drills |access-date=3 April 2020 |agency=Associated Press |publisher=WCPO |date=February 12, 2020}}

= Share My Lesson =

In 2012, AFT partnered with Britain's TES Connect to create a curriculum sharing website called Share My Lesson. The AFT and TES invested $10 million to develop the site.{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/19/us/teachers-union-to-open-lesson-sharing-web-site.html?_r=2&ref=us|title=Teachers' Union to Open Lesson-Sharing Web Site|last=Rich|first=Motoko|work=New York Times|date=June 19, 2012|access-date=19 June 2012}}

Criticism

In 2010, four American film documentaries, most notably Waiting for Superman, portrayed the AFT as hurting children by opposing charter schools and protecting incompetent teachers.Richard Whitmire, The bee eater: Michelle Rhee takes on the nation's worst school district (2011) p. 126. John Wiley and Sons, 2011 {{ISBN|0-470-90529-8}}, {{ISBN|978-0-470-90529-6}}

Leadership

=Presidents=

:1916: Charles Stillman{{cite book |title=Organizing the Teaching Profession The Story of the American Federation of Teachers |date=1955 |publisher=American Federation of Teachers |page=311}}

:1923: Florence Rood

:1925: Mary C. Barker

:1931: Henry R. Linville

:1934: Raymond F. Lowry

:1936: Jerome C. Davis

:1939: George S. Counts

:1942: John M. Fewkes

:1943: Joseph F. Landis

:1947: John M. Eklund

:1952: Carl J. Megel

:1964: Charles Cogen{{cite book |title=Notable Names in American History |date=1973 |publisher=James T. White & Company |location=Clifton, New Jersey |isbn=0883710021 |page=557}}

:1968: David Selden

:1974: Albert Shanker

:1997: Sandra Feldman

:2004: Edward J. McElroy

:2008: Randi Weingarten

=Secretary-Treasurers=

:1916: F. G. Stecker

:1926: Florence Curtis Hanson

:1935: George Davis

:1936: Irvin R. Kuenzli

:1953: Post vacant

:1963: Robert Porter

:1992: Edward J. McElroy

:2004: Nat LaCour

:2008: Antonia Cortese

:2011: Lorretta Johnson

:2020: Fedrick C. Ingram

Notable AFT members

J. Quinn Brisben, Socialist Party USA candidate for President of the United States in the 1992 U.S. presidential election
Ralph Bunche, former United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Nobel Peace Prize winner
Tony Danza, film and television actor
Paul Douglas, U.S. Senator from Illinois
John Dewey, educator
Albert Einstein, scientist
Michael Harrington, political activist
Hubert Humphrey, U.S. vice-president and U.S. Senator from Minnesota
Mike Mansfield, former United States Senate Majority Leader and U.S. Ambassador to Japan
Frank McCourt, Pulitzer Prize-winning author
Robert Oppenheimer, scientistHerken, Brotherhood of the Bomb: The Tangled Lives and Loyalties of Robert Oppenheimer, Ernest Lawrence, and Edward Teller, 2002, p. 30.
Donna Shalala, former U.S. Representative from Florida and former United States Secretary of Health and Human Services
Elie Wiesel, Nobel Peace Prize winner
Kshama Sawant, socialist activist and member of the Seattle City Council{{cite news|last1=Robertson|first1=Kipp|title=Kshama Sawant: Teachers have come under 'ferocious assault'|url=http://mynorthwest.com/11/2810752/Kshama-Sawant-Teachers-have-come-under-ferocious-assault|access-date=15 September 2015|publisher=MyNorthwest.com|date=September 15, 2015}}

Notable AFT locals and federations

=Current=

=Former=

Chicago Teachers Federation

References

External links

{{official website}}
[https://web.archive.org/web/20120913122123/http://depts.washington.edu/labhist/laborpress/WashingtonTeacher.shtml The Washington State Teacher (1945–1951)], from The Labor Press Project
[https://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/summary.php?id=D000000083 AFT] on OpenSecrets
[http://dlib.nyu.edu/findingaids/html/tamwag/oh_008/ American Federation of Teachers Oral History Collection], Tamiment Library & Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives, New York University
[http://dlib.nyu.edu/findingaids/html/tamwag/pe_012 Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives Printed Ephemera Collection on the American Federation of Teachers], Tamiment Library & Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives, New York University
[http://dlib.nyu.edu/findingaids/html/tamwag/tam_388/ Joyce Wheeler American Federation of Teachers Papers], Tamiment Library & Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives, New York University