Delegates to Convention breezed through proposed constitution and bylaws amendments and resolutions in the Saturday general session. The following are a list of action approved in Saturday’s general session.
Jaime Rodriguez, longtime activist and member of Local 2277 (PCCFFAP) was appointed to fill the AFT-Oregon Vice-President for Political Action seat. Sarah Grider, Local 3922 (PCCFCE) stepped down last month from the position after resigning from her position at PCC to finish a bachelors degree through Marylhurst University in Lake Oswego. Rodriguez was the 2013 recipient of the AFT-Oregon John Connor Award for his tireless work on numerous election campaigns.
Ramon Ramirez, President of the Northwest Treeplanters and Farmworkers United (PCUN) and CAUSA brought a message of the importance of community engagement and solidarity among unions.
AFT-Oregon welcomed Debra Mayo-Kelley as the new field representative in February. Mayo-Kelley brings a wealth of experience from her previous union leadership role and staff positions as field representative and organizing director.
As Congress gears up to reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, it is time to return to the law's moral and legal roots as a vehicle to ensure civil rights and equal opportunity for all children, particularly those most at risk, AFT President Randi Weingarten says.
Adjunct faculty at Temple University have filed authorization cards seeking union representation with the United Academics of Philadelphia, which is the AFT's Philadelphia-area local for adjunct faculty, and the Temple Association of University Professionals, which is the AFT-affiliated union for Temple's full-time tenure-track and nontenure-track faculty.
Using a phone bank and other organizing tools, support staff at the Oregon School Employees Association's Centennial Chapter 113 spent months recruiting 2,000 classified employees, teachers and social service employees to sign up for First Book, a national nonprofit dedicated to putting books in the hands of children who need them most.
There's no evidence that new teacher preparation regulations released by the U.S. Department of Education will lead to improvement and plenty of reason to believe they will cause harm, AFT President Randi Weingarten says.
Following a new report detailing how Wall Street sold toxic deals to school districts and municipalities that are costing communities billions in fees, interest and other payments, educators, parents, community members and local officials have joined together for a Day of Action in cities across the country.
The AFT has awarded AFT Innovation Fund grants for teachers in New York and Connecticut to offer solutions to problems with their state's rollout of the Common Core State Standards.