American Federation of Teachers From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to navigationJump to search AFT American Federation of Teachers Predecessor American Federation of Teachers and Students Founded April 15, 1916[1] Headquarters Washington, D.C. Location United States Members 1.7 million Key people Randi Weingarten, president Affiliations AFL–CIO, Education International Website www.aft.org 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.[2][3][4][5] 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.[6] The AFT has, since its founding, affiliated with trade union federations: until 1955 the American Federation of Labor, and now the AFL–CIO. Contents 1History 2Presidents of the AFT 3Political activities 4Activities o 4.1Race relations o 4.2Collective bargaining o 4.3Active shooter drills o 4.4Share My Lesson 5Reception 6Leadership o 6.1Presidents o 6.2Secretary-Treasurers 7Notable AFT members 8Notable AFT locals and federations 9See also 10References 11Further reading 12Archives 13External links History[edit] Total membership (US records; ×1000)[7] Finances (US records; ×$1000)[7] Assets Liabilities Receipts 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.[6] 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.[6] 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.[8] 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.[6] In 2017, membership was around 1.6 million, and the union had due income of $35 million. [9] 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.[6] Presidents of the AFT[edit] Albert Shanker In 1974, Albert Shanker was elected president of AFT. He served in this role until his death on February 22, 1997.[10] 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.[10] He also called for a national competency test for teachers, merit pay for teachers, and more rigorous requirements for high school graduation.[11] During his tenure as AFT president, Shanker was jailed twice for leading illegal strikes.[12] Sandra Feldman Sandra Feldman served as AFT's president from 1997 to 2004. Feldman helped craft the No Child Left Behind Act.[13] Edward J. McElroy Edward J. McElroy, the AFT's secretary-treasurer since 1992, was elected president of the AFT in 2004, replacing Feldman.[14] 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.[15] 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 foundationsupported effort to provide grants to AFT unions to develop and implement innovations in education.[16] In 2014, Weingarten announced that AFT was ending a five-year funding relationship between the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the AFT Innovation Fund.[17] According to Department of Labor filings, Weingarten earned nearly $560,000 in total compensation during the 2013–2014 school year.[18][19]