AFT News | American Federation of Teachers New Jersey, AFL-CIO

Reconnecting McDowell

December 19, 2011

Reconnecting McDowell is a comprehensive, long-term effort to make educational improvement in McDowell County the route to a brighter economic future. Partners from business, foundations, government, nonprofit agencies and labor have committed, in a signed covenant, to seeking solutions to McDowell’s complex problems—poverty, underperforming schools, drug and alcohol abuse, housing shortages, limited medical services, and inadequate access to technology and transportation.

None of this will be easy or quick; the problems in McDowell County have been decades in the making. But by working together with the amazing people who live there, and by assembling, coordinating and sustaining the educational, social and economic supports they need, we are confident that this resilient community will be on a path to reconnecting its hopes for the future.

Stay connected to McDowell, and receive regular updates on the initiative.

Has Teacher Quality Really Declined Over Time?

December 10, 2011

Matthew Di Carlo

One of the common assumptions lurking in the background of our education debates is that “quality” of the teaching workforce has declined a great deal over the past few decades (see here, here, here and here [slide 16]). There is a very plausible storyline supporting this assertion: Prior to the dramatic rise in female labor force participation since the 1960s, professional women were concentrated in a handful of female-dominated occupations, chief among them teaching. Since then, women’s options have changed, and many have moved into professions such as law and medicine instead of the classroom.

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Bullying tools for teachers

November 22, 2011

Bullying is a community issue that extends beyond the school campus and is prevalent online. The American Federation of Teachers is partnering with educators, school leaders, community and advocacy groups to recognize, prevent and combat bullying.

The purpose of the AFT’s campaign, “See a Bully, Stop a Bully: Make a Difference,” is to raise awareness and provide resources to educators, students and parents.

See AFT tools for teachers for more.

Unions Confront the Fault Lines Between Adjuncts and Full-Timers

November 20, 2011

Some look beyond the big unions for real improvement in working conditions
Unions Begin to Confront Fault Lines Between Adjunct and Full-Time Faculty

David Vitoff, Illinois Education Association—NEA At Southern Illinois U. at Carbondale, adjuncts and full-time faculty march together, even though they have separate unions. They've joined a coalition with other employees, including graduate assistants.

By Peter Schmidt

The largest organizers of college faculty unions—the American Association of University Professors, the American Federation of Teachers, and the National Education Association—have made big strides in recruiting adjunct instructors and helping them gain representation through collective bargaining.

But the three groups have a long way to go before their membership and their leadership reflect the dominant role that adjunct instructors play in the higher-education work force, a Chronicle survey of the organizations reveals. Such instructors now account for about two-thirds of all faculty members employed by public and private colleges.

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Ed Week: Joining Forces collaboration special section

November 16, 2011

A mantra in recent years has been to blame the teachers’ unions for many of the problems that beset public education. Americans only need look at Wisconsin, where the governor and lawmakers pushed through legislation curtailing the collective bargaining rights of teachers and other public employees. This special report, “Joining Forces,” examines the attempts by a small but growing number of districts and unions to work together to enhance the knowledge and skills of teachers and, in turn, improve the achievement of schoolchildren.

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A Win for Workers, and for Us All

November 14, 2011

By Randi Weingarten, President, American Federation of Teachers

Randi Weingarten talking to Ohio families about the importance of collective bargaining rights.

“As Ohio goes, so goes the nation” has taken on new meaning after this week’s election. The people of Ohio used their citizen veto decisively to repeal legislation that would have stripped police officers, teachers, firefighters and other public workers of their right to bargain collectively.

It is the first time in the nation’s history that collective bargaining rights have been upheld on a statewide ballot. And it is a clear sign that Americans understand we can’t rebuild the economy without rebuilding the middle class.

The opposition to the legislation’s partisan overreach went well beyond public employees and union members. More people voted to repeal Senate Bill 5 in November 2011 than voted to elect John Kasich governor a year earlier. That message should not be lost on the legislators who voted to pass it.

Election results from Maine to Mississippi and from Ohio to Arizona demonstrated that voters were fed up with politicians who thought they could exploit a tough economy to advance extremist agendas. The public is crying out for leaders to help get the economy back on track for all Americans.

In Ohio, voters saw the public services that public workers provide as being essential to their communities—whether it was the cop on the beat or the teacher in the classroom. And, implicit in that is the acknowledgment that employees having a voice in their work is a way to ensure and improve the quality of vital public services.

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Unions investing in America’s infrastructure

November 02, 2011

“At a time when banks have frozen investment and municipalities have frozen borrowing, we’ve decided to step forward,” says Randi Weingarten, the president of the American Federation of Teachers. In January, Weingarten began meeting with the leaders of other major public employee unions, including some — the Service Employees International Union, the National Education Association — that aren’t AFL-CIO members. They decided to commit a share of their retirement funds to projects that shored up the nation’s infrastructure. The Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) assisted them, setting up meetings between the union leaders and supportive state treasurers.

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Randi Weingarten on Education Nation

September 25, 2011

NBC and MSNBC will be focusing on education during this week’s Education Nation programming. President Weingarten will be a guest on a number of panels and news shows. She is currently scheduled to appear on:
SUNDAY, Sept. 25 – 9 a.m. ET – MSNBC’s UP with Chris Hayes
SUNDAY, Sept. 25 – 12 noon to 2 p.m. ET – MSNBC – Randi and many AFT members will be in the audience at a Teacher Town Hall.
MONDAY, Sept. 26 – 4:30 p.m. ET – MSNBC’s The Dylan Ratigan Show
TUESDAY, Sept. 27 – 2:40 p.m. ET – MSNBC’s news with Tamron Hall

Christie gives preliminary OK to Rutgers, UMDNJ med school merger

September 21, 2011

The union representing more than 3,500 nurses and health professionals at UMDNJ noted that the report contained “no full explanation of the financial costs or impact of the mergers.”

“Even the interim report noted that they have not yet looked at the impact on jobs, and that ‘additional study’ was required,” Ann Twomey, president of the Health Professionals and Allied Employees, said in a statement.

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Little Love for Labor

September 13, 2011

Josh Eidelson

I didn’t learn much about the labor movement in high school. At best, it was taught like suffrage—a long-ago response to long-ago problems. At worst, it was taught like prohibition—curious, misguided, and painfully anachronistic. Most of the time, my history classes didn’t discuss the labor movement at all.

Turns out I wasn’t the only one.

Last week the Albert Shanker Institute, a think tank endowed by the American Federation of Teachers, released a report, American Labor in US History Textbooks, documenting the movement’s compressed portrayal in our major textbooks. It offers a stark assessment: “If, while driving to school, students happen to see the bumper sticker: ‘Unions: the Folks Who Brought You the Weekend,’ that may be more exposure to American labor’s historic role as a force for social progress than they will ever get in the classroom.”

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