In northern New Jersey, Montclair State University-AFT adjunct professor Mary Wallace sits on the Fairlawn Board of Education. To the south, Camden County educator Tony DePrince is a Borough of Magnolia Council member. And in Perth Amboy, paraprofessional Helmin Caba also sits on the City Council. Throughout the rest of the state, several AFT members and hundreds of union allies occupy elected positions at the municipal, county, state and federal levels.
Many are labor candidates who have benefitted from union support for their efforts, endorsements and training through the New Jersey AFL-CIO labor candidate program. The candidates’ school for this year is scheduled for August 12-13 in New Brunswick and union members are encouraged to attend. Over the years, participants in the labor candidates program have notched nearly 1,000 wins as of this month.
The AFTNJ Committee on Political Education (COPE) is considering endorsements of members for this year’s general election and will be presenting recommendations to the Delegate Assembly in June. If you are going to be running for office this year and would like to complete a candidate questionnaire to be considered for endorsement, please contact Krista Sweeney at 732-661-9393 or ksweeney@aftnj.org.
