American Federation of Teachers
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The American Federation of Teachers (AFT) is the smaller of the two education labor unions in the United States, representing 1.3 million teachers, school support staff, higher education faculty and staff, healthcare professionals and state and municipal employees. Unlike its larger counterpart, the National Education Association, it is a member of the AFL-CIO. A proposed 1998 merger between the two was rejected by the NEA's annual meeting.
The AFT was founded in 1916 on the model of a labor union (as opposed to a professional organization like the NEA). It has grown rapidly since the 1960s, when it had only 55,000 members. In general, the AFT tends to be strong in large cities and on the east coast, while the NEA has been stronger in rural and suburban areas and in the west.
Edward McElroy, a social studies and English teacher from Warwick, R.I., was elected president of the AFT at the union's biennial convention in July of 2004. McElroy is the past president of the Rhode Island AFL-CIO (1977-1992), Rhode Island Federation of Teachers, and Warwick Teachers Union; he was second-in-command at the AFT as Secretary-Treasurer for 12 years and served in that post under two presidents.
Sandra Feldman, AFT's president since the 1997 death of longtime president Albert Shanker, retired from her post in July 2004. Feldman had been the first woman to serve as AFT's president since 1930, and was a member of the AFL-CIO Executive Council. Under her 7-year presidency, AFT's membership grew by more than 365,000--the most rapid expansion in the union's history. Previous to her election as President of AFT, Feldman had been president of the United Federation of Teachers--the union representing the teachers of New York City--and was a regular contributor to the City's political scene for 30 years.
Famous past members of the AFT include John Dewey, Albert Einstein, and Hubert Humphrey.
External links
- American Federation of Teachers (http://www.aft.org/)
- infoplease article (http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/society/A0803672.html)Template:Org-stub