Two unions primarily serve the needs of educators in the United States: The National Education Association, which is the largest such union, and the American Federation of Teachers, which is the second-largest organized labor federation serving the country’s teachers. The AFT is also the younger of the two unions, having been founded in 1900 to serve the needs of school educators, principles, paraprofessionals, and others involved in the instructional process. Despite early struggles, when the union unable to find teachers who would organize alongside it, the American Federation of Teachers today has grown to a total membership over 2 million individuals. Its slightly different focus has allowed it to differentiate itself from the larger and older NEA.
National Lobbying and Politicking with a Harder Edge
The National Education Association is known for its “softer” approach to getting educational policy items placed into the political agendas of elected leaders in Washington, but the AFT is known for a policy that follows almost the exact opposite path. The American Federation of Teachers has long been known as the more “militant” of the educators’ unions, with leaders who were willing to take on major school districts, federal law makers, and state officials, insisting on the right to collectively bargain for higher wages and better working conditions. Today, the AFT remains the nationwide “attack dog” of the two major educators’ unions. When a major issue wrongs teachers or affects their professional lives, the union’s spokespeople are the first to appear on national broadcast networks to express their outrage.
As a result, the AFT is considered a primary driver of education reforms, especially after their membership increased dramatically at the end of the 20th century. The AFT and its leaders were intricately involved in the development of educational reforms during the George W. Bush and Barack Obama presidencies, including legislation like No Child Left Behind and the state standards program that became known as Common Core. In addition to federal lobbying and policy guidance, the AFT also works at the state and local levels.
State and Local Involvement in the Education World
The AFT isn’t just a national organization. Instead, state and local chapters are maintained to help teachers counter harmful state policies and support statewide educational reforms that will enhance their ability to support their students. Like the NEA, the AFT often drops the “American” in its name, with state chapters being known as the Florida Federation of Teachers or the Ohio Federation of Teachers. Each school district also drops the “American” in the union’s name and inserts its own school district name, such as the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers.
At the state level, the AFT and its local subsidiaries are concerned primarily with state testing, collective bargaining policies for organized labor, implementation of new state standards or professional practices, and budgetary spending on state education needs. District-level union memberships are often far more focused on very specific local issues, including teacher contracts, pay raises, school board meetings, teacher-administrator conflicts, or the administration of tenure to seasoned educators.
A Growing Organization with Teachers’ Interests in Mind
For the past century, the AFT has been representing teachers in disputes related to national policies, state budgets, and local school funding issues. Today, the organization has grown to become one of the largest unions in the country, with a membership exceeding 2 million individual educators. For this reason, it’s likely that most teachers and administrators will have at least some experience with the American Federation of Teachers during their long career in education.
