The American Federation of Teachers
AFT
The American Federation of Teachers (AFT) was first founded in 1916. It is a labor union that consists mainly of teachers but also has paraprofessionals (substitute teachers); school faculty; higher education teachers and faculty; federal, state and local government employees; nurses and other health care professionals.(1) The AFT is aligned with the AFL-CIO and it considered one of the strongest unions in the United States. (2)
The mission statement of the AFT is:
The American Federation of Teachers is a union of professionals that champions fairness; democracy; economic opportunity; and high-quality public education, healthcare and public services for our students, their families and our communities. We are committed to advancing these principles through community engagement, organizing, collective bargaining and political activism, and especially through the work our members do. (1)
Any political issue that is associated with education can come under the scrutiny of the AFT. Examples are education reform, salaries, special education, and other education and healthcare issues. The AFT has been known to use various tactics in response to these issues, including letter-writing campaigns to government officials, voter boycotts and strikes. They have no worries making sure that their voices are heard.
The AFT also influences the government and political candidates with its Political Action Committee (PAC). A PAC is an agency that is organized for the main purpose of raising and spending money to elect political candidates that would are partisan to their PAC’s interests. The AFT PAC is the fourth largest PAC in terms of contributions to political candidates for 2013. At this time, they have contributed $932,500 to Democratic candidates. They have not contributed any money to Republican candidates.(3) In 2008, AFT contributed $1,784,808 to Hillary Rodham Clinton and $1,997,375 to Barack Obama.(4)
When PACs were first conceptualized,
The American Federation of Teachers (AFT) was first founded in 1916. It is a labor union that consists mainly of teachers but also has paraprofessionals (substitute teachers); school faculty; higher education teachers and faculty; federal, state and local government employees; nurses and other health care professionals.(1) The AFT is aligned with the AFL-CIO and it considered one of the strongest unions in the United States. (2)
The mission statement of the AFT is:
The American Federation of Teachers is a union of professionals that champions fairness; democracy; economic opportunity; and high-quality public education, healthcare and public services for our students, their families and our communities. We are committed to advancing these principles through community engagement, organizing, collective bargaining and political activism, and especially through the work our members do. (1)
Any political issue that is associated with education can come under the scrutiny of the AFT. Examples are education reform, salaries, special education, and other education and healthcare issues. The AFT has been known to use various tactics in response to these issues, including letter-writing campaigns to government officials, voter boycotts and strikes. They have no worries making sure that their voices are heard.
The AFT also influences the government and political candidates with its Political Action Committee (PAC). A PAC is an agency that is organized for the main purpose of raising and spending money to elect political candidates that would are partisan to their PAC’s interests. The AFT PAC is the fourth largest PAC in terms of contributions to political candidates for 2013. At this time, they have contributed $932,500 to Democratic candidates. They have not contributed any money to Republican candidates.(3) In 2008, AFT contributed $1,784,808 to Hillary Rodham Clinton and $1,997,375 to Barack Obama.(4)
When PACs were first conceptualized,