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Part-Timer: Carrying the Fight Forward
Summer 2026
The stories in this issue share a common thread: progress comes from organizing. From a major healthcare victory at the bargaining table to ongoing legislative efforts in Sacramento and a tribute to a member whose dedication helped move our union forward, these stories show what member power can achieve—and why we must keep carrying the fight forward.
Celebrate Pride Month at school and home
Our curated collection celebrates LGBTQ+ individuals and activism
Early in the morning of June 28,1969, police raided the Stonewall Inn in New York City’s Greenwich Village, a place where gay men, lesbians, bisexuals, and transgender people gathered. Police officers entered the club, roughed up patrons and arrested 13 people, including employees and people violating the state’s gender-appropriate clothing statute.
Classified Professionals head to Capitol Hill with Randi Weingarten to Advance Pro-Worker Legislation
Teanna Tillery, the United Educators of San Francisco Vice President for Paraeduators, has been involved with the local for a couple decades, and she wants to do whatever she can to make things better for classified workers.
CFT Endorses Richard Barrera for Superintendent of Public Instruction
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CFT – A Union of Educators and Classified Professionals
Contact: Matthew Hardy, 510-703-5291
CFT United: Strengthening Our Movement Through Solidarity
SPRING 2026
A note from the editor
Across California, educators and classified professionals are already in motion—and building power in real time.
This issue of CFT United brings those stories together: from the surge of May Day organizing, to hard-won contract gains, to getting books into students’ hands and defending our schools. None of this is isolated. It’s connected, deliberate, and growing. The task in front of us is not to wait for momentum—it’s to deepen it, and make it impossible to ignore. And CFT is doing that every day.
CFT Responds to Governor Newsom’s May Revise Budget Proposal
CFT members hit the ground running to renew Prop. 55, the Millionaires Tax
CFT members throughout the state are out in force collecting signatures to qualify a critical tax initiative for the November ballot, including members of the Berkeley Federation of Teachers, AFT Local 1078 (pictured above). The new initiative would make permanent Prop. 55, otherwise known as the Millionaire’s Tax, a measure first passed in 2012 and then renewed in 2016.
EC/TK-12 is Organizing Through Peer Power
Steve McDougall, the president of the Early Childhood/TK-12 Council and a member of Salinas Valley Federation of Teachers Local 1020, started a new set of trainings this year. But these aren’t your typical union ones on subjects like contract bargaining or learning how to run a political campaign. Instead, members are doing professional development trainings for other members.
McDougall got the idea from his work on AFT councils. He thinks this is a way to offer members something helpful as well as a good organizing tool.
Defending Immigrant Students and Families
California has the largest concentration of immigrants in the country. Many of our students and their families are anxious about the threats of mass deportation by the incoming administration. CFT is dedicated to defending our immigrant students, families, and communities.
Download CFT resources linked below
How Unions Can Protect Immigrant Workers and Students
Additional Resources
CA Resources from AG Bonta’s Office