Newsroom
Honoring “letter carrier who sings” turned teacher
Old school troubadour and modern Joe Hill among top labor artists and activists
Jimmy Kelly comes from a union family in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where his grandfather, father and two brothers were all union members. “I grew up in a different era, in a town that traced the origin of its labor movement to the great strikes in the steel mills,” he recalls. “We learned labor terms in fourth grade.”
Election 2016: Americans have shown they that are ready for populist change
By Joshua Pechthalt, CFT President
There is a lot at stake in this coming November election. Not only will we elect a president and therefore shape the Supreme Court for years to come, but we also have a key U.S. senate race, a vital state ballot measure to extend Proposition 30, and important state and local legislative races.
Rank & Files, Apr-May 2016
Jennifer Foreman, an English teacher at North Monterey High School in Castroville, and member of the North Monterey County Federation of Teachers, Local 4008, was named a Unionist of the Year at the annual Monterey Bay Central Labor Council awards banquet in late April.
Local Wire, Apr-May 2016
Community walks in for public education
Reclaiming schools…. On May 4, teachers, support staff, parents, students, elected officials and others participated in a series of walk-ins and other events in support of public education. Spurred on by the Alliance to Reclaim Our Schools, which held walk-ins across the country, CFT members in schools from districts in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Daly City and Morgan Hill, as well as Cerritos College, turned out to show support for the high-quality public schools that all our students deserve.
State of the Union 2016
Delivered by CFT President Joshua Pechthalt on March 18, 2016
The Grapes of Wrath written by John Steinbeck powerfully told the story of one family’s challenge to survive the devastation of the Great Depression of the 1930s. It’s a story that continues to resonate eighty years later. As they begin their journey to California, the Joad family asks Reverend Casey, who in the film version is played brilliantly by the great American actor John Carradine, if he would like to join them.
Community college presidents move to reform, then leave ACCJC
CFT applauds growing momentum for accreditor’s ouster
Statement from CFT President Joshua Pechthalt
March 17, 2016—“Today California moved another step closer to reforming the broken accreditation system for California’s community colleges. With a more than 90 percent vote earlier this week to reform the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges (ACCJC), while preparing at the same time to move to another accreditor, community college presidents struck a decisive blow to ACCJC’s fading hopes of maintaining the unacceptable status quo.
CFT Convention 2016: Activate Labor for Justice
The 74th annual CFT convention, held in San Francisco and attended by nearly 700 delegates and guests, got off with a bang two hours after the convention began on Friday morning, March 11. That’s when about half the convention delegates piled outside into a light rain and demonstrated in support of affordable, quality public education and the struggle of City College of San Francisco faculty for a decent contract in the face of its accreditation crisis.
Claytor honored with Raoul Teilhet Award
Kmberly Claytor, the winner of the Raoul Teilhet Educate, Agitate, Organize Award, is a union person in every aspect of her life.
Higher education should be free…and it’s within our reach
Candidates don’t go far enough; social movement needed to force issue
Bernie says higher education should be free. Hillary says students should be debt-free when they graduate. Bob Samuels, president of the University Council-AFT, welcomes this debate, but says neither Democratic presidential candidate goes far enough.
Solidarity: Rally for public education ends in civil disobedience
At a rally and march for fair pay and quality public education held the Friday of the CFT Convention in San Francisco, hundreds of attendees joined AFT Local 2121, the faculty union for City College of San Francisco, as they marched from the Hyatt Regency to offices of the college’s lead contract negotiator a few blocks away. Two dozen people — community and union leaders as well as members — blocked the entrance and got arrested in an act of civil disobedience. This came right after the union’s largest voter turnout ever for a strike vote, which was approved by 92 percent.
CFT becomes first statewide union committed to climate justice
Under the Convention theme “Activate Labor for Justice,” climate was highlighted when the CFT became the first statewide union to pass a resolution “committing the CFT to a climate justice agenda.”
San Diego piloting move to make community college free
Can the goals of California’s Master Plan for Higher Education be fulfilled again?
The San Diego Community College District has joined the states of Tennessee and Oregon in implementing free community college. In February Chancellor Constance Carroll announced that 200 students would have their course fees waived for the 2016-17 academic year.