State’s oldest AFT local shares 100th Birthday with CFT
United Educators of San Francisco, 1919-2019
Editor’s note: With uniquely linked histories, the CFT and AFT Local 61 both celebrate their 100th Anniversaries in 2019. What follows is a capsule history of the oldest local union in the California Federation of Teachers. From the search for true union representation in 1919 to the quest for affordable housing for union members 100 years later, the history of AFT Local 61 — the United Educators of San Francisco — is one of proud support for educators, their unions and students.
100 Years Union Strong, Part 4 – The Schools our Students Deserve
May 31, 2019
Watch the final installment in CFT’s four part series, celebrating our 100 year anniversary! From Proposition 30 to the historic UTLA strike, the CFT fights for the future of public education in California.
100 Years Union Strong, Part 3 – Against Austerity
May 31, 2019
Watch part three of CFT’s four part series, celebrating our 100 year anniversary! From Prop. 13 to Arnold Schwarzenegger, CFT defends our schools and our rights.
100 Years Union Strong, Part 2 – The Fight for Collective Bargaining
May 31, 2019
Watch part two of CFT’s four part series, celebrating our 100 year anniversary!
100 Years Union Strong, Part 1 – The Early Years
May 31, 2019
Watch part one of CFT’s four part series, celebrating our 100 year anniversary!
California governors wish CFT Happy 100th Birthday!
May 31, 2019
Governors Gavin Newsom and Jerry Brown send birthday wishes. Brown talks about signing the collective bargaining bill for teachers and classified employees in 1975.
Happy 100th Birthday, CFT! #2
May 31, 2019
Elected officials and other state dignitaries wish CFT Happy 100th Anniversary!
Happy 100th Birthday, CFT! #3
May 31, 2019
California elected officials and other dignitaries offer the CFT their centennial greetings!
Commemorating 40 years of collective bargaining
The difference one law makes for teachers and classified employees
Editor’s note: California Teacher published this article in 2015, 40 years after K-14 teachers and classified staff won collective bargaining rights in California.
By Elaine Johnson
On May 20, 1976, I cast the first vote for teachers’ collective bargaining in the state of California. TV cameras recorded the event at Redwood High School in Larkspur, and in those pre-DVR times, the family watched it that evening on the 6 o’clock news.
Memoir of a Union Lobbyist: 50 Years Looking Back
Editor’s note: This memoir was originally published as “30 Years Looking Back” in August 1999 by the Institute of Industrial Relations in CPER, A Periodical of Employee Relations in the Public Sector.
By Mary Bergan
I begin with Robert Reich’s admonition that a memoir is not a history. It chronicles events as the writer remembers them. This is a memoir.
What To Do Between Strikes
An essay by Raoul Teilhet
Editor’s note: This essay was presented to CFT Convention on March 9, 2002. Because of Raoul Teilhet’s Parkinson’s disease, it was read by then-Vice President Greg Camacho-Light, a drama teacher from the Gilroy Federation of Teachers and Paraprofessionals. Gov. Gray Davis attended convention that day and officially named it Raoul Teilhet Day.
The birth of a statewide Federation
A piece of our history is revealed for the first time
By Dennis Kelly, United Educators of San Francisco
On May 16, 1918, J.P. Utter wrote to the president of the AFT to remind him that a year earlier Utter had asked about chartering a local. In that year, the Vallejo teachers had organized 57 of 58 teachers and principals, had elected two officers, created a salary committee that delivered a raise, demanded and won 12 monthly paychecks, and had created a temporary organization. Utter enclosed $10 for the charter fee.
California Senate honors CFT’s 100th Anniversary
On May 16, the California Senate presented CFT leaders a resolution in honor of the Federation’s 100th Anniversary. The text of the resolution follows.
Whereas, The CFT was founded in 1919 to provide a labor union alternative for classroom teachers and celebrates its 100th year anniversary on May 31, 2019;and
Whereas, the CFT is a union of professionals affiliated with the more than 1.7 million member American Federation of Teachers, and through it with the AFL-CIO; and
Convention delegates celebrate the CFT’s 100th Anniversary
Gala, special guests, videos and exhibits showcase an extraordinary history
Hundreds of delegates to the CFT Convention celebrated the 100th Anniversary of their union at a hotel of nearly the same age, the historic Millennium Biltmore in downtown Los Angeles.
During general sessions, delegates watched a series of videos chronicling the CFT’s history of activism. Outside the ballroom doors, they could view a wide range of exhibits in the CFT Hall of History.
100 years of the CFT — a capsule history
The CFT turns 100 on May 31, 2019. To kick off this anniversary year, California Teacher digs into the archives to present a commemorative issue about the rich history of our statewide federation of unions. The big events — legislation, elections, social trends — described here affected every member. But this capsule history cannot possibly relate the profound impact almost 100 years of activism had on thousands of individual education workers.
Our history teaches us the power of organizing for collective action
By Joshua Pechthalt, CFT President
At this pivotal moment in our history, we can look back with pride while looking forward with a tempered sense of confidence. Knowing what our union has overcome in its first century, we will face the coming challenges and emerge a stronger union.
Next year marks the 100th anniversary of the CFT. Previous generations of educators won the right to due process and collective bargaining. They built the foundation that led to decent compensation, healthcare and retirement benefits, and much more.
Council of Retired Members taps a resource: Retirees are “stickin’ to the union”
Download a single-sheet illustrated history of the Council of Retired Members
What retirees have that unions need — knowledge, experience and memories — are concentrated in the Council of Retired Members, the newest division of CFT. Convention delegates in 2014 overwhelmingly voted to add the council to the union’s governance structure so retirees could contribute in the same way as working teachers and classified employees.
Bringing dignity to UC lecturers and librarians
University Council-AFT
Download a single-sheet illustrated history of the University Council-AFT
In September of 1978, Gov. Jerry Brown made good on a promise to the CFT and signed the Higher Education Employer-Employee Relations Act, authorizing employees of the UC and CSU systems to engage in collective bargaining.
Effective advocacy promotes interests of college faculty and staff
Community College Council
Download a single-sheet illustrated history of the Community College Council
Formed in 1971, the Community College Council gave a voice to the growing numbers of CFT college faculty. Los Angeles history teacher Hy Weintraub, president of the council for much of the decade, brought a coherent statewide identity to the group.
Council of Classified Employees: Quality representation wins respect for support staff
Download a single-sheet illustrated history of the Council of Classified Employees
When the AFT in 1977 welcomed educational workers other than teachers into its ranks, paraprofessionals and classified employees became one of the fastest growing sectors of the national AFT. In the 1980s, several thousand California support staff voted for the AFT as their bargaining agent.
PreK-12 Council leads the way on educational issues
Download a single-sheet illustrated history of the EC/TK-12 Council
The CFT originally formed as a union of K-12 teachers. As other education workers joined, the membership of CFT diversified. Because the CFT had a working group of teachers — called the QuEST Council — which dealt with curriculum and policy issues, and reviewed current legislation, there was little pressure for a separate K-12 council.
Raoul Teilhet Scholarship Program celebrates 20 years
638 dependents awarded $1.76 million
In the mid 1990s, leaders of the Greater Santa Cruz Federation of
Teachers decided the CFT, a union of educators, should offer the
children of its members scholarships to achieve their higher
education goals.
Celebrating 70 years of California Teacher in print
The “Voice of the Union” changes with the times
The committed activists who formed the California State Federation of Teachers in 1919 recognized from the beginning the need for communications among their far-flung members. From rudimentary origins, the California Teacher grew in every way and has been published in print for 70 years.
We can’t afford to go back – Proposition 55 sails to victory
School and college funding secured
In a crowded field of 17 propositions on the statewide ballot November 8, voters clearly saw the value of publicly funded education and passed CFT’s top priority, Proposition 55, with an impressive 24-point margin.
The passage of Proposition 25 will help make California a working state
The members and leaders of CFT see that California’s education system, and our jobs, are placed at grave risk by a faltering economy, chronic late state budgets, and a paralyzed political process. On November 2, the rest of California agreed with us.
Voters passed Proposition 25, changing state budget approval to a majority, ending the tyranny of a two-thirds vote and the partisan groups that benefit from a revenue-starved government.