AFT

All the books piled on the table in the Dunbar High School auditorium in Washington, D.C., last fall had three things in common: They all were written by some of the United States’ most celebrated authors, including Toni Morrison and Zora Neale Hurston; they all were written by queer authors or authors of color; and they all had been banned in various places around the country.

WASHINGTON—Yesterday, the American Federation of Teachers executive council, the body representing the union’s 1.72 million educators, higher education professionals, healthcare workers and public employees, unanimously adopted an omnibus statement addressing the war in the Middle East and its impact on the United States.

Friday, February 16, 2024 - 5:00pm to Sunday, February 18, 2024 - 2:00pm

Bennington College in Vermont is known as an unconventional campus where students live together in houses rather than in dorms, volunteer on the college’s Purple Carrot Farm, and lean heavily toward visual and performing arts. In February, faculty and staff maintained that tradition by taking an unusual path to unionization: They formed Bennington College United despite the fact that—due to the 1980 Supreme Court NLRB v. Yeshiva University

It’s been years in the making, with efforts that included countless trips to the state Legislature as well as the usual member outreach, but faculty at Prince George’s Community College in Maryland have officially joined the union. That means they are now part of the largest higher education union in the country and the fastest-growing union on campuses in the state—where PGCC is the third college to join United Academics of Maryland this academic year.

President Joe Biden has done what other presidents could have done, but only he has: cancel student debt for 4 million borrowers eligible for relief.

Voters care deeply about student debt, and a new poll from Protect Borrowers Action, an advocacy group working to fight crushing student debt, suggests the issue could have a significant impact on this year’s presidential election. At a panel discussion March 26, experts discussed just how strongly voters favor student debt relief, which voters care most, and how to get the word out about the student debt relief the Biden administration has already delivered.

AFT members joined President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and Education Secretary Miguel Cardona April 8 in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and New York to discuss the administration’s new set of pathbreaking plans for relieving billions more in student debt for tens of millions more borrowers around the country. The plans, which will assist more than 26 million additional borrowers, stop people from paying more in interest than their original obligation and eliminate student debt for those who have been paying for 20 years or more. AFT President Randi Weingarten calls it “a life-changing intervention.”

AFT has tools and resources to support your work and engage your community. Keep up with the latest by subscribing below to the publications that match your interests.

They came to Chicago for the PSRP leadership conference: pre-K to college paraprofessionals and school-related personnel of every job description, from every corner of the nation. Paras and clerical workers from Illinois sat next to a Montana local representing custodians and playground workers. A school bus driver from Alabama sat one table away from an Oklahoma library assistant. PSRPs from Oregon next to PSRPs from New York and California next to PSRPs from Florida and Michigan.