American Federation of Teachers (AFT)

 American Federation of Teachers (A.F.T. Logo image)



The American Federation of Teachers was founded in 1916 to represent the economic, social and professional interests of classroom teachers. Five divisions within the organization represent the broad spectrum of AFT's membership: teachers; paraprofessionals and school-related personnel; local, state and federal employees; higher education faculty and staff; and nurses and other healthcare professionals. In addition, the union includes more than 170,000 retiree members. Many well-known Americans have been AFT members, including John Dewey, Albert Einstein, Hubert Humphrey, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Frank McCourt, Nobel Peace Prize winner Elie Wiesel, former Senate Majority Leader and Ambassador to Japan Mike Mansfield, and former United Nations Under Secretary and Nobel Peace Prize winner Ralph Bunche.

The AFT quick link returns all content that has been tagged AFT, which currently contains collection abstracts, audio files, selected speeches and images. Please note the pager at the bottom of this page. Your main contact at the Reuther is Dan Golodner - American Federation of Teachers Archivist (AFT).

For additional information about AFT please visit the American Federation of Teachers Web site.

Testimony before the Subcommittee on Asian and Pacific Affairs of the House International Relations CommitteeSpeeches
Testimony before the Subcommittee on Elementary, Secondary and Vocational EducationSpeeches
Testimony before the Subcommittee on Employment, Poverty & Migratory Labor Speeches
Testimony before the U.S. Commission on Civil RightsSpeeches
Testimony before the U.S. House of Representatives Subcommittee on Postsecondary Education of the Committee on Education & LaborSpeeches
Testimony before the U.S. House of Representatives' Committee on Education and Labor, Subcommittee on Elementary, Secondary and Speeches
Testimony before the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Education, Arts and the Humanities Speeches
Testimony before U.S. House of Representatives Subcommittee on Elementary, Secondary and Vocational Education Speeches
Testimony before U.S. Senate Subcommittee on the HandicappedSpeeches
Testimony on Goals 2000 Education Standards to the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, Committee on Economic and EducaSpeeches
Testimony on H.R. 2682, the Bilingual Education Improvement Act of 1983Speeches
Testimony on Limit on Bilingual/Bicultural ImmersionSpeeches
Testimony on Opportunity-to-learn Standards presented to NGA Task Force on EducationSpeeches
Testimony on Standards to the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, Committee on Economic and Educational Opportunities,Speeches
Testimony on the National Board of Professional Teaching StandardsSpeeches
Testimony to the Democratic Party Platform CommitteeSpeeches
Texas Federation of Teachers ConventionSpeeches
The Case for Radical School ReformSpeeches
The Cogen-Progressive AdministrationSpeeches
The Collective Bargaining Story in New York CitySpeeches
The Colorado ForumSpeeches
The Conference of Labor Educators Speeches
The Dangers of not Having any New IdeasSpeeches
The Diane Rehm Show: Interview with Albert ShankerSpeeches
The Education Continuum: Developing the PartnershipSpeeches
The Impact on Teachers of Social ChangeSpeeches
The Macneil-Lehrer Report: Grading TeachersSpeeches
The Meaning of Collective Bargaining to TeachersSpeeches
The New Action Program of the AFTSpeeches
The Open Mind: “New News from the Top”Speeches
The Politics of ChangeSpeeches
The Professionalism MystiqueSpeeches
The Quality of American EducationSpeeches
The Story of UFT Collective Bargaining NegotiationsSpeeches
The Union Teacher and EducationSpeeches
Think Tank with Ben Wattenberg: “The State of the Unions"Speeches
Third International Conference on Soviet JewrySpeeches
Through Teachers' Collective Bargaining with Gun and CameraSpeeches
Tocqueville Forum Series on Liberal Education and American Democracy, Wake Forest University: “Moving Beyond Reform”Speeches
Today Show with Barbara WaltersSpeeches
Today's Life Choices: "The Art of Teaching"Speeches
Trilateral Commission PresentationSpeeches
Tuition Tax Credits Speeches
U.S. Senate Subcommittee to Investigate Juvenile DelinquencySpeeches
U.S. Subcommittee on EducationSpeeches
Unions are for TeachersSpeeches
United University Professors (UUP) Bargaining Election WorkshopSpeeches
Urban Review InterviewSpeeches
US News & World Report: “Want Better Teachers? Raise Pay, Stop Classroom Violence”Speeches
West Side Montessori Seminar: "Teaching, Training, and Recruitment"Speeches