Strikes and lockouts--Teachers

United Educators of San Francisco Local 61 Records

dgolodner — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 16:06:08 -0400

The United Educators of San Francisco formed in 1989 after a merger of the local American Federation of Teachers and National Education Association chapters. The Union represents teachers and paraprofessionals in the San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD). Prior to the merger, membership was split between the two unions - AFT Local 61 San Francisco Federation of Teachers, and the NEA affiliated San Francisco Classroom Teachers Association - and a large number of teachers opted out of membership altogether. Neither union had the numbers to establish a stable leadership position. Once the Rodda Act granted bargaining rights in California, the SFFT and SFCTA fought for control of SFUSD collective bargaining for teachers, alternately winning elections. This divisiveness hurt the unions’ bargaining position with the school board. For many years, beginning with SFFT President James Ballard in the 1970s, the two unions held discussions on a potential merger. It wasn’t until 1989 under SFFT president Joan Marie Shelley and SFCTA President Judy Dellamonica that the two San Francisco unions finally reached an agreement, which the membership approved by vote.

Part I of this collection contains material from the San Francisco Federation of Teachers, including minutes of the Executive Boards (1951-52, 1956-68) and general membership meeting minutes (1956-68); clippings, bulletins, memos, and photos concerning the 1968 strike and negotiations; clippings from the 1971 strike; reports and correspondence of the Bargaining Committee and various other committees; and newsletters.

Part II consist of records created before, during, and after the merger of the SFFT and SFCTA. Included are correspondence, chronological files, minutes, newsletters, news releases, leaflets and flyers, membership and dues ledgers, grievance files, salary schedules, contracts, constitutions and bylaws, chronological files, and photographs.

AFT Great Lakes Regional Office Records

scaloia — Thu, 18 Feb 2016 12:34:48 -0500

The American Federation of Teachers is a labor union representing primary and secondary school teachers, paraprofessionals, higher education faculty, professional staff, and nurses and other health care professionals. Regional offices fall under the auspices of the Department of Organizing and are responsible for organizing efforts and other assistance to local and state federations. The Great Lakes Region includes Illinois, Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, West Virginia, and Indiana. The Great Lakes Region was once part of the Midwest Region, and records from that office are also included. The Midwest region included Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota. The records cover organizing projects, collective bargaining campaigns, field director and staff meeting notes and minutes, AFT Executive Council meeting packets, mergers between AFT state offices or locals and National Education Association affiliates, and national, regional, and local conferences. Audiovisual materials include VHS tapes, audiocassettes, photographs and negatives. Files from former Midwest Regional Director Mark Chaykin’s work in other areas of the country are also included.

AFT Organizing Department Records

scaloia — Wed, 18 Nov 2015 16:37:56 -0500

The Organizing Department facilitates the growth of local affiliates of the American Federation of Teachers. Under the tenures of David Selden and Albert Shanker, both of whom had extensive organizing experience prior to their respective presidencies, organizing efforts ramped up significantly in the 1960s and 1970s. The AFT was the fastest growing union in the mid-1970s when organizing became a distinct department. The department provides services and resources to state and local affiliates across the country. Field representatives and other department staff members assist locals in organizing campaigns and collective bargaining elections. Individuals who have served as head of organizing in the past include Jim Mundy, John Schmid, Phil Kugler, and Lou Nayman.

The AFT Organizing Department Records include correspondence, meeting minutes, reports, contracts and bargaining agreements, grievance files, surveys, newsletters and brochures, personnel files, material related to workshops and conferences, and organizing campaign files. Organizing efforts revolve around primary and secondary school teachers and paraprofessionals, bus drivers, college and university employees, and nurses and other health care professionals.

AFT Secretary-Treasurer's Office Records

dgolodner — Tue, 22 Sep 2015 14:27:04 -0400

Papers covering the activities of various secretary-treasurers of the AFT. The secretary-treasurer oversees departments within the national office, collects per capita dues, responds to affiliates’ needs such as strike and collective bargaining assistance, and is closely involved with the AFT Executive Council and the AFL-CIO secretary-treasurers.

Part I topics of note include organizing, segregated locals, worker education, international teacher unions, federal aid to education, and academic freedom.

Part II contains additional content related to the subjects in Part I, as well as material related to union finances, various assistance programs, strikes, the AFT Executive Committee and Council, AFT National Conventions, the National Education Association, and the AFL-CIO, especially jurisdictional disputes and secretary-treasurers' meetings.

Detroit Organization of School Administrators and Supervisors Records

aorchard — Wed, 11 Mar 2015 09:30:22 -0400

The Detroit Organization of School Administrators and Supervisors was formed in 1966 and received sole collective bargaining rights with the Detroit Board of Education in 1967. The union had between 1,300 and 1,400 members at its creation, and it continues to represent administrators and supervisors in Detroit Public Schools in regards to salaries and working conditions.

In the early 1980s, the administrators were working without a contract for a brief time and they conducted a sick-out, where principals and assistant principals used their sick days in order to protest labor without contract. Their main concerns wages and job security.

The Detroit Organization of School Administrators and Supervisors Records contains correspondence, newsletters, and newspaper clippings about the sick-out, as well as documents explaining their ultimate collective bargaining goals. Additionally, this collection contains some newspaper clippings related to controversial administrative transfers and a case of an inappropriate relationship between two administrators and former students. Finally, this collection holds some materials from related organizations such as the American Federation of School Administrators and information about the NAACP Overground Railroad March in 1983.

Minneapolis Federation of Teachers Local 59

dgolodner — Thu, 05 Dec 2019 11:52:14 -0500

The Minneapolis Federation of Teachers was founded April 1919 by both men and women teachers. Over the next couple of decades the men would pull out to form their own local over various reasons but by 1958 the two locals merged together and have remained united as Local 59. Over the past 100 years the MFT Local 59 has fought for the well being of its members by ensuring tenure, sabbatical leave, and fair compensation. In February 1948 the Minneapolis teachers struck the school district because the school district went back on an agreement to raise teacher’s salaries. In 1972, the MFT Local 59 become the first exclusive bargaining agent for teachers in Minneapolis. This collection contains some correspondence but it is mostly publications reflecting the history of the Minneapolis Federation of Teachers. The MFT Action newsletter is not a complete run of the dates listed in the container list.

Podcast: 1933 Chicago Teachers Walkout: That Time Teachers Rioted With Textbooks and Rulers

teller — Thu, 13 Sep 2018 08:30:59 -0400

American Federation of Teachers archivist Dan Golodner tells ALPA archivist and guest host Bart Bealmear about the 1933 Chicago Teachers Walkout, when Chicago teachers joined together to demand that they be paid in actual money and on time, rather than in scrip that wasn’t honored by local businesses and banks during the Great Depression. read more »

[Podcast] The 1968 Florida Teachers' Strike: Public Sector Unionism and the Fight against Sunshine State Conservatism

teller — Mon, 22 Dec 2025 12:17:07 -0500

Dr. Jody Baxter Noll recounts the 1968 Florida Teachers’ Strike, in which 27,000 teachers across the state, amidst a shift in Florida politics toward a pro-business and suburban “Sunshine conservatism” reluctant to raise taxes for public education, submitted their resignations to gain collective bargaining rights and improved school funding. read more »