AFT Vice President
A middle school math teacher with the Detroit public schools system from 1978 to 1987, Garrison was an experienced Detroit Federation of Teachers (DFT) negotiator and the DFT executive vice president for six years before being elected DFT president in 2000.  As head of the eighth largest teachers' union in the country, she states, "I want to help shape the course of this union as it traverses the 21st century."  "Public schools are facing enormous challenges and I want to make sure our teachers have a say in crafting solutions to those challenges."

Garrison serves as a teacher and union representative in numerous education and labor organizations, including as vice president of the Michigan Federation of Teachers and School Related Personnel and executive council, Michigan state AFL-CIO.  She is also active in numerous service and advocacy organizations, including Delta Sigma Theta Sorority and the NAACP.

Garrison is a Democratic party precinct delegate and a Michigan delegate to the National Democratic Convention; postgraduate coursework in labor law, finance, and statistical analysis at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government and Wayne State University; member, AFT Teachers program and policy council.