Accolades for Feldman

During Sandra Feldman’s final week as AFT president, she received accolades both from within and outside the union. Sen. Christopher Dodd (D-Conn.), who introduced Feldman for her convention keynote speech, unveiled the Kindergarten-Plus Act of 2004, to be named in her honor (see related story).

And longtime AFT ally Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) paid a surprise visit to the convention, where he commended Feldman’s “extraordinary vision, leadership and commitment” to education, healthcare and the labor movement.

“She has not just run a union; she has led a movement,” he said. Sen. Kennedy promised to keep alive many of the issues close to Feldman—from smaller class sizes and early childhood education to affordable healthcare, greater access to college and secure retirement for workers.

Delegates to the convention later paid tribute to Feldman with a special order of business expressing the union’s “deep gratitude for her contributions to the union, to public education, to the labor movement and to the cause of freedom and democracy.”

And the U.S. House of Representatives on July 19 passed a resolution introduced by Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.) that honored Feldman for her “decades of work on behalf of disadvantaged children, and her outstanding contributions and leadership in improving the quality of teaching and learning.”

The day before, the AFT executive council named Feldman as AFT president emeritus. AFT president Edward J. McElroy has asked his predecessor to continue her leadership of the Albert Shanker Institute, a nonprofit organization named in honor of the late AFT president. Feldman also will serve in other capacities to assist the organization in the future, McElroy noted.