The difference one person can make

WHEN I MEET with policymakers—whose decisions have great consequence for our members and their workplaces—I often remind them that, as president of the American Federation of Teachers, I represent 1.4 million members. The point is not to pump up the “president” part of my credentials; it is to emphasize the members I represent. Without you, the AFT would not be the strong union of which we are so proud. Individual members like you are the power and the potential of our great union.

I have communicated with members of Congress about important legislation like the RESPECT Act. The AFT’s lobbyists, armed with input from our members, have worked tirelessly to garner support for this legislation, which seeks to reverse a decision by the National Labor Relations Board to broaden the definition of supervisor. But I am convinced that, for maximum impact and effectiveness, there is no substitute for face-to-face meetings between members of Congress and AFT members who are dealing with the fallout of the decision by the NLRB. The decision could deny labor protection to thousands of unionized workers, including nurses.

The AFT’s ACE (Activists for Congressional Education) program encourages and facilitates such meetings. Members of Congress have to be moved to action by the kinds of stories I have heard from member after member about the threat to patient care because of the NLRB’s decision, which undermines the ability of employees to speak out about short staffing, mandatory overtime or unsafe working conditions.

The ACE meetings have been bolstered by another tool that harnesses the power of individual members—the AFT’s e-Activist program. (Sign up at www.aft.org/e-activist.) This program provides a vehicle for AFT members to send e-mails to members of Congress on hot-button issues. Recently, AFT e-Activists participated in campaigns resulting in both the largest expansion of college aid since the 1944 GI Bill and the first minimum wage increase in a decade. They also helped refocus federal priorities from reckless tax cuts for the wealthy to more adequate funding for vital education and healthcare programs. One person, alongside like-minded others, can make a tremendous difference.

Recently, in a number of news outlets, I was quoted condemning a well-funded campaign to vilify educators and their unions. But the most insightful responses to this shameless assault came from AFT members like you. Hundreds of AFT members, alerted to the campaign through the e-Activist network, sent personal letters to the editors of newspapers that had run ads or news coverage of the anti-union campaign. Members’ collective groundswell of outrage was one of the most effective responses to this ugly attack I can imagine.

I recently announced that I will retire at the AFT convention in July. The picture at the top of this page reveals that this isn’t exactly an early retirement. Nonetheless, I can still empathize with members at earlier stages of their careers. It doesn’t seem so long ago that I was the 30-year-old president of my local union, with a wife, small children, a teaching position, and another job as a photographer, which paid better than my day job. It might have been a lot easier not to attend all those union meetings, not to write and run off union literature late at night (with the help of my wife), and not to constantly have it out with administrators who didn’t want to yield an inch to the union. But that was never really an option. And with each person who joined our movement, our victories came more easily. We built the union, and we negotiated better compensation and working conditions for our members to a point where I eventually was able to quit my part-time photography job—which really wasn’t so part-time.

I have seen time and again the difference one person can make, working through his or her union. If you are not active in your local, I urge you to find an area of interest in which you can make a difference. If you are an active member, thank you; I hope you will continue to help build our movement. Although I am going to retire soon, I will still try to make a difference because I will always be an AFT member.