The AFT's quick and decisive response is turning around two troubled affiliates

For the AFT, 2003 was a particularly momentous year. Among the accomplishments, the union achieved significant membership growth, making it the fastest-growing union in the AFL-CIO. And Kindergarten-Plus, the AFT's creative proposal to extend the kindergarten year, took off, with several states and the U.S. Congress proposing legislation to adopt it, and one state actually putting the concept into operation.

But it was an achievement of a different kind÷the turning around of two troubled affiliates in the aftermath of serious criminal activity by a few individuals within their own structures -  that has resulted in two of AFT's most stirring and significant successes as the union faced challenges unique in its history.

Although a painful and unfamiliar process for all concerned, the union's quick and decisive response to the appalling misappropriation of funds and betrayal by individual leaders at the Washington (D.C.) Teachers Union (WTU) and the United Teachers of Dade (UTD) in Miami, demonstrated an important point about the AFT's resiliency: It could, when necessary, effectively address and correct problems within its locals, and do so in a way that builds on the inherent democracy which is the hallmark of a strong union.

"The leadership shown by the AFT in response to our local crisis was vital in making sure that our union not only continued running effectively, but also making sure that the union provided the kinds of services the members need," says Patrenia Dozier-Washington, union building steward at Ojus Elementary School. "Even at the height of this internal crisis÷with newspaper headlines and television newscasts screaming Îscandal' on an almost daily basis÷with the AFT's leadership and assistance, UTD was able to negotiate an incredibly favorable contract for the members. I wouldn't have believed it was possible."

Although the investigation of the scandal is now largely complete, the work to rebuild these two unions and restore the confidence of their members is not yet finished. Indeed, as AFT president Sandra Feldman noted, the scandal that erupted as the result of these isolated acts inflicted serious damage to the AFT and the labor movement from which the union will take a long time to recover fully. But AFT leaders believe that by studying these incidents as well as the union's successful response to them, the organization can provide a model for the future÷not just for the AFT but for other international labor unions.

It is a story that still amazes leaders of a national union with no history of this kind of corruption and, at the onset, little in the way of mechanisms or constitutional provisions that would provide national financial oversight or enforcement aimed at preventing these kinds of activities or alerting local members of them. Throughout its history, the AFT has taken pride in being a federation of largely autonomous locals that police themselves. Indeed, nearly all of AFT's approximately 3,000 state and local affiliates have done a good job of monitoring their financial structures.

The discovery of missing money

In August 2002, AFT secretary-treasurer Edward J. McElroy was contacted via e-mail by two members of the Washington, D.C., local, who wanted to know why their automatic union dues deduction had increased. McElroy immediately questioned leaders of the WTU. When answers were not forthcoming, he sent in AFT financial services staff to review the local's finances. What the team found was an elaborate ruse to cover up a scheme perpetrated by WTU president Barbara Bullock and several other officers and individuals involved with the local. The AFT investigation revealed that millions of dollars had been diverted from the union and into the pockets of the then union leaders and their accomplices.

After its initial investigation, the AFT alerted the U.S. Attorney's Office to what the union believed was serious criminal activity. It subsequently turned over files and other financial information from the WTU. The AFT also retained an independent firm to conduct a detailed forensic audit of the WTU finances. This audit would provide a road map for both the AFT and the U.S. Attorney's Office, ultimately leading to the AFT's civil lawsuit (aimed at recovering the money and property taken), as well as the federal government's indictments against some of the defendants and plea agreements with others.

But discovering and exposing the problem and bringing in the legal authorities were only the beginning of the AFT's work. Once the extent of the financial damage to the local was determined, the AFT focused on devising and implementing a comprehensive plan both to repair the local and to restore the confidence of its members. The goal was not simply to right the wrongs but to turn around the union and make it better and stronger than ever before.

Appointing administrators

The question the AFT immediately had to confront was how to put in place temporary leadership to deal with the day-to-day running of the union. This would require having the power and resources to restore the local's finances and credibility in the eyes of WTU members and the public. Although the national union had few oversight powers of locals under its constitution, a relatively new constitutional provision offered a remedy: installation of an administrator by the national union in cases where a local could not remedy a serious crisis on its own.

Because this kind of action was unprecedented÷and honoring the AFT's longstanding tradition of respect for the autonomy of its local affiliates÷the union worked carefully within the structure of its own governing body, seeking input and approval from its executive council. The 40-member governing body discussed the issue, and each council member offered unique perspectives shaped by his or her experiences as state and local union leaders. That the two local presidents involved in the scandals had both been members of the AFT executive council added fuel to the body's resolve to come up with a satisfactory solution.

In the case of WTU, the council's decision was made less burdensome because of the quality of the person whom the AFT selected to be the administrator. George Springer, a former executive council member who had headed the AFT-affiliated Connecticut Federation of Educational and Professional Employees and had most recently served as the director of the AFT Northeast region, accepted the position of administrator in January 2003.

Springer took on the challenge of turning around the WTU because of his commitment to the union movement. "I wish this had never happened," Springer said at the time, "but we need to look at this as an opportunity for [the WTU] to have a fresh start. We can make this union better than it ever was so that its hard-working members can appreciate every benefit that a union can provide."

While Springer and the rest of the AFT team were focusing on turning around the WTU, the AFT also was dealing with the challenge at an institutional level. President Feldman appointed a task force at the highest level (headed by executive vice president Nat LaCour and including a number of executive council members) to consider changes that needed to be made in AFT practices as well as in the AFT constitution.

After extensive review, the task force developed a comprehensive list of new practices and procedures designed to safeguard against this kind of fraud ever happening again; the executive council agreed to many of these changes in May 2003. These included unprecedented new policies to allow for oversight and action by the AFT and communication with the members in cases where financial questions were raised. In addition, the task force proposed several constitutional amendments that will be brought up for debate at the AFT biennial convention this July.

Troubles in Miami

But even as these changes were being implemented, more trouble was brewing elsewhere. In Miami, federal authorities raided the local teacher union's headquarters, focusing its attention on the activities of then president Pat Tornillo. Using its newly honed skills, the AFT again sprang into action.

"It's not the kind of thing you want to be good at," notes McElroy, "and it was a different kind of situation, but with the experience we had from the WTU incident, we were able to act quickly and capably to make sure that UTD would be able to recover from the financial mismanagement and misappropriation it had experienced."

Again, reaching into its own ranks, the AFT chose Mark Richard, a highly respected educator and union leader, as administrator. Richard, a member of AFT's higher education program and policy council, is a veteran labor lawyer who also has taught at Miami-Dade Community College for more than 20  years. He helped form the union that faculty elected in 1998 to represent them, the United Faculty of Miami-Dade Community College/AFT, and was serving as UFMDCC's president when he agreed to step in at UTD.

Richard's goal, as he has stated, was to create "a new UTD" that would build on past successes but that also would be a new union based on member trust. "The most important role of the administrator is to serve the members while at the same time protecting the union," he explains. "Working as part of the AFT support system allowed us to accomplish that."

In fact, the AFT intervention in Washington, D.C.,  helped WTU members retain previously negotiated salary increases the city had threatened to cut. Similarly, in Miami, the national union's intervention helped bring UTD members a new and stronger contract with considerable salary increases. And in both cases, members' confidence in the local's management and finances is being restored and member involvement in the union is growing.

Times of crisis can show exactly what a union is made of. In both Washington and Miami, in a relatively short period of time, an AFT team composed of individuals from across the organizational spectrum has helped to turn around local unions racked by individual betrayal and criminal activity.

"I can't say I'm happy that the AFT found itself in a position of having to deal with this crisis," acknowledges McElroy, who led the national union's action team. "But I can say that both the national and its affiliates are in a much better position today to deal with this kind of emergency should it ever happen again. I think all AFT members throughout the country will benefit from, and should be proud of, the way their national union responded to the crisis."