Elected to the AFT executive council in 1990, Mooney had served on the council’s executive committee since 1998. He became president of the Ohio Federation of Teachers in 2000, after previously serving as the longtime president of the Cincinnati Federation of Teachers. Passionate about organizing, he was a strong advocate for righting the wrongs of exploited adjuncts and graduate employees through collective bargaining.

“As we try to come to grips with this tremendous loss, it is important to remember Tom’s commitment to the social causes that he championed, to the teachers and children and schools for which he consistently fought, and to the union family to which he devoted so much of his energy and spirit,” AFT president Edward J. McElroy wrote in a message to AFT leaders and staff.

Under Mooney’s leadership, the CFT became a national leader in advancing teacher professionalism. The local negotiated the country’s second Peer Assistance and Evaluation Program and built a four-tiered career ladder for teachers, the Career in Teaching Program.

“He constantly searched for ways to broaden the roles and increase the powers of classroom teachers,” wrote Krista Ramsey, a member of the Cincinnati Enquirer’s editorial board, who covered Mooney when he was president of the CFT. “He didn’t think they should have to become administrators to shape curriculum, impact budgeting, help manage buildings, affect policy.”

“George was always even-keeled, a voice of reason and a problem solver with a steady hand,” says AFT president Edward J. McElroy. “He could be tough, but you’d never know it by his understated demeanor. He was an invaluable asset at the local, state and national levels for the teachers, healthcare workers and public employees for whom he set a wonderful example. He was a wonderful friend.” 

Springer was the president of the 20,000-member AFT Connecticut state affiliate for 22 years. He was a vice president of the AFT from 1988 to 2001 and for four years was chair of the executive council’s human rights and community relations committee. He had served as the Connecticut-based AFT northeast regional director since July 2001.

Springer took a two-year leave from that position in January 2003 when the AFT executive council appointed him to be the administrator of the Washington (D.C.) Teachers Union, which the AFT temporarily took over.

Springer taught graphic arts and African-American history during his 20-year teaching career in New Britain, Conn. Throughout that period, he held various union leadership positions, including president of the New Britain Federation of Teachers.

Springer had an active life that was dedicated to the labor movement and African American issues, in particular. In addition to his leadership positions with the AFT, Springer was a member of the National Commission for African American Education, board member of Amistad America Inc., vice president of the John E. Rogers African American Cultural Center Inc., and past president of the New Britain chapter of the NAACP.

“This is a fight we will win because we have so many fighters and champions across the country,” said AFL-CIO president John Sweeney. He promised that the labor federation would activate 250,000 union stewards in workplaces across America to help overturn the “deceitful” Kentucky River decisions of the National Labor Relations Board and to elect a president who will sign the Employee Free Choice Act. Those decisions reclassify a large cohort of workers as supervisors, knocking hundreds of thousands of employees out of being eligible to join a union.

After the crowd finished spontaneously singing, “… hey, hey, goodbye” to the current anti-union Congress, AFT president Edward J. McElroy stepped up to the mike.

“It’s a little cold out here today,” he said of the frigid weather, but “not quite as cold as it is for the people [in Congress] who are going home, who opposed all of our legislation for the past dozen years,” and not as cold, either, as it will be for anyone who stands in the way of worker rights during the 110th Congress starting in January. “The work for us has just begun.”

“These classroom teachers get to the point, don’t they?” noted Josh Williams, head of the Washington, D.C., metro labor council.

The U.S. Student Association joined the labor rally because every year, college students have to pay more for their education while aid programs shrink. As a result, they take jobs to help pay for college. “The right to form a union and collectively bargain is a basic right for all workers, including students,” said USSA president Jennifer Pae. Reinforcing that right will bring janitors, security officers, graduate students and others some big improvements in their quality of life, she added.

Maude Hurd, president of ACORN, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, explained that ACORN is the largest grass-roots advocate for low- and moderate-income families. “We know and see how their lives improve when they’re able to be in a union,” Hurd said of ACORN’s constituency. “Organizing has been ACORN’s bread and butter. When labor is weakened, we all are weakened. But when labor is strong, we all are strong.”

Her words were echoed by Wade Henderson, president and CEO of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights: “Workers’ rights are civil rights,” he said. “Workers’ rights are human rights. And the most important right of all is the right to organize.”

Williams declared support for the Democrats’ intention to set a labor-friendly agenda in the first 100 hours of the new Congress. “On our shoulders rests a great responsibility,” he said, “and we shall not fail America.”

“We’re going to get workers a fair shake at last,” added Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.), the Employee Free Choice Act’s chief sponsor in the Senate. “I quite frankly am tired of playing defense. It’s time that we played offense. Let’s get this job done.”

By the time he got back inside the house, he was fully awake: That was no postal worker; it was the county sheriff, and the “letter” was in fact a legal summons. The lapse was uncharacteristic for a man whose habits of organization are renowned on campus. In fact, those skills put him at the center of a department effort to document the poor performance of a department chair whose appointment violated the NEIU faculty constitution. Now the chair was suing Brewton for libel and defamation.

Brewton’s story is not only about being the victim of a frivolous lawsuit—it was dismissed in a summary judgment six hair-raising months after Brewton was served. It’s about academic governance, academic freedom, professionalism and the importance of belonging to a union.

Brewton belongs to the University Professionals of Illinois/AFT. As his private drama was unfolding two years ago, his UPI chapter was preparing for a strike. While he taught his classes, walked the picket line and worried about his situation, he did not think to mention the suit to his union until he had sold off stocks and raised thousands of dollars to pay for his defense. When he finally did consult with his UPI grievance officer, Fred Flener, Brewton learned that the occupational liability insurance that comes with his union membership would likely cover his legal expenses.

He learned some other things as well: For example, the woman suing him had the university turn over all the e-mails generated by members of the economics department over a 12-month period. She was seeking to document a conspiracy she thought would be apparent from the e-mail correspondence. The faculty were never told that their e-mails had been reviewed and, when questioned at a faculty senate meeting, the provost denied it. But thanks to his union, Brewton and his attorney saw the evidence.

When all was said and done, Brewton was cleared. A professionally meticulous person, he not only kept orderly documents, he also was careful about what he committed to paper. His e-mail correspondence on behalf of himself and his colleagues about the chair was proper and appropriate.

Now, with the saga behind him and the $50,000 in legal expenses covered by his insurance, Brewton wants to share his story as a cautionary tale.

“Thirty years ago, I didn’t join the union because I thought tenure protected me,” he says. “But after a while, I looked around and I got scared. I saw people with reputations being nailed to the wall by administrators. They couldn’t fire them but they could crucify them. So I joined the union.”Brewton advises fellow academics to do the same.