Former AFT president remembered for her
toughness, compassion

Hundreds of union colleagues, politicians, labor leaders, friends and family gathered at the United Federation of Teachers headquarters in New York City in December to pay tribute to former AFT president Sandra Feldman, who died Sept. 18 at age 65 after a three-year battle with breast cancer.

The memorial event brought together noted politicians from Feldman’s years at the UFT and as president of the AFT, including former President Bill Clinton, members of Congress, and former New York City mayors Ed Koch and David Dinkins. The accolades and stories—both funny and poignant—from her AFT family, AFL-CIO leaders, personal friends and relatives during the nearly two-hour event revealed Feldman’s toughness and persistence as well as her deep compassion and joy for life.

“America gave her a chance to live her dream,” said President Clinton, referring to Feldman’s modest roots and rise to success though public education. “She spent her life trying to give every other child that chance.”

This was embodied in her agenda as president of the AFT, he noted, with her proposal for Kindergarten-Plus to help schools offer an extended year of kindergarten to disadvantaged children, as well as her continued support of high academic standards. “If it had not been for the AFT and her, there would not have been a standards movement in this country,” said Clinton.

AFT president Edward J. McElroy said that Feldman recognized the transforming power of education and trade unionism. These two pillars “were of one piece for her, for together they both meant that ordinary people’s lives, and therefore our society, would be improved.”

Others in the AFT family, including UFT president Randi Weingarten and NYSUT president Richard Iannuzzi, praised Feldman for her guidance and political savvy. Her efforts on behalf of nonteaching staff weren’t forgotten either. Former UFT staff director and longtime friend Tom Pappas noted that a high-water mark in Feldman’s career was the UFT’s successful bid in 1968 to represent paraprofessionals, a victory achieved on the heels of a difficult strike.

Underlying Feldman’s strong union principles was her early commitment to the civil rights movement, which informed her lifelong passion for social justice. Two longtime friends, former AFT political director Rachelle Horowitz and D.C. Delegate to the U.S. House of Representatives Eleanor Holmes Norton, described their early days of activism together under the mentorship of civil rights pioneer Bayard Rustin and of passionate discussions on literature, politics and philosophy late into the night.

Among those who recounted Feldman’s leadership skills was AFL-CIO president John Sweeney—a fellow New Yorker—who described her as both “serious beyond her years” and yet thrilled when she was asked to serve as grand marshal in New York City’s Labor Day parade. Feldman was particularly effective working behind the scenes with other international union presidents—“grown men with lots of ego”—to navigate the federation’s political landscape, he said.