Building Power for a Better Life for All

WHEREAS, the strength of the AFT is built on the collective power of our members and affiliates, and our shared commitment to improving the lives of our members, protecting democracy and strengthening the communities we serve; and

WHEREAS, between December 2025 and March 2026, the AFT conducted nationwide regional meetings to ensure extensive outreach and dialogue with over 2,000 activists representing 435 affiliates to identify the urgent challenges facing working families and shape our collective path forward; and

WHEREAS, poll after poll demonstrates that the priorities of AFT members reflect what regular Americans actually want, establishing our union as a mainstream voice in the fight for economic relief, strong public institutions and worker dignity; and

WHEREAS, America on its 250th birthday is confronting multiple crises, most particularly rising costs and whether the American dream is still attainable for the vast number of Americans due to rising costs for housing, healthcare, childcare, groceries, utilities, higher education, and retirement security, while corporations and billionaires continue to accumulate wealth and power; and

WHEREAS, our teachers, PSRPs, healthcare workers, higher education members, and public employees face growing challenges, including unsafe staffing levels, burnout, disrespect, attacks on collective bargaining, unregulated artificial intelligence, attacks on curriculum, privatization, and worsening working conditions that impact both workers and the people we serve; and

WHEREAS, public education is facing a relentless, sustained and highly coordinated assault from billionaire-funded ideologues seeking to defund public schools through voucher schemes, censor honest history, micromanage educators, and ultimately dismantle public education as a cornerstone of American democracy and opportunity; and

WHEREAS, working people are under coordinated attack by forces seeking to dismantle our democracy—systematically suppressing the vote, silencing dissent, criminalizing free speech, gutting public institutions, and weaponizing fear and discrimination to divide our communities; and

WHEREAS, callous and cruel immigration policies continue to harm families, destabilize communities, target vulnerable workers, and create fear among the very people who contribute every day to our schools, healthcare systems, public services and economy; and

WHEREAS, corporate-driven forces are further exploiting workers and public spaces through the unregulated rollout of artificial intelligence—which threatens to replace professional judgment, automate management and strip away data privacy—all while relying on massive, resource-heavy tech infrastructure that consumes vast amounts of energy and water, worsening the environmental crisis in our communities; and

WHEREAS, the issues facing our members are inseparable from the fight for economic justice, workers’ rights, public education, high-quality healthcare, strong public services, and the future of democracy itself:

RESOLVED, that the AFT will strengthen our commitment to organizing workers in all states to build power and win collective bargaining agreements that focus on improving the lives of workers, their families, and students, patients and the communities we serve; and

RESOLVED, that the AFT will recommit itself to a unified worker-first agenda centered on affordability, economic security, worker power, democracy and dignity for all people; and 

RESOLVED, that the AFT will continue to organize, bargain, mobilize and advocate to:

• Raise living standards for working people;
• Strengthen collective bargaining and workers’ rights;
• Protect voting rights, free speech and other constitutional rights, and democratic participation;
• Oppose attacks on immigrants and vulnerable communities;
• Fight corporate greed and billionaire-driven policies;
• Defend, fully fund, and protect public schools as a fundamental right for every child; 
• Support, strengthen and expand higher education, high-quality healthcare and vital public services; 
• Ensure emerging technologies, including AI, support, not replace, workers, while protecting labor rights, privacy, transparency and professional judgment;
• Advance affordability solutions for working families; and
• Build members’ power in workplaces, communities and at the ballot box; and

RESOLVED, that the AFT will continue fighting for affordability at the bargaining table, in legislatures, in the courts and through public campaigns, including efforts to expose corporate practices that exploit working people and drain wealth from our communities; and

RESOLVED, that the AFT will continue building power through the work our members do every day—from schools and campuses to hospitals and public agencies—to win respect, dignity, fair working conditions, and high-quality public services for all; and

RESOLVED, that the AFT will commit to building an economy and democracy where working people—not billionaires, private equity and corporate interests—have the power to shape their lives, their workplaces and their future; and

RESOLVED, that the AFT will support efforts to build the organizing capacity necessary for mass collective action, including leadership development, strike preparation and cross-union collaboration, as well as promote wider cross-sector public/community support; and

RESOLVED, that the AFT will commit to supporting affiliated locals and the broader labor movement in organizing, bargaining, and engaging in direct action when necessary to secure just and equitable contracts, including strikes when possible; and

RESOLVED, that when politically feasible, the AFT will call on state, district and territory legislatures to enact State Labor Relations Acts that mirror the protections of the NLRA, along with the necessary funding to enforce it, to ensure that workers can continue to organize and build power in the absence of federal oversight.

Adopted July 18, 2026