Of all the forms of activism, one of the most challenging is serving as an elected or appointed official. Being in the public eye and finding common ground are never easy, and what inspires and sustains those seeking to demonstrate that “labor is your neighbor” offers many valuable lessons. To highlight a few, our national union recently interviewed AFT Connecticut President Jan Hochadel (front row, fourth from left in photo, above) for affiliated PreK-12 members’ quarterly publication:
AMERICAN EDUCATOR EDITORS: How did you initially become active in your community?
HOCHADEL: For me, activism began when I became an educator. At the beginning of my career, I was an engineer; then I became a high school science teacher at J.M. Wright Technical High School in Stamford. Very early on, maybe my second year, somebody asked me to be a building representative for the State Vocational Federation of Teachers (SVFT). I’ll be honest: I had no idea what that even meant. But I said, “eh, OK, I’ll try it.”
The SVFT represents educators in technical high schools across the state. Unfortunately, my school was about an hour from the union headquarters, so I had to learn how to be a building rep over the phone. Several years later, the governor decided to close my school. That made me angry, but what made me furious was that my union president wasn’t fighting it because relatively few students were enrolled. But I was thinking about the students in front of me, wondering what would happen to them – and to my colleagues.
A few of us decided to fight. We became friends with the state legislature’s speaker of the State House of Representatives, who helped us hold a rally. We emailed, called, and wrote to legislators, and we got media attention. That’s when I started to understand the power of numbers.
Click here for 2009 reporting on efforts to preserve the school’s services in the community.
At the end of the day, our school was closed. Some people lost their jobs. I was transferred to another school. That summer, my union’s vice president retired, and I ran for her position. My platform pledge was that I would never let another school close under my watch.
I was elected in August 2009. In November, the governor made budgetary cuts across the board, including cutting our licensed practical nurse program for adults. As promised, we fought back. And after we showed the state legislature what the true cost of cutting this program would be, they reinstated it. Even better, we won legislation declaring that no technical school could be closed without legislative approval. That was hard fought. Even though it was our introduction to the legislative process, we were the driving force behind it. We learned from other union leaders in the state, then we taught our members how to testify and to contact their legislators by email and phone.
So that was the start of my activism. I guess it’s not uncommon: something makes you angry, so you get involved. You are motivated to make your voice heard and make a change. Some of our best activists come out of really difficult situations. I’ve thought about that as a union leader. When I’m confronted by an angry member, I see a powerful activist. I ask them, “what do you want to do? How much are you willing to put yourself out there?” And then we work together so they have the confidence and the knowledge to be successful.
Click here for 2014 reporting on the reopening of Wright Technical School.
What are some of the challenges you faced and the lessons you learned as a union leader?
Once I became president of SVFT, we started focusing on the structure of our schools, making sure there were reps in every building and regular union meetings. It was important to me that we were training the reps to do the work, with SVFT there to help as needed. Through my involvement with the AFT’s national staff and with AFT locals in other states, I learned about the organizing model of engaging members and cultivating leadership throughout the union.
Then, when the Friedrichs lawsuit threatened to take away the fees that ensure everyone who benefits from union work pays their fair share, I thought we needed to prepare workers across Connecticut. But the state federation president did not agree – and that’s why I ran against her. Within six months of becoming the president of AFT Connecticut in May 2015, I was working with national AFT staff to mobilize and organize locals throughout the state. So when the U.S. Supreme Court decided Janus in 2018, taking away fair-share fees, we were prepared.
When I took over AFT Connecticut, it was a staff-run federation. One of the first things I did was make two huge banners that hung outside my office; they asked, “What have you done for the members today?” and “What have you done for the movement today?” In staff meetings, I encouraged people to answer those questions at the end of every day. For some people, this shift in our priorities wasn’t a good fit. I never fired anyone, but about a third of the staff turned over during my first couple of years. They were accustomed to the service model of unionism, which solves problems for members but doesn’t center on member activism.
Click here for our latest report on efforts to boost membership engagement.
I have long been dedicated to the organizing model, which is about helping members find their voice and fighting together for what they value. For the union, transitioning from the service model to the organizing model is really about going from somebody else making decisions for you to making your own decisions.
One thing people don’t tell you is you don’t have to do everything yourself. Surround yourself with people who have the same morals and values – that doesn’t mean they always agree with you. Finding people who will say no to you, who will challenge you, but who share your goals is one of the wisest things that union leaders can do.
Click here to learn more about growing our movement with the “organizing model.”
What spurred you to take on a higher office?
I was pushed and pulled into running. I’ve long been friends with Danté Bartolomeo, who is now the commissioner of Connecticut’s state labor department. She used to hold the state Senate seat that I now do (which covers Meriden and parts of Cheshire, Middletown and Middlefield) and was a great advocate for the technical schools. Unfortunately, she lost her 2016 state Senate election to a Republican.
In 2022, I was helping Danté and Meriden’s Democratic Town Committee chair find someone to run. After a teacher we were enthusiastic about decided against it, they asked me to run. I was hesitant, but Danté convinced me that I’d still be helping my members. I knew Danté and the job she did as a state senator well, so that made this seem doable.
Click here for 2022 reporting on Hochadel’s successful bid for political office.
At times, I worry that I’m not able to do both my jobs well, but ultimately both positions have the same goal: ensuring working people are protected and have the benefits they need. Being a state senator is a continuation of unionism focused on getting all community members to be activists and meeting people wherever they are for the betterment of everyone. The more people we have involved, the better off everyone is.
What do you wish you had known earlier in your career?
At each step of my career – when I first became a building rep, then SVFT president, and state federation president – I felt like I had to do it all by myself. But each time I saw how important it is to get other people involved. These aren’t jobs in which you can make mistakes – people can get hurt. But when you do get it right and you see those wins, it propels you to want to do more. Set yourself up for success by not doing it all. Involve others. Help them grow and find their voice. You’ll have more successes, and the union will be stronger.
This is a lesson I learned while teaching – I just didn’t realize how directly it applies until recently. When I was learning to teach, I threw lots of information at students, hoping some of it would stick. With experience, I saw that the students learn so much more when they teach each other. That’s my real lesson: give everybody else the tools to help all of us succeed.
Click here for the original article in AFT’s latest edition of American Educator.
