Workplace Safety

The results of a new AFT survey on working conditions and pressures facing education professionals across the country provide vital information about sources of stress on the job. They demonstrate the need for a scientific study on how work affects the health and well-being of teachers, paraprofessionals and school support staff -- and we're mobilizing union members to urge the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) to take on this task.

 

Click here to ask the DOE to conduct this research.

 

The so-called "Fast Track" bill on trade promotion authority introduced last week in the U.S. Senate will hurt everyday working people and stack the deck in favor of corporations. The legislation threatens to limit the ability of labor unions, environmental advocates, and all Americans to have meaningful input on our nation’s trade policy.

 

Click here to tell Congress to stop Fast Track.

 

In his latest post, AFT Connecticut Secretary-Treasurer Ed Leavy tells the story of a rank-and-file member who took enormous risks to restore his union to its roots. This labor history column from the February edition of the "Vocational Instructor" is a both a look back to the labor movement's past and a look ahead to our future. 

 

As Ed says, the men involved in the rise of the New York Building Trades Council may be lost to history, "but the struggle for the soul of unions remains:"

 

Washington -- American Federation of Teachers (AFT) President Randi Weingarten will visit with Newtown teachers and other school employees privately on Tuesday, hold a media availability with Newtown Federation of Teachers President Tom Kuroski and AFT Connecticut First Vice-President Steve McKeever, and present a commemorative piece of art at the evening school board meeting.