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AFT delegates are here in H-Town for Convention 2024: Real Solutions for a Better Life. AFT President Randi Weingarten will be joined by a stellar speaker roster, including United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, United Farm Workers Association co-founder Dolores Huerta, school privatization foe Josh Cowen, labor journalist Steven Greenhouse and Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan.
We’ll celebrate the AFT’s growth and showcase the AFT’s ongoing campaigns to create a better life for all, which are fueling that growth: Code Red for healthcare staffing and workplace safety; Real Solutions in preK-12 education and higher education; and our campaigns for a federal PSRP Bill of Rights and fixing the staffing shortage in public service. The program will spotlight the real-life successes and ongoing challenges of this work.
Delegates will vote on resolutions addressing the urgent issues of our day, including managing the pitfalls and promise of artificial intelligence, reaching peace in Ukraine and Gaza, making healthcare workplaces safer, promoting equity and beating back right-wing attacks on public education.
Monday kicks off with a big Texas welcome from Texas AFT President and AFT Vice President Zeph Capo and Texas U.S. Reps. Sylvia Garcia and Colin Allred. Education International Vice-President for Africa Mugwena Maluleke, Public Services International Vice President Annie Geron and United Farm Workers Association co-founder Dolores Huerta will follow. Then several AFT activists and leaders will share what the AFT means to them as they introduce AFT President Randi Weingarten for her State of the Union speech. Along with celebrating our growth and laying out the stakes this November, she’ll highlight our union’s mission of offering hope, unity and real solutions to an America struggling with fear, hate and division.
Tuesday morning’s general session kicks off with a panel of scholars working in the thick of our country’s turbulent debate on labor, education and democracy: African American studies professor and bestselling author Dr. Eddie Glaude Jr., history professor and Dissent magazine emeritus co-editor Michael Kazin and veteran labor journalist and Century Foundation senior fellow Steven Greenhouse.
Tuesday afternoon includes a fireside chat on “Rewriting the Economic Rules” with U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Rohit Chopra, updates on the AFT’s recent work in gun violence prevention and climate activism, and remarks from several speakers, such as Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan and Michigan State University professor Josh Cowen—a leading expert on big money’s involvement in school privatization. Delegates will also hear about organizing wins from several AFT leaders, including Anne Tan Piazza, executive director of the Oregon Nurses Association, and Christian Fern, executive director of the University of Hawaii Professional Assembly.
Wednesday’s speakers lead off with United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain (leader of the UAW’s historic 2023 strike against the Big Three automakers). The day includes presentations on recent progress in four AFT “Real Solutions” campaigns: Code Red, K-12, Higher Education and the PSRP Bill of Rights. A segment on “Real Solutions in Politics” features AFT Vice President and New York State United Teachers President Melinda Person, New York state Sen. and U.S. congressional candidate John Mannion, AFT Vice President and Chicago Teachers Union President Stacy Davis Gates and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson. Also Wednesday: The AFT Human Rights Award will be presented to civil rights activist and former AFT political director Rachelle Horowitz, a key strategist and the transportation director for the 1963 March on Washington. The day finishes with delegates voting for AFT officers.
Thursday begins with social justice activist Rev. Dr. Frederick D. Haynes III, senior pastor of Dallas’ Friendship-West Baptist Church. Delegates will also hear from New York State Public Employees Federation Vice President Randi DiAntonio on the AFT’s Real Solutions in Public Services campaign, which focuses on practical strategies to attract and retain the quality public sector employees our communities and our democracy rely on.
Throughout convention, the AFT’s Roving Reporter will be capturing delegates’ opinions and stories. And our Real Solutions Hub will share ways to engage and support our members and our communities, from AFTvotes to the AFT Book Club.
Enjoy celebrating our great union in the great city of Houston and have a terrific convention!
[Chris Bartolomeo, photo credit: Pamela Wolfe]