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The AFT has always been a solution-driven union, and one of the best solutions to the problems in education, healthcare and public services is to elect people who will work for the public good. On Wednesday, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson; Chicago Teachers Union President and AFT Vice President Stacy Davis Gates; New York state Sen. John Mannion; and New York State United Teachers President and AFT Vice President Melinda Person showed us all how to partner successfully to advance policies that help working people in the most meaningful ways.
Before welcoming these leaders to the podium, AFT President Randi Weingarten recognized another political powerhouse: Sheila Jackson Lee, the U.S. representative for Houston’s 18th congressional district, died just last week, leaving a legacy of activism for civil rights, public education, women and children. She was scheduled to speak during the AFT convention. Instead, her son, Jason Lee—who now works as an organizer with the Chicago Teachers Union—and Houston Federation of Teachers President Jackie Anderson gave moving tributes to a person Anderson called a powerful voice in the fight against systemic inequities and a champion for social and economic justice.
Linking Jackson Lee’s legacy to the future, Weingarten talked about the crucial connection between unions and candidates who “walk the walk” and understand the issues working people care about most.
Powerful partnerships in New York and Chicago
Politicians make a lot of decisions that affect AFT members’ work in education, healthcare and public services, which is why it’s important that they have a voice in the political process and a seat at the table, said NYSUT President Melinda Person. Through its Pipeline Project, which recruits and trains members to run for elected office, NYSUT has helped elect more than 500 members, from school boards to the state Senate.
Person introduced New York state Sen. John Mannion as one of them. A former AP biology and chemistry teacher in Central New York and president of the West Genesee Teachers’ Association, Mannion was elected state senator in 2020 and is now running for the U.S. House of Representatives with the support of NYSUT.
Mannion rang many familiar bells with AFT members: He got involved in the union so he could better fight over testing, punitive teacher evaluations, budget gaps and threats to organizing rights. He was motivated to run for office by the 2016 election, and took the leap into campaigning because he knew “I had my union family behind me.”
Mannion described the phone calls and door-knocking NYSUT and the AFT undertook on his behalf, and noted that he won his election by just 10 votes. “I won some elections that no one ever thought possible,” he said. “I won them because of a simple phrase …: When union members vote, union members win.”
CTU President Stacy Davis Gates framed her introduction of Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson with the idea that elections are a time for courageous leaders, and that unions must be the ones to “call this country to its courageous self.” Johnson is a former CTU member and organizer—a former public school social studies teacher who has fought to keep neighborhood schools open, to fund all public schools more equitably and to pay teachers fairly—always keeping racial and social justice in the foreground of his advocacy.
Evoking the biblical story of Esther and Mordecai, who called on Esther to save her people, Davis Gates said Johnson “has the spirit of Esther, the spirit of courage.”
Johnson took the stage and whipped up the hall with enthusiasm for his vision. He described fighting to transform the country for the greater good of all: putting working people in the driver’s seat; honoring a mosaic of races, genders, nationalities and sexualities; investing in communities; and funding schools fully so there are resources for every student, supportive wages and dignity in retirement for educators. He has delivered on much of this, including $1.25 billion for affordable housing and economic development in Chicago and 10 days of guaranteed paid leave for Chicago workers.
And, said Johnson, broadening the vision beyond his city to transforming the country “looks like having a nominee for president like Kamala Harris.”
[Virginia Myers, photos by Russ Curtis and Suzannah Hoover]