SUBSTITUTE TEACHER ORGANIZING

WHEREAS, the vast majority of substitute teachers in the U.S. are presently unorganized, grossly underpaid, and lacking basic benefits; and

WHEREAS, most of these teachers are certificated employees who play an integral role in the educational process; and

WHEREAS, the poor pay and job insecurity contribute to the transient nature of substitute teaching and the inability of school districts to attract quality teacher replacements; and

WHEREAS, these employees, when not unionized, have historically been used as strikebreakers against organized teachers; and

WHEREAS, substitute teacher organizing requires the cooperation of neighboring locals and state federations because many substitutes teach in more than one school district:

RESOLVED, that the AFT launch a nationwide organizing drive to bring collective bargaining rights to hundreds of thousands of substitute teachers; and

RESOLVED, that this convention go on record as favoring full union rights for AFT substitute teachers in locals where they are currently organized, as well as in locals where they will be organized in the future.