For Immediate Release
Weingarten announces run for AFT president
Apr 11, 2008 5:32 PM
UFT President Randi Weingarten announced her candidacy for president of the national union during the New York State United Teachers Representative Assembly on April 11. If she is elected in July, she said that she will continue in her present position in New York City, just as her predecessors, Al Shanker and Sandy Feldman, did before her.
Weingarten on her decision:
It is clear that there is a great deal of work to be done nationally if we are to make all our public schools places where parents want to send their children and where educators want to work.
The most important part of a child’s education is and will always be having a high quality teacher. Yet the Bush administration and its allies — rather than help teachers create opportunities for children, have spent their time privatizing schools, scapegoating and demonizing public school teachers. Teachers, on the other hand, want the opportunity to have a voice in school decisions and use their professional judgment to help their students become well-rounded citizens of our increasingly globalized world. That is why one of my highest priorities if I am elected AFT president is making sure that standardized testing does not overtake the rich, multifaceted curriculum that should be at the core of every child’s public school experience, and that educators, who choose this profession to make a difference in the lives of children, get the help they need to do their jobs.
The challenges facing public education and the labor movement are tremendous. All across the nation, public education is being threatened and unions are under attack. Public schools and labor have always been the catalysts that have created economic and educational opportunity, lifting working families and creating an upwardly mobile middle class.
That has changed in America, much because of the global economy and the failed policies and hostility toward the labor movement of the Bush administration. Because of all of this, I feel an urgency — indeed , a duty — to act. And that is why I made the decision to run for the presidency of the AFT.
When current AFT President Ed McElroy announced his retirement, I told my members I wanted to take a couple of months to wrestle with whether to run for the job of our national union’s presidency. I asked for input and reached out to a number of AFT leaders across the country. With their support, I decided this week to run. If I am elected at the AFT National Convention in July, I have promised to continue in my present position here in New York, just as my predecessors, Al Shanker and Sandra Feldman, did before me.
This was not an easy decision. I asked Ed to stay on, but he declined. Ed has done a fabulous job, and the AFT will miss his leadership. He has provided a strong voice for educators, public employees and health care workers across the country. His many strengths — particularly his talent for organizing and political action — will be sorely missed.
