Part of the #WEarePFT video series from the Caucus of Working Educators

A new video released every day in Jan 2016 leading up to the PFT elections in Feb!

Ballots are mailed home on Feb.4. 

Mail your completed ballot to AAA by Feb.19 to make sure your vote is counted!

Part of the #WEarePFT video series from the Caucus of Working Educators

A new video released every day in Jan 2016 leading up to the PFT elections in Feb!

Ballots are mailed home on Feb.4. 

Mail your completed ballot to AAA by Feb.19 to make sure your vote is counted!

Part of the #WEarePFT video series from the Caucus of Working Educators

A new video released every day in Jan 2016 leading up to the PFT elections in Feb!

Ballots are mailed home on Feb.4. 

Mail your completed ballot to AAA by Feb.19 to make sure your vote is counted!

Part 2 of a 9-part series of position papers on the substantive steps Working Educators would like to take strengthen the PFT and fight for the schools we deserve. Part 1 covered negotiating the next PFT contract, or you can click here to read all 9 position papers. If you have any questions or comments, please email [email protected]. And don't forget to vote on Feb 4th!

Two of our Commonwealth’s most pressing problems—its financial woes and its concerns with school performance—are both on some level purposefully manufactured, with compassionate responses and solutions to them being willfully ignored. Having allies in local and statewide elected office is a major part of our union’s strategy for dealing with these issues. The Caucus of Working Educators understands that expert political maneuvering, including some compromise, is often necessary to even get a fraction of demands met in this arena.

However, eliminating or starving public schools is punitive, miseducative, inconvenient, damaging, and unsympathetic to teachers, children, and communities. When you attack educators, there should be consequences. The PFT must be willing to hold politicians accountable if they support laws and budgets that push “solutions” such as budget cuts, takeover, privatization, and closure—especially when triggered by schools’ failure to live up to misguided test-and-punish measures.

This holds even for lawmakers to whom our union has promised donations and votes in the past, especially if they take positions in direct opposition to prior statements or acts made to earn such support from us. This requires not only a change in our current political strategy, but also an effort to build the “people power” necessary to make politicians understand the danger of ignoring educators’ voices.

What WE propose:

• Consistent public pressure for budgets that provide appropriate resources for school
districts, as well as for laws and policies that avoid school closings and privatization.

• Withhold financial support and endorsements from, and create public campaigns against, politicians who propose, vote for, or otherwise assist in enacting legislation that attacks public education.

• Build alliances with other unions and organizations across the state, and use PFT resources and member advocacy to help change the balance of power in the state legislature.

• Work to recruit and promote educators and educational allies for political office and appointments to other positions of authority. This should include a new focus on building power within Philadelphia’s highly influential ward system.

Click here to download a shareable PDF version.

Part of the #WEarePFT video series from the Caucus of Working Educators

A new video released every day in Jan 2016 leading up to the PFT elections in Feb!

Ballots are mailed home on Feb.4. 

Mail your completed ballot to AAA by Feb.19 to make sure your vote is counted!

Part of the #WEarePFT video series from the Caucus of Working Educators

A new video released every day in Jan 2016 leading up to the PFT elections in Feb!

Ballots are mailed home on Feb.4. 

Mail your completed ballot to AAA by Feb.19 to make sure your vote is counted!

Part of the #WEarePFT video series from the Caucus of Working Educators

A new video released every day in Jan 2016 leading up to the PFT elections in Feb!

 Ballots are mailed home on Feb.4. 

Mail your completed ballot to AAA by Feb.19 to make sure your vote is counted!

Part of the #WEarePFT video series from the Caucus of Working Educators

A new video released every day in Jan 2016 leading up to the PFT elections in Feb!

 Ballots are mailed home on Feb.4. 

Mail your completed ballot to AAA by Feb.19 to make sure your vote is counted!

Part 1 of a 9-part series of position papers on the substantive steps Working Educators would like to take strengthen the PFT and fight for the schools we deserve. Click here to read all 9 position papers. If you have any questions or comments, please email [email protected]. And don't forget to vote on Feb 4th!

At the heart of the Caucus of Working Educators is our drive to represent you, our fellow PFT members, at the negotiating table for an equitable and strong contract from the School District of Philadelphia. We share your frustration with working under a status quo contract for far too long. We recognize the disrespect shown to our union by the district’s attempts to impose contract terms. We join our voices to yours in fear that our deteriorating work conditions might somehow become permanent.

Many members have been concerned about both the lack of momentum in the contract talks, and the lack of transparency regarding the collective bargaining process. We believe that there are substantive steps that our entire union can take to address these concerns raised by teachers across the district.

Our Caucus recognizes that legal decisions and electoral politics play a major role in the collective bargaining process, affecting how and when the PFT negotiates and what compromises we might be forced to consider. However, the Caucus of Working Educators believes that a union’s success at negotiating does not originate with the courts, the legislature, or even the negotiators at the bargaining table. The key to our strength at the negotiating table lies with the power of our collective membership. Building that power requires a newfound commitment to member education and organizing, so that our 11,000 members are ready to mobilize behind their contract demands.

Too many of our colleagues are tired of waiting for a substantive update of where things stand, and too few have any idea what proposals are on the table. We believe that the membership should be engaged throughout the process—making sure that the negotiators are truly representing the priorities of the rank and file, and making sure that members are educated on the various issues being considered.

We will gain the best possible contract when we work to educate and empower our members, make renewed outreach to win public support, and provide meaningful opportunities for union membership to guide its leadership and to compel our district to an appropriate, fair, and moral result.

What WE propose:

• Cultivate timely interactions with and feedback from membership to focus the negotiating team on union demands for our next contract.

• Retain legal counsel, intimately involved with current contract negotiations, to continue to work alongside the Executive Board on behalf of PFT members.

• Complement our use of the legal system to defend against illegal overreaches with a proactive and multifaceted strategy—including internal organizing, stronger community partnerships, and carefully orchestrated actions—to keep the public on the side of educators in the political struggle that surrounds contract negotiations.

Click here to download a shareable PDF version.

Over the last three months, the Caucus of Working Educators has met thousands of PFT members around the city. That process all started with a listening campaign, wit a couple of central questions: what would make your life better as an educator? and what could the PFT be doing to help with that?

The first result of that work was our Campaign Platform. Now, we're pleased to present nine position papers on the following topics:

• Negotiating the Next PFT Contract
• The PFT and our Political Alliances
• Rank and File Communications and Empowerment
• Disbanding the SRC and Replacing Superintendent Hite
• Transforming What it Means to be a Union Member
• Community Involvement and Team Building
• Standardized Testing and School Performance Metrics
• School Climate and Safety
• Fighting for Services for Students with Special Needs

We'll be featuring this content on our website over the next couple of weeks, but you can read the complete packet of position papers here.