News

AFT Washington has long held that a just society is one that allows educators, healthcare professionals, and others working to advance public welfare and provide equal opportunity to all. Our power comes from our members - their commitment; their involvement. We build our community when our colleagues become members, our members become activists, and our activists become leaders. This increases our scope, our depth, and our influence.

In these challenging times, AFT Washington reasserts our commitment to these principles:

• To welcome all of our diverse membership to stand together in solidarity

June is Pride month and on behalf of the AFT Washington membership, I want to say to our LGBTQ+ members – we see you! The existence of a designated month means so much, both in terms of the possibilities it creates and in terms of the history that generated the need for a month to recognize the beautiful diversity of people. Pride month seeks to make visible the millions of people who, for decades, have needed to be vigilant of the risks to their well-being as they navigated a hostile world. LGBTQ+ people, with allies alongside, have fought hard for their rights, from the right to exist to the

As is depressingly common, several people have been injured and killed due to gun violence at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Countless others have been traumatized by the terror they felt during the incident. Worse, the damage to us all is cumulative: all who work in education, students, and their families throughout the country are left with anxiety and fear, unable to feel the sense of safety we all need to thrive, and wondering when their campus will be the target. This is the 80^th school shooting this year; that fear should surprise no one in the face of such a bleak statistic.

We send our deepest sympathies and love to all impacted by this assault, knowing that sympathies and love mean little without action.

As education workers, this is a moment when our membership can work together for real solutions to the epidemic of gun violence in schools and colleges, as well as in places of faith, shopping centers, childcare centers, and our communities more broadly. In the upcoming legislative session, we will be working with the Alliance for Gun Responsibility to advance laws proven to reduce gun violence. You can stay informed by signing up for our Legisletter here.

At the same time, we know that workers are well positioned to develop the measures that will make their workplaces safer. We encourage you to raise the subject of safety at your workplace with your union and to urge your employer to create the opportunity for your school, center, or college community members to come together and build the solutions needed. Solutions to this crisis are possible, and we can contribute to build them in meaningful ways.

Finally, as an AFT member you have access to trauma counseling as one of your union benefits. If the need arises you can find out more about that resource here.

Please take care of yourself and those around you - our solidarity and community can be a source of comfort and strength in the face of tragedy, and our action together can create change that ends the cycle of fear.

February 26, 2018 | Washington News Service | Eric Tegethoff, Producer

SEATTLE – The U.S. Supreme Court is hearing a case Monday that has big implications for unions.

In Janus v. American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), justices will decide whether employees represented by public unions have to pay so-called fair share fees if they do not want to be members.

Read entire story and audio here.
 

May 16, 2012
Chris Thomas, Producer

RENTON, Wash. - Getting unemployment benefits can be a challenge, particularly for those in temporary jobs. This weekend, part-time college instructors are getting a short course in how and when to file for unemployment. [click here to read full story or hear audio]

August 15, 2011 | Washington News Service

TACOMA, Wash. - As many schools ponder cutting another ten percent from their budgets in the coming months at the governor's request, the Tacoma School District's decision not to cut some employees' hours is a stark contrast. Those employees are paraeducators, who work one-on-one with students with severe physical or learning disabilities. Already some of the lowest-paid workers at schools, their hours were going to be trimmed by 30 minutes a day. [more]

In AFT President Randi Weingarten’s latest New York Times  column, she describes what it is exactly that unions do. Though unions are the most popular they have been in decades, anti-union sentiment still thrives in red states and across the nation. “Several years ago, The Atlantic ran a story whose headline made even me, a labor leader, scratch my head: ‘Union Membership: Very Sexy,’” Weingarten writes in the column. “The gist was that higher wages, health benefits and job security—all associated with union membership—boost one’s chances of getting married. Belonging to a union doesn’t actually guarantee happily ever after, but it does help working people have a better life in the here and now.” Click through to read the full column.