by Mike Hall, Aug 6, 2008

Professional Staff Union President JoAnne Martone joins AFL-CIO President John Sweeney, Executive Vice President Arlene Holt Baker and Secretary-Treasurer Richard Trumka. Also joining them: AFT President Randi Weingarten, NEA President-Elect Dennis Van Roekel and AFT Vice President Laura Rico.

Three National Education Association (NEA) chapters with more than 3,000 teachers and other education professionals in California, Massachusetts and Wisconsin affiliated with the AFL-CIO today at the federation’s Executive Council meeting that wrapped up this afternoon in Chicago. In a related development, the council also approved a policy statement extending the AFL-CIO’s Solidarity Charter program until the 2009 AFL-CIO Convention.

The new NEA affiliations mean those chapters will be able to join with local AFL-CIO central labor councils and state federations to work together to meet the needs of teachers and students and all working families in the fight for health care retirement security and good jobs. Says AFL-CIO President John Sweeney:

Teachers and education professionals are being assaulted by the lack of funding for public education. Today’s affiliation means greater collaboration in the fight to save our schools and protect our children’s education.

The affiliations are part of the Labor Solidarity Partnership, a groundbreaking agreement between the national AFL-CIO and the NEA that allows local NEA associations to affiliate directly with the AFL-CIO. It is supported by the AFT, a longtime AFL-CIO affiliate. So far,12,000 NEA members across the country have joined the AFL-CIO through the partnership. Says NEA President-elect Dennis Van Roekel:

We’re pleased that working families are coming together to advance the right of every student to attend a quality public school. Opponents of public education are not letting up in their attacks, with school vouchers schemes and resource cuts. We need to work together, building coalitions and fighting back with a unified voice.

The three new affiliates are:

• The Kenosha Education Association of the Wisconsin Education Association Council, with more than 1,900 teachers and education support specialists.
• The Santa Maria Elementary Education Association of the California Teachers Association, with 850 teachers.
• The Professional Staff Union of the Massachusetts Teachers Association, with more than 300 higher education professionals on the University of Massachusetts Amherst and Boston campuses.

Says AFT President Randi Weingarten:

We welcome these new members to the AFL-CIO. When working people come together through the labor movement, we can make much more of an impact where we work and live. Our education members, in particular, look forward to working with these NEA members to help improve the institutions where they work and the people they serve.

The AFL-CIO Solidarity Charter program allows locals of national unions that have disaffiliated from the AFL-CIO to remain or rejoin AFL-CIO central labor councils and state federations, helping build a unified labor movement on the local and state level. In extending the program, the council notes that

in states and communities across the country, local unions work together through the AFL‑CIO’s state and local organizations on common organizing, bargaining, legislative and political campaigns….The Solidarity Charter program has been largely successful in maintaining labor movement unity at the state and local levels.

Since the program began, more than 3,000 Solidarity charters have been issued.

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