• The California Federation of Teachers (CFT) is the California affiliate of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT). The CFT is composed of 135 local unions chartered by the AFT. Each local is also affiliated with its regional Central Labor Council and the California Labor Federation.
• The CFT represents over 120,000 educational employees working at every level of the education system in California, from Head Start to the University of California.
• The CFT's governance structure divides the federation into five councils corresponding to the major divisions of education employees: Early Childhood/K-12, Adult Education, Community College, University, and Classified.
• The American Federation of Teachers boasts a national membership of more than one million members.

WHAT WE DO
The CFT's central commitment is embodied in its slogan, "Education for Democracy, Democracy in Education," and may be summed up in five main areas:

Effective Representation
You will find CFT leaders, staff and rank-and-file members providing their special areas of expertise wherever you turn in the world of California education. In front of the Regents of the University of California, or at a first-level grievance hearing in a middle school; before the various commissions of the Legislature or the State Board of Education; advocating for classified employee representation on the statewide Community College Board of Governors; at a Public Employee Relations Board hearing or delivering testimony to the Commission on Teacher Credentialing: the CFT is there for education.

• The highest political body of the CFT is its annual convention. At the convention, hundreds of delegates democratically elected in locals throughout the state come to debate and decide issues facing the organization.
• Every other year the convention elects the CFT president, 24 vice-presidents, and the secretary-treasurer. Between conventions, the State Council, to which all CFT locals may send delegates and which meets twice a year, and the Executive Council, comprising the officers of the CFT, make decisions for the organization.
• The four governance councils meet quarterly to share information relative to their constituencies and to formulate policy proposals for the State Council, Executive Council, and convention.
• The CFT Committee on Political Education (COPE) reviews political candidates and their positions on issues, and participates in the campaigns of endorsed candidates. 

The highest decision-making body of the CFT is its annual convention. At the convention, hundreds of delegates democratically elected in locals throughout the state come to debate and decide issues and policy questions facing the organization and its membership.

Every other year the convention elects statewide officers to embody the will of the membership. Between conventions, decisions for the organization are made by the State Council, to which all CFT locals may send delegates and which meets twice a year, and by the Executive Council, comprising the statewide officers of the CFT.

The CFT's governance structure divides the federation into five councils corresponding to the major divisions of education employees: Early Childhood/K-12, Classified, Community College, Adult Education, and University. The five division councils meet quarterly to share information relating to their constituencies and to develop policy proposals to bring before the State Council, Executive Council, and the annual convention.

Because we are a federation our locals are empowered to adapt CFT and AFT positions and policies according to local needs. We work hard to build consensus before taking positions. In these ways decision-making percolates from the bottom to the top of the Federation.

Who are the CFT's officers?

• Marty Hittelman was elected CFT President in 2007. Before his election he served as CFT's Senior Vice-President, and also led the CFT's Community College Council, which represents community college faculty and classified employees. Hittelman formerly led the faculty union of the Los Angeles Community College District, AFT College Guild, Local 1521. Hittelman has served on many legislative task forces and is a past member of the statewide Community College Academic Senate Executive Committee. He was a high school teacher before teaching math at Los Angeles Valley College.
• Mary Alice Callahan, an elementary and middle school teacher for 24 years, is a Senior Vice President of CFT. Callahan, former president of the Morgan Hill Federation of Teachers, AFT Local 2022, sits on the AFT Program & Policy Councils for Pre-K and K-12 teachers and is studying education policy analysis in a doctoral program at UC Berkeley.
• Dennis Smith serves as CFT Secretary-Treasurer, elected in 2007. He has served as President of the Los Rios Community College Federation of Teachers, Local 2279, and as the statewide President of the Faculty Association for California Community Colleges (FACCC). He is a Business and Accounting professor.
• Velma Butler is president of the CFT Council of Classified Employees, the division of support staff and paraprofessionals. Butler leads the AFT College Staff Guild, Local 1521A, representing clerical technical employees in the Los Angeles Community College District and worked as an athletic secretary for 17 years at Southwest College.
• Gary Ravani, a middle school teacher for 31 years in Petaluma, heads the Early Childhood/K-12 Council.  Ravani served as president of the Petaluma Federation of Teachers for 19 years, has been a vice-president of CFT for two decades and is chair of the Educational Issues Committee.
• Bob Samuels, a lecturer in the Writing Program at UCLA, leads the CFT's University Council, which represents the librarian and lecturer bargaining units in the University of California system.
• Carl Friedlander is the president of the CFT Community College Council. He is a long-time faculty member in the Los Angeles Community College District, and president of the Los Angeles College Faculty Guild, AFT Local 1521.

WHO WE ARE
We are education employees working at every level of California education, from Head Start to the University of California. We are mostly in public schools, but you can find us in dozens of private schools and universities, too. We find common ground in our commitment to education and by participating together in the statewide California Federation of Teachers. The CFT is your professional union.

We come together to act-on behalf of education workplace rights, academic freedom, legislative solutions to educational policy issues, and full access to quality public education for our students. We encourage every member to be an active member. The union should never be understood as somehow other than or outside of ourselves. Your activism is the key to our power as professionals.

AFFILIATIONS
The CFT is the statewide organization of local unions of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT). Every AFT local in California is affiliated with the national AFT, the statewide CFT and with the American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO). Portions of our dues dollars (the amounts determined democratically through your vote in local, statewide and national meetings) underwrites the activities of our affiliated groups.

While these affiliations may at first seem distant from your campus or worksite, each represents a level of support for your own activities at work and in defense of your rights. Our locals in California can call upon affiliates for assistance in political or legislative action, for research during negotiations, to add their members' voices to ours in demonstrations, and for ongoing training in the skills and knowledge necessary to run a strong, active, democratic union-all of which ultimately allows us to run our work lives in a more professional manner.