Newsroom
Convention votes to raise part-time workload cap to 80 percent
At this year’s CFT Convention, delegates passed Resolution 15 calling for the CFT to support changing the workload cap in a community college district to 80 percent of a full-time equivalent load, effectively allowing part-time faculty to teach up to 12 units.
CFT faculty leaders to testify on California’s Master Plan for Higher Education
The Assembly Select Committee on the Master Plan for Higher Education has scheduled a public hearing on Friday, May 4, at UC Riverside to examine how to meet the needs of faculty and staff to best support our students.
100 years of the CFT — a capsule history
The CFT turns 100 on May 31, 2019. To kick off this anniversary year, California Teacher digs into the archives to present a commemorative issue about the rich history of our statewide federation of unions. The big events — legislation, elections, social trends — described here affected every member. But this capsule history cannot possibly relate the profound impact almost 100 years of activism had on thousands of individual education workers.
Our history teaches us the power of organizing for collective action
By Joshua Pechthalt, CFT President
At this pivotal moment in our history, we can look back with pride while looking forward with a tempered sense of confidence. Knowing what our union has overcome in its first century, we will face the coming challenges and emerge a stronger union.
Next year marks the 100th anniversary of the CFT. Previous generations of educators won the right to due process and collective bargaining. They built the foundation that led to decent compensation, healthcare and retirement benefits, and much more.
Tony Thurmond: Delegates support CFT-endorsed candidate for state superintendent
A couple of days after his speech at the CFT Convention in Sacramento last year, Assemblymember Tony Thurmond (D- Richmond) announced his candidacy for state superintendent of public instruction. He regrets not announcing at the Convention, Thurmond told delegates, who waved blue signs in his support.
Council of Retired Members taps a resource: Retirees are “stickin’ to the union”
Download a single-sheet illustrated history of the Council of Retired Members
What retirees have that unions need — knowledge, experience and memories — are concentrated in the Council of Retired Members, the newest division of CFT. Convention delegates in 2014 overwhelmingly voted to add the council to the union’s governance structure so retirees could contribute in the same way as working teachers and classified employees.
University Council-AFT: Bringing dignity to UC lecturers and librarians
Download a single-sheet illustrated history of the University Council-AFT
In September of 1978, Gov. Jerry Brown made good on a promise to the CFT and signed the Higher Education Employer-Employee Relations Act, authorizing employees of the UC and CSU systems to engage in collective bargaining.
Community College Council: Effective advocacy promotes interests of faculty and staff
Download a single-sheet illustrated history of the Community College Council
Formed in 1971, the Community College Council gave a voice to the growing numbers of CFT college faculty. Los Angeles history teacher Hy Weintraub, president of the council for much of the decade, brought a coherent statewide identity to the group.
Council of Classified Employees: High-quality representation wins respect for support staff
Download a single-sheet illustrated history of the Council of Classified Employees
When the AFT in 1977 welcomed educational workers other than teachers into its ranks, paraprofessionals and classified employees became one of the fastest growing sectors of the national AFT. In the 1980s, several thousand California support staff voted for the AFT as their bargaining agent.
PreK-12 Council leads the way on educational issues
Download a single-sheet illustrated history of the EC/TK-12 Council
The CFT originally formed as a union of K-12 teachers. As other education workers joined, the membership of CFT diversified. Because the CFT had a working group of teachers — called the QuEST Council — which dealt with curriculum and policy issues, and reviewed current legislation, there was little pressure for a separate K-12 council.
Raoul Teilhet Scholarship Program celebrates 20 years
638 dependents awarded $1.76 million
In the mid 1990s, leaders of the Greater Santa Cruz Federation of
Teachers decided the CFT, a union of educators, should offer the
children of its members scholarships to achieve their higher
education goals.
Celebrating 70 years of California Teacher in print
The “Voice of the Union” changes with the times
The committed activists who formed the California State Federation of Teachers in 1919 recognized from the beginning the need for communications among their far-flung members. From rudimentary origins, the California Teacher grew in every way and has been published in print for 70 years.