Resolutions and Policy

Overview

Policies, Positions and Resolutions

The CFT passes resolutions on a wide range of issues that affect members in our different membership constituencies and that address other state, national and international issues of importance to the union and to our vision for California and beyond. Many resolutions are passed at the union’s biennial Convention, but the State Council and Executive Council also adopt resolutions.

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Resolution

COVID-19 testing and vaccines for California public school students and employees
March 27, 2021

Whereas, knowledge is power, and during a pandemic it can mean the difference between life and death of a student, a teacher, a parent, grandparent, or loved one; and

Whereas, numerous studies in the United States and around the world have found that children not only get infected from COVID-19, but also play an important role in spreading it. Asymptomatic infected people of all ages are especially inadvertent spreaders of the virus; and

Resolution

Maintain contact lists of retirees
March 27, 2021

Whereas, all retirees who were CFT members in good standing when they retired are AFT members for life, and

Whereas, benefits provided by the state of California and by local school and college districts can change after someone retires and retirees need to be informed of these changes, and

Whereas, retired member activists have had their talents enriched by decades of effective dedicated service and productive labor activism, and

Resolution

Prioritize assignments so vulnerable teachers can work from home
March 27, 2021

Whereas, COVID-19 is a serious health threat and has already killed over 40,000 people in California alone, and

Whereas, COVID-19 is an airborne illness making enclosed spaces with multiple people in the room highly risky, and

Whereas, Cal/OSHA guidelines do not have an accountability system that is quickly responsive to school safety, and

Whereas, many health conditions prevent people from being able to receive the COVID-19 vaccine, and;

Resolution

Reform the Social Security Act to eliminate WEP and GPO
March 27, 2021

Whereas, Social Security was established in 1935, during the Great Depression, to provide for America’s retirement security and to provide for those in need, for survivors of deceased workers and disabled workers and their families; and

Whereas, in some 15 states in the United States including California, large parts of their public sector employees are not covered by Social Security; and

Resolution

In favor of a Wealth Tax to fund a just recovery for California
March 27, 2021

Whereas, the COVID-19 crisis and subsequent economic collapse along with the national uprising against police brutality and systemic racism have cast a glaring light on the nature of inequality in the United States within healthcare, criminal justice, the economy, and public education; and

Whereas, as most Americans have struggled economically the wealthy have prospered at their expense; and

Resolution

Support faculty training that is transferable and equitable in the community colleges
March 27, 2021

Whereas, many contingent faculty are employed at multiple institutions of higher education and represent the majority of the faculty; and

Whereas, contingent faculty are required to hold the same academic qualifications and credentials as their full-time colleagues; and

Whereas, many qualified contingent faculty continue to be rehired each academic term over many years; and

Whereas, many institutions set their own training programs and may not recognize reciprocity;

Resolution

Rise Up, Recover, Rebuild: A New Deal for Higher Education
March 27, 2021

Whereas, the fiscal crisis in higher education has been decades in the making, and the recent public health and economic crises have been used to justify further austerity measures that already undermine the ability of educators to research and teach, and classified professionals to work and support successful educational opportunity; and

Resolution

Mandate unified health benefits for part-time community college faculty
March 26, 2021

Whereas, the success of our students depends on the health of faculty; and

Whereas, part-time community college faculty and their eligible partners and dependents should have continuous access to health insurance benefits; and

Whereas, the conditions for establishing initial eligibility for health insurance and maintaining eligibility vary widely among districts and are based on various collective bargaining agreements; and 

Resolution

Mental health and social emotional learning for all students
March 26, 2021

Whereas, California Surgeon General Dr. Nadine Burke-Harris has published on the acesaware.org website, “A consensus of scientific research demonstrates that cumulative adversity, especially when experienced during critical and sensitive periods of development, is a root cause to some of the most harmful, persistent, and expensive health challenges facing our state and nation;” and

Resolution

CFT to conduct Virtual Convention
January 28, 2021

Whereas, the members of the CFT are the essence of our union, and those members exercise their rights to elect their statewide leaders and to consider constitutional amendments, and policy resolutions, biennially as our constitution requires through election of delegates who meet in convention; and

Whereas, the CFT is a state labor organization governed by Title IV of the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959 (LMRDA) and elects its national leadership pursuant to the act; and

Resolution

Ensure safe, high-priority COVID-19 vaccines for all school employees
January 9, 2021

Whereas, the Trump administration’s chaotic and overtly politicized response to the COVID-19 pandemic has needlessly risked the lives of hundreds of thousands of Americans, and we have entered a dangerous time in our nation’s politics where even fundamental and scientifically noncontroversial public health responses have been deeply politicized and ignored by many; and

Resolution

CFT call to remove from office Donald Trump, seven California congressmembers, and Senators Hawley and Cruz
January 9, 2021

Whereas, on Wednesday, January 6, 2021, Donald J. Trump made it excruciatingly clear why he should not be President of the United States of America when he deliberately directed, encouraged, and incited his base, a group of terrorists, to storm the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., who then trespassed against, burglarized, and vandalized our primary seat of democracy, and threatened the lives of duly elected officials performing their constitutional responsibilities therein, as the world watched in horror; and

Resolution

CFT believes that Black Lives Matter
June 17, 2020

Whereas, CFT is a Union of Educators and Classified Professionals representing more than 120,000 employees working at every level of public and private education from Head Start to Universities of California, many of whom come from diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds, specifically Black racial and ethnic backgrounds; and

Whereas, CFT condemns those building blocks of racial oppression, anti-Black racism, and unconscious biases that provide the structural support for America’s historical foundation of systemic racism; and

Resolution

Defend the dignity and rights of immigrants
March 25, 2018

Whereas, immigration is one of the defining political issues of our time. Millions of people are crossing national borders in the largest wave of global human migration since World War II. This modern migration has perplexed the world’s most dominant powers — nations have militarized their borders to combat peaceful and unarmed civilians, and politicians now rise and fall on the basis of their appeal either to a progressive internationalism or to xenophobic hatred.

Resolution

Support the Poor People’s Campaign
March 25, 2018

Whereas, the social fabric of our country is being stretched thin by a widening income inequality while politicians criminalize the poor, our youth, and those taking action to defend our rights and fan the flames of racism and xenophobia to divide the poor and steal money from the poor to give billions to corporations, the military to fund perpetual wars, and for the militarization of the police and our schools, surveillance and prisons; and

Resolution

Protect staff and students from the health risks of agricultural pesticides
March 25, 2018

Whereas, CFT members and the students and families we serve deserve healthy living and working environments that are free of chemicals of public health concern; and

Whereas, California communities who work and live near conventional agriculture are disproportionately affected by pesticide drift, which contaminates our water, soil, air, food, and bodies; and

Whereas, those impacted by pesticide drift are disproportionately Hispanic/Latino, and already subject to social, economic, and political discrimination; and