Gun violence in America — something is gravely wrong here
Let’s imagine a world free of gun violence and schools that are open, free, and welcoming
By Jeffery M. Freitas, CFT President
I taught high school math in a picturesque Southern California location with a view of the Pacific Ocean. On nice days, we used to keep the doors and windows of our classrooms open. We had no fences around our school and there were open courtyards that welcomed gatherings of students and staff alike. Much of that has disappeared. Now doors and windows must remain shut on campus and chain link fences surround the beautiful campus in case someone shows up with a weapon of war and the intent to kill.
Doing the work we love in the most difficult of circumstances
California is breaking down the walls other states are building
By Jeffery M. Freitas, CFT President
As educators and classified professionals, we often mark beginnings and ends with school years rather than calendar years. Each May, students leave for the summer or graduate and venture off to another stage in their lives. As these chapters open and close, it’s hard not to think about similar times in our own lives, when we moved on from a particularly beloved school or classroom, and from the school staff that made our experience so exceptional.
Stand up to defend free thought, honest history, and gender identity
Right-wing targets schools and colleges across the nation
By Jeffery M. Freitas, CFT President
When I decided to become a teacher, I was focused on helping students and meeting them where they are. I became a mathematics teacher — slopes, quadratic equations, fractions, square roots and all. But I entered into the profession because I was interested in who my students are as people, not just in class. I wanted to understand their hopes and dreams and help them become the people they wanted to be.
UC lecturers’ victory inspires broad movement for equity across higher education
CFT wages a campaign for part-time faculty in the community colleges
By Jeffery M. Freitas, CFT President
For about three years the University Council-AFT engaged in protracted negotiations on behalf of lecturers in their unit. Their aims have always been about fairness — better working conditions for lecturers and improved learning conditions for students. Their fight has been about not only winning economic and contractual gains for members, but gaining professional respect and recognition for their teaching at the University of California. Their campaign has been a true member-driven effort, rooted in years of organizing by the statewide local that represents both continuing lecturers and librarians, led by their president, Mia McIver, and a committed negotiations team.
Back-to-School Tour puts staff shortage in stark perspective
Dedication and inspired work of our members must be recognized
By Jeffery M. Freitas, CFT President
In early August, Luukia Smith, Lacy Barnes, and I ventured up and down the state on a three week Back-to-School, Forward Together Tour. We visited with early childhood educators, TK-12 teachers, classified workers, adult education teachers, and part-time community college faculty. We witnessed firsthand students learning in-person. We saw the incredible school communities our members have helped to build and visited campuses and classrooms to see CFT members in action.
Looking forward to life, work, and union without COVID
Embracing opportunities the pandemic has brought forward
By Jeffery M. Freitas, CFT President
The last year and a half of my communications with you have told the story of the COVID-19 pandemic, our union’s early responses to the changes wrought by the virus, our diligence in keeping school communities healthy and safe, and the first glimmers of hope as vaccines became available and community spread began to decline.
State of the Union 2021
Delivered by CFT President Jeffery Freitas on March 26, 2021
Good morning, CFT. I’m thrilled to be here with all of you—my fellow CFT leaders, all my union siblings, CFT and local union staff, and invited guests.
This year’s Convention has a lot of firsts. It is my first State of the Union speech as CFT president and my first time presiding as chair of the Convention. This is the first of our biennial conventions which we approved in 2018 through a constitutional amendment by this very body. And, this is the first-ever virtual CFT Convention. While we are making the best of the current circumstances, I sincerely hope it will be the last virtual convention.
The hope that 2021 brings
Looking back on a year like no other, but with recovery in sight
By Jeffery M. Freitas, CFT President
As I reflect upon the year that is reaching its end, the shock of all we have endured these past many months hits me anew. When we started this year, I felt hopeful with many opportunities for success and change.
Dark times bring out our best selves
By Jeffery M. Freitas, CFT President
What a year it has been. In March, as the coronavirus hit and “shelter in place” orders were issued, CFT leaders immediately started communicating with members about the situation. We held online meetings, shared resources on our website, and hosted a CFT Member Townhall that 11,000 members joined.
The task of reopening brings challenge and hope
By Jeffery M. Freitas, CFT President
In my communications with CFT members about school closures and sheltering in place during the past two months, I have often signed off, “Stay safe and take care.” For me, that is more than a convenient turn of phrase.
As we enter into the third month of the COVID-19 pandemic, we are in the midst of a crisis unlike anything most of us have experienced in our lifetimes, and when this story is retold years from now, I have no doubt it will be recorded as a turning point in history. I know most of you are, like me, tired, stressed, and worried.
The coronavirus, the CFT, and you
By Jeffery M. Freitas, CFT President
Over the past few days, our lives have changed significantly. There have been many fast moving coronavirus-related developments.
We will continue to work with decision-makers to protect you, your students, and your communities. With the situation continuing to develop quickly, we are doing our best to stay on top of it.
We want to provide as much information to our members as possible, but we hope not to overwhelm you with too much.
The CFT campaign to Fund our Future
By Jeffery M. Freitas, CFT President
In 2011, the CFT worked with community partners to lead the charge for a Millionaires Tax that eventually turned into Prop 30 and was then extended by Prop 55. Those funds helped stop the bleeding in K-14 education following the recession and drastic funding cuts of the mid-2000s.
Now, however, there are pressures throughout our school districts and community colleges that are preventing CFT members from getting the pay, benefits, program funding, and staffing levels our schools, colleges, and communities desperately need.
Our bold step forward to fully fund public education
Schools and Communities First initiative
By Jeffery M. Freitas, CFT President
When CFT received the first batch of petitions to put Schools and Communities First initiative on the ballot in late October, I immediately ripped a box open and took out a form. I eagerly signed the fresh new document to add my name in support of this historic initiative.
Union work is social justice work
By Jeffery M. Freitas, CFT President
When I was elected CFT President in March, I said in my speech to Convention delegates: “I believe that when we fight for education, we also fight for social justice, racial justice, gender equality, LGBTQ rights, and climate justice.”
To be a social justice union, we must not only consider the complex lives of our members and the challenges they face, but look beyond the doors of the schoolhouse to consider the ways our campus communities intersect with our larger communities. When we fight for labor, we must fight for our communities, too.
Creating a movement for charter reform and education funding
Up Front
WATCH THE VIDEO: State of the Union 2019
By Joshua Pechthalt, CFT President
As the school year begins to wind down, our work ramps up. CFT is joining other education unions to push hard to enact bills calling for more charter school transparency and accountability, bringing the decision-making on charter authorization exclusively to the district level, and more ambitiously, enacting a moratorium on all new charters. As Los Angeles state Sen. Maria Elena Durazo, the author of the moratorium bill explains, it’s time we put a “pause” on new charters.The effort to bring reform to charters importantly parallels the AFT Fund Our Future campaign that is investing in education.
A Blue Wave – but what next?
By Joshua Pechthalt, CFT President
By all measures, this was a very successful midterm election. Democrats picked up 40 seats in the U.S. House, which they will now control, and more than 300 legislative seats nationwide. In California, we ran the table on statewide officers and elected a supermajority in both houses of our state Legislature. Most importantly for us, Tony Thurmond was elected superintendent of public instruction.
A Blue Wave — only if we make it happen
By Joshua Pechthalt, CFT President
Years back, my family took a trip to Hawaii. While there, Japan suffered a serious earthquake and we were told to prepare for a tsunami that never materialized. Like the one on my trip, the “blue wave” that could give Democrats a majority in the House and possibly the Senate, might be just as illusory as our Hawaiian experience. Unless we help make it happen.
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.
State of the Union Speech 2018
Delivered by President Joshua Pechthalt on March 24, 2018
This past year has been at times demoralizing, frightening, offensive and challenging. Yet through it all shines a ray of hope that something may be changing. In spite of all the administration’s bombastic rhetoric, or because of it, there seems to be broad opposition to Trump’s policies and growing clamor for something different.
We must protect children, not the merchants of death
By Joshua Pechthalt, CFT President
Another week, another mass shooting, more condolences from elected officials…and nothing gets done. As of this writing, we have had 19 shootings of some sort on campus this year, and we are likely to have another before this article gets published.
Sexual misconduct revelations demand changes in the workplace and society
By Joshua Pechthalt, CFT President
The daily revelations of sexual misconduct by men in authority seem like a turning point in the struggle for gender equality. While this appears to be a sea change, we must remember that Donald Trump’s claim he could grab women inappropriately without their consent failed to derail his run for the White House. That, however, may have been the opening salvo.
Tried and true methods: Union organizing begins in the workplace
By Joshua Pechthalt, CFT President
We learned in the final days of September that the U.S. Supreme Court will take up another union fair share case. With the court’s ruling coming early next year, it feels like we are on a ship with an iceberg rapidly approaching. Fortunately, as we prepare for an unfavorable decision in the Janus v. AFSCME case, we had already prepared for the similar Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association case.
CFT Convention prepares us for tough challenges facing the union
By Joshua Pechthalt, CFT President
The CFT completed its 75th Convention and Jeff Freitas and I were honored to be re-elected by delegates to lead this great, progressive union. A new Executive Council was also elected, a diverse group of local leaders that will help guide this organization in the difficult period ahead.
State of the Union 2017
Delivered by CFT President Joshua Pechthalt on April 1, 2017
Sisters and brothers, members of the CFT. It is always great to be at our convention, to see friends, to think about the year gone as we prepare for the challenges ahead.
And boy do we face some tough challenges.
The election of Donald Trump jeopardizes the progressive gains of the last 80 years. Trump also threatens, almost daily, the basic sense of ethics, civic mindedness and fairness, valued across the political spectrum.
Responding to election of Donald Trump: Reassess, Mobilize, Defend
By Joshua Pechthalt, CFT President
I have been hearing from CFT members who supported Donald Trump and are not happy that the CFT is sticking its nose into politics.
We would be looking at a much different scenario in our schools and colleges, our communities and unions, and in Sacramento, if the CFT had not led the way on the Millionaires Tax, which became Proposition 30 and now Proposition 55, and before that, led the way on Proposition 25, the Majority Budget Act.
How should progressives vote in the Presidential Election?
By Joshua Pechthalt, CFT President
With less than one month left in the presidential contest and the race for the White House tightening, progressives have to make some clear-eyed decisions about whom to support. Will they support Hillary Clinton or will they cast a protest vote and support Jill Stein?
Election 2016: Americans have shown they that are ready for populist change
By Joshua Pechthalt, CFT President
There is a lot at stake in this coming November election. Not only will we elect a president and therefore shape the Supreme Court for years to come, but we also have a key U.S. senate race, a vital state ballot measure to extend Proposition 30, and important state and local legislative races.
State of the Union 2016
Delivered by CFT President Joshua Pechthalt on March 18, 2016
The Grapes of Wrath written by John Steinbeck powerfully told the story of one family’s challenge to survive the devastation of the Great Depression of the 1930s. It’s a story that continues to resonate eighty years later. As they begin their journey to California, the Joad family asks Reverend Casey, who in the film version is played brilliantly by the great American actor John Carradine, if he would like to join them.
The State of Our Union: We are working to “Activate Labor for Justice”
By Joshua Pechthalt, CFT President
Four years ago we talked about the need to pass Proposition 30, a measure that has added more than $6 billion dollars annually to the state budget after years of devastating cuts. Now we have to extend it. The measure for which we are gathering signatures — The Children’s Education and Healthcare Protection Act — will raise $5 to $11 billion a year, eliminate the sales tax increase, and continue to ask wealthy Californians to pay a bit more in personal income tax.
The path forward runs through the streets of our towns, cities, and the nation’s capital
By Joshua Pechthalt, CFT President
It’s time for the labor movement to remember what energized our ranks and inspired American workers to join unions. As we face a continued decline in membership and legal challenges that threaten to erode the strength of public sector unions and the movement as a whole, now more than ever, we need to take our message to the streets.
“Make it Fair” creates real change for California
By Josh Pechthalt, CFT President
California’s largest, oldest corporations have not been paying their fair share for more than 35 years. As a result, the state has lost billions of dollars in uncollected property tax revenues — a major factor pushing our public schools to the national bottom in per pupil spending and class size average. The state’s most at-risk families and individuals have also seen essential services repeatedly cut for more than a generation.
State of the Union 2015
Delivered by CFT President Joshua Pechthalt on March 21, 2015
Good morning CFT members, guests and staff, I want to thank all of you for taking time to help make the CFT a strong, vibrant and progressive voice in the California labor movement. It is your activism and your commitment to our union that makes this organization such an important voice for social justice, for our members and for our students.
The joy of teaching: Why we fight to make teaching and learning special
By Joshua Pechthalt, CFT President
Helping young people mature into adults is one of the rewards of being an educator. Unfortunately, the political tug-of-war enveloping public education can distract us from the special relationships that happen in the classroom. I have been reminded recently why I chose to become a teacher in the first place.
November 4 is our opportunity to elect an ally and defeat a self-appointed reformer
By Joshua Pechthalt, CFT President
The CFT’s priorities in the November 4 General Election are straightforward: Reelect Tom Torlakson Superintendent of Public Instruction, elect Betty Yee for State Controller and pass Propositions 45 and 47.
In the remaining weeks before the election, we need all of our members to get involved with their local unions and their central labor councils. We have to approach this election as if the future of public education depends on it, because it does.
State of the Union highlights: CFT succeeds with a vision of social justice
By Joshua Pechthalt, CFT President
The super wealthy and their swollen circle of reactionary think tanks and echo chamber conservative media are committed to eradicating what remains of the labor movement and giving corporations unlimited power over every aspect of American life. Public education stands as an obstacle to such a corporate world committed to keeping wealth and education in the hands of a few.
Healthy Kids, Healthy Minds legislative program prioritizes nurses and libraries
By Joshua Pechthalt, CFT President
The CFT is launching a new legislative effort called Healthy Kids, Healthy Minds to ensure that all of California’s K-12 schools have a nurse and mental health professional, and a credentialed librarian in an open library during and after school.
Lessons from Latin America: Reclaiming public education requires powerful fight back
By Joshua Pechthalt, CFT President
The CFT’s emerging campaign for quality public education underscores the fundamental problem we face in this country — the lack of a powerful social movement for economic, political and social equality.
Chicago strike models winning political strategy for California election victory
By Joshua Pechthalt, CFT President
The Chicago Teachers Union strike gave a shot in the arm to education unions and all of labor. CTU reawoke a labor movement lacking confidence that it could take a militant stand and win.