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A plus for her. I really hope I don't see a bunch of disparaging remarks about this union as a result of their endorsement, however.
DTH
by DTH on Wed Oct 03, 2007 at 01:51:59 PM PDT
The American Federation of Teachers is very well repsected. This is an excellent endorsement.
"Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow." -- Albert Einstein
by KnowVox on Wed Oct 03, 2007 at 01:56:29 PM PDT
[ Parent ]
You nearly always forget to do that pal ;o)
DONATE! / HillarysVoice
by Alegre on Wed Oct 03, 2007 at 02:08:54 PM PDT
cross-post on HILLARY'S BLOGGERS and by the time I get back to DKos, there are already comments so I usually end up posting another comment or response.
You guys are all too quick for me ;-)
I like the silence of a church, before the service begins better than any preaching. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson
by Norwegian Chef on Wed Oct 03, 2007 at 02:22:04 PM PDT
before you hit publish! :)
by TheSilence on Wed Oct 03, 2007 at 02:22:46 PM PDT
No wait - what am I saying?
Of course - post to http://HillarysBloggers.com before you do anything else!
by Alegre on Wed Oct 03, 2007 at 02:36:00 PM PDT
Tip jar doesn't have to be the first comment. You can add it any time, NC
by markw on Wed Oct 03, 2007 at 09:18:01 PM PDT
My husband is a high school English/Dramatic Arts teacher who thought he was an Obama supporter until I pointed out that Barack supported merit pay for teachers. That was the deal breaker, and he's happily been singing Hillary's praises since. Merit pay is divisive, and would encourage teachers to only teach the best and the brightest of students. My husband works with a student populace that oftentimes doesn't come up with the best standardized test results. He works with second language learners, and special ed. students. If merit pay was based on standardized tests, he'd be penalized for low scores and so would his school. Maybe his students don't bring in the best test scores, but they stay in school; they attend his classes; they learn to work together as a community; and they LEARN. Hillary "gets this" about teaching---she has definitely earned the support of the teachers' union.
by Izarradar on Wed Oct 03, 2007 at 02:08:56 PM PDT
Kerry supported merit pay, and the AFT endorsed him in the 2004 primary season (although, to be fair, not real early).
The reality is that all three of the leading Dems are good on labor, and all of them have partisans within unions pushing hard for their union to endorse their favorite choice. I think you could argue that on trade issues Edwards is maybe slightly separated from the others and that would possibly help him with the manufacturing unions and the Teamsters. But other than that--and I don't know that is hugely important--I think regional strength within unions will play a big role on whether a union endorses, because motivated and steadfast factions, if they are strong enough, can prevent an endorsement. For instance, there's evidence that the Teamsters and SEIU leadership would like to endorse Edwards, but in both cases you have strong factions that control a lot of votes from IL and NY who may not be able to deliver the endorsement for their home-state candidate, but they can together prevent it from going to anyone else.
The AFT (and I think the UTU as well) are both heavily weighted to New York. Thus, these are natural candidates to endorse Hillary Clinton. If you have unions that are heavily weighted toward IL/Chicago, you might see them going with Obama, and if you had unions weighted heavily toward NC (like UNITE was in 2004, when they endorsed Edwards but before they merged with HERE, which is heavily weighted to Las Vegas, NYC and Chicago), you'd probably see more Edwards endorsements.
The revolution will not be televised, but we'll analyze it to death at The Next Hurrah.
by DHinMI on Wed Oct 03, 2007 at 02:50:37 PM PDT
...endorsement will probably help her more (with bodies to go to the early states, although I don't think they have that many members in any of the four early states), getting the Machinists was probably a more difficult achievement, because they don't have many members in NY, I think they have a decent number in Illinois and on trade Edwards is probably the closest to their heart.
by DHinMI on Wed Oct 03, 2007 at 02:56:18 PM PDT
but for what it is worth, Tom Vilsack has been working with them on NCLB issues, and of course he is now in Hillary's camp. I know that one key leader from that state has communicated with Edwards people.
In fact, having just checked, I do not see a state AFT federation in Iowa (nor in Nevada or SC).
In NH AFT claims only 3,300 members according to the state federation's website
Figures for NEA state affiliates as given on their websites or the 4 official early states
IA 32,000 NV 28,000 NH over 12,000 SC I could not find a figure, but did find a statement that 75% of teachers in state would be covered by agreements negotiated by the state NEA's chapter affiliates.
NEA is several times as large as AFT.
of AFT's 1.4 million members, 10%, or 140,000, are in the UFT, which is New York City only.
NYSUT, which is the NEA affiliate for the entire state, and thus also includes UFT in NY City, claims 585,000 members. That means over 40% of the membership of AFT nationally is in NY State, and it would be surprising that with a Senator from that state, who happens to sit on Kennedy's HELP (Health, Education, Labor and Pensions) Committee that is whom they would endorse.
Peace.
do we still have a Republic and a Constitution if our elected officials will not stand up for them on our behalf?
by teacherken on Wed Oct 03, 2007 at 04:05:53 PM PDT
New York State United Teachers is AFT and NEA combined. And that's the trend of the future.
"Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly and applying the wrong remedies." - Groucho Marx
by DemFromCT on Wed Oct 03, 2007 at 04:16:35 PM PDT
and it is not clear that it is the trend of the future - at the national level there has been a lot of cooperation, but at the state level not all affiliates want to join together.
by teacherken on Wed Oct 03, 2007 at 04:47:55 PM PDT
Wikipedia cites Florida, Minnesota, Montana, and New York as examples. Not sure if there's more. Of course, if the world were fair we wouldn't have to care about Iowa or New Hampshire, but the world isn't and we still do.
by TheSilence on Wed Oct 03, 2007 at 05:05:47 PM PDT
she has always gotten a warm reception at the AFT conventions she speaks at (and she's been a frequent guest... that did not hurt).
by DemFromCT on Wed Oct 03, 2007 at 02:57:37 PM PDT
...leading candidates (although NAFTA may suppress some enthusiasm for HRC among manufacturing unions and the Teamsters, but she did get the machinists endorsement). That's why I think you may not see a lot of union endorsements, because while one of the three may have the most support, the home-state support of one of the other two will often make it hard to get sufficient support. In a case like the AFT, that probably made this endorsement a little easier to get, because probably close to half their members are from NY.
by DHinMI on Wed Oct 03, 2007 at 03:02:00 PM PDT
more or less.
NY is organized.
by DemFromCT on Wed Oct 03, 2007 at 04:14:00 PM PDT
more than 35% of AFT members are in New York.
John McCain, you are _not_ my friend.
by LarryInNYC on Wed Oct 03, 2007 at 04:04:40 PM PDT
wide narrow
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