AFT Massachusetts President Beth Kontos and Secretary-Treasurer Brant Duncan are thrilled to announce the winners of the union’s 2021 Distinguished Service Awards.
The Distinguished Service Awards are presented annually to AFT Massachusetts members who have demonstrated an outstanding level of service and dedication to their local union.
AFT Massachusetts members gathered remotely on Saturday to celebrate the union’s past successes and organize for our future during for the union’s 2020 annual convention, with the theme “Let’s Keep Winning: Advancing Educational and Workplace Justice Through Union Activism.”
During the telephone town hall convention, Beth Kontos was reelected as President of AFT Massachusetts, and Brant Duncan was reelected as Secretary-Treasurer. These AFT Massachusetts leaders spoke about the union’s victories over the past year, from the Fund Our Future campaign that won a historic $1.5 billion school funding commitment at the state level, to growing political engagement in last year’s local elections and successful contract fights across the state. They also addressed the many challenges that educators, students, and parents face as we respond to the COVID-19 crisis.
AFT Massachusetts President Beth Kontos and Secretary-Treasurer Brant Duncan are thrilled to announce the winners of the union’s 2019 Distinguished Service Awards.
The Distinguished Service Awards are presented annually to AFT Massachusetts members who have demonstrated an outstanding level of service and dedication to their local union.
Every year AFT Massachusetts awards thousands of dollars in scholarships to eligible high school seniors who are dependents of AFT Massachusetts members. AFT Massachusetts President Beth Kontos and Secretary-Treasurer Brant Duncan are thrilled to announce the recipients of the union’s 2020 Scholarship Awards.
The awards, named in honor of former AFT leaders Kathy Kelley, Albert Shanker and Sandra Feldman, and for long-time AFT Massachusetts field representative Jay Porter, are awarded on the basis of a labor history exam administered by the Massachusetts AFL-CIO. The exam includes questions covering the history and structure of the labor movement in America, legislation affecting American workers, child labor laws, minimum wages, civil rights, safety and more, as well as a 500-word essay based on a current labor issue.
“Let’s Keep Winning: Advancing Educational and Workplace Justice Through Union Activism”
When we launched the Fund Our Future campaign, we were told we were asking for too much, and that we would never win the resources our students needed in the classrooms. But we stuck together, we organized, and we advocated, and we won a historic $1.5 billion funding commitment that prioritizes low-income communities that were being harmed by the old, inequitable system.
As an AFT Massachusetts member, you know that we have more power when we join together through our union. We’re most effective when we tap into our most enduring source of power: our collective engagement and activism as educators, finding common cause with parents, students, and community.
Every year AFT Massachusetts awards thousands of dollars in scholarships to eligible high school seniors who are dependents of AFT Massachusetts members. The awards, named in honor of former AFT leaders Kathy Kelley, Albert Shanker and Sandra Feldman, and for long-time AFT Massachusetts field representative Jay Porter, are awarded on the basis of a labor history exam administered by the Massachusetts AFL-CIO.
Help the AFT Massachusetts celebrate the service of an educator, librarian, nurse, or school related-personnel whose leadership has made our union stronger. Nominations are now being accepted for our 2020 Distinguished Service Awards, which recognize substantial contributions made to the development of the union at the state and local levels, from membership building and leadership training to the advancement of political and professional issues important to the union.