News from AFT Massachusetts and President Jessica Tang

The leaves may be falling, but we’re moving full speed ahead into the new school year! For those of you who were not able to attend, please check out the video from our Fall Town Hall earlier this month. It's a great way to get caught up on things important topics including:

• Recent contract wins in our locals - including in Peabody, Billerica, Lawrence, New Bedford, Fall River, and the Northshore Education Consortium - and how we continue to set higher standards through collective bargaining;
• State House advocacy, including testifying in support of legislation to mandate a minimum wage for educators and PSRPs, COLA reform, advocating for budget overrides to protect public education funding, and more;
• Updated resources available from AFT MA, including immigration resource trainings, MOVE/mass mobilization workshops, details about our Fall Conference on Nov. 22 (register today!), and more; and
• How national events are impacting our locals and working families, including the impact of the federal shut down, loss of SNAP benefits, and what may lie ahead.

Congratulations to all of our AFT MA locals who recently won and ratified new agreements, setting new standards for everything from cost of living adjustments to parental leave! It has been wonderful to see parents, community partners, and even students come out in support as we bargain for the common good. We continue to support member-engaged contract campaigns across our locals, seeing increases in union power and contract wins as a result. READ MORE!

September is always a busy month. This year was no exception.

We got things started by joining our union siblings to host the first Boston Labor Day Parade in decades. Thousands of people joined us in the streets, following a route of historic sites, where we were able to honor these victories as we build upon the movement of today. We were proud to anchor with the BTU and MTA the first stop on School Street at the site of the nation’s first public school.

It is hard to top the high note of Labor Day and the feeling of strength in our collective action. The success we saw on Labor Day built on the momentum from the millions of people from across the country who took part in the “No Kings,” “Protect Our Kids,” “Hands Off,” and “Good Trouble” protests and rallies. To continue that momentum, we are showing for the next No Kings Day on Saturday, October 18 on the Boston Common and throughout Massachusetts. This will be another nationwide day of solidarity for democracy, and we look forward to seeing you there! Details are forthcoming. Please make sure to RSVP to receive updates!  READ MORE!

Labor Day is just around the corner and the 2025-2026 school year is here. While summer always feels too short, we look forward to what is coming our way this fall, particularly Boston’s very first Labor Day Parade. We hope to see many of you there! For those returning to schools, everyone here at AFT Massachusetts hopes you have a productive year with the supportive work environments you deserve.

Our summer here at AFTMA we have been on the MOVE!  Mobilizing our members, organizing for strong contracts, getting ready to vote and empowering our communities to fight for the changes they would like to see.  We have also been all over the state, sharing out the new AFT M.O.V.E. curriculum.  

As the summer days began to dwindle, many of our locals spent these last weeks in celebration – with a number of tentative agreements and ratifications! We are always proud to partner with our AFT MA locals to provide additional support as they fight to get the strongest contract for our union members. Congratulations to our locals who have recently secured contract wins in negotiations, READ MORE!

July has been a month full of advocacy – from our  local school committees to the worker solidarity actions in LA , and from the Massachusetts State House to the halls of Congress in DC.

Leading into July, AFT MA was a strong presence at the 18th annual biennial convention of the Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance in Los Angeles. I co-led two workshops and introduced two special guests: former Secretaries of Labor Marty Walsh and Julie Su. It is also with great pride that we announce that our very own Mikayla Vu was elected President! Learn more about APALA and join here.

Throughout this busy month, AFT Massachusetts leaders, members, and allies showed up at the Massachusetts State House to testify on behalf of important legislative priorities this session including: our Retirement Plus bill, the Attorney General’s STUDY Act, legislation to extend PFML to educators and municipal employees, the Protect LABOR Act, legislation to restore collective bargaining rights to teachers in Level 4 and 5 schools/districts, expanding access to tuition free education opportunities to educators and paraprofessionals, the Freedom to Read bill, and more.

Here at the AFT Massachusetts, we’ve officially transitioned from school year mode to summer mode.

While many have a different definition of summer mode—and we certainly do believe summer is an important time, particularly for educators in our union, to rest and refuel—at the AFT Massachusetts “summer mode” is also “activist mode!

Activism can also help us to get re-energized, especially when we have more time and schedule flexibility to focus on our work advocating for our students, schools, and members while increasing engagement, collaboration, and solidarity across the labor movement.

Summer mode at AFT MA kicked-off with a Summer Town Hall to brief members on local bargaining wins, discuss key priorities at the state and federal level (legislative and electoral), and outline upcoming actions and resources for engagement this summer.

June closed out with our First Statewide Lobby Day on Beacon Hill – bringing together over 150 members, representing over 15 locals for an important day connecting with elected leaders and advocating for key priorities. You can read more ab

Our work on the state level to advocate for important education initiatives – like expanding our network of community schools and pathways to career and technical education - brought out some national support a few weeks ago. We were honored to host President Randi Weingarten and discuss some of the success we’ve seen with community schools in Lowell and with CTE pathways in Lawrence. Our day began with a visit to the Frederic T. Greenhalge Elementary School in Lowell, one of the city’s ten community schools. On hand to welcome President Weingarten were AFT VP Mickie Dumont and a number of distinguished guests including several state delegation members, Lowell School Committee members, the superintendent, parents from the school and, of course, the incredible staff.  As you know, we’ve been strong advocates for increasing investment in community schools across the state as well as taking steps to invest in new community schools in all regions of the Commonwealth.

This week is quite busy at the AFT Massachusetts – bringing an eventful month to a close. It’s been a month full of advocacy, organizing, and resistance. There was the April 5th Hands Off Rally, which brought together over 100,000 people to the Boston rally alone. We rallied days later in support of Higher Education on April 8. As we move into May, we are gearing up for May Day (more information later in this edition of the Communicator) and our Annual Convention. There will be over 1,000 actions across the country this May Day as part of a national May Day Strong movement, with over a half dozen just in Massachusetts! 

Today marks the 100th day of the second Trump administration, there is nothing normal about this moment. Trump has spent his first 100 days dismantling public education, attacking universities, firing federal workers, ending vital labor and health programs, and making it harder for retirees to access Social Security. Our need to resist and stand up for the rights of not only our students and educators – but, really, all residents of our Commonwealth and nation – continues. Along with the disturbing mass deportations we are seeing (including of American citizens, student visas, green cards and work authorizations) and repeated attacks on workers and organized labor, the White House is continuing its campaign against public education. This month, we responded to a truly shameful memo from the Department of Education that threatened to withhold Title I funding–funding for low income students–unless schools allowed the federal government to dictate curriculum.  

As we head into April, we look forward to seeing more signs of spring and a well deserved break for our preK through 12 educators. We also continue to closely monitor the impacts of decisions coming from the federal government, including both the order to dismantle the Department of Education as well as the recent Executive Order that is unilaterally ending collective bargaining agreements and rights for thousands of federal workers. We continue to be very concerned about the impacts these decisions continue to have on every day working people, including AFT MA members and their families.

Unions across the country are feeling the anxiety caused by the chaos and uncertainty of the times, and that includes here in Massachusetts. Services, jobs, and the fate of collective bargaining and union rights are all at risk.

As a union that has always stood up for our members, students and communities, we cannot remain quiet. That’s why early last week—along with a pair of school districts and other unions—we filed a lawsuit in Federal Court to stop the Administration from dismantling the US Department of Education and the critical services it provides to students, teachers, parents, and communities across the country. 

Tuesday, March 4 is Protect Our Kids Day of Action: the AFT’s nationwide day of action focused on mobilizing across the country in opposition to the Trump Administration’s harmful plan to dismantle the Department of Education. AFT locals, including those in Massachusetts, will be holding walk-ins, flyering at pickup,and more to make sure our communities understand just how disastrous the proposed cuts to the Department of Education would be for our students and communities. In case you missed it, I joined President Weingarten’s webinar last week to discuss the Protect Our Kids campaign, our upcoming day of action and why we need to take action across the nation to march forth on March 4.

We urge you all to take time on March 4 to participate in your local actionsl. Whether wearing red for ed, flyering at drop off or pickup, or doing a walk-in, organizing an action for March 4th can be an easy and effective way of showing solidarity, sharing out information about what’s at stake and strengthening your local organizing muscles.

The first two weeks of the new Administration have been full of division, chaos, and fear. Dozens of Executive Orders have undone important policies that impact everything from capping the price of prescriptions to halting projects for union jobs. They’ve removed schools, hospitals, and places of worship from the list of “sensitive sites.” Visible increases of ICE agents in these areas means that these places are no longer the safe havens they should be. As educators, librarians, healthcare workers and public service workers, you’re seeing how the fear is unsettling many of our communities firsthand.

The threats of federal funding freezes are throwing so many vital programs – including Head Start, cancer research, construction jobs, public school funding, Medicare and Medicaid, student loans – into a chaotic tailspin, impacting workers, students, and families across the Commonwealth.  

We can make a difference in the lives of our students and families.Just by showing up and doing what you always do - providing a safe, welcoming environment for ALL students.

Kids can’t learn if they don’t feel safe. They can’t learn in underfunded schools. Students in need can’t learn without the services and support they’re guaranteed under their right to a free and appropriate public education.