Press

June 27, 2018

Tukwila, WA -- Today the U.S. Supreme Court announced their decision on the Janus v. AFSCME lawsuit and, not surprisingly, their decision is anti-union and a momentary triumph for wealthy special interests like the Koch Brothers, the Walton Family who owns WalMart, and our own state’s Freedom Foundation which backed this case.

Statement by Karen Strickland, President 
American Federation of Teachers Washington

December 20, 2017

Today Congress passed a devastating tax plan in which 83 percent of the benefits will go to the top 1% percent by 2027, and where Americans earning less than $75,000 a year will be paying more so tax cuts can go to the wealthiest, big corporations, and foreign investors. 

This is greed pure and simple. President Trump and members of Congress passed a bill that will benefit their coffers at the expense of our communities and working families. This unpopular bill was not supported by the majority of Americans and independent economists’ analyses found the middle-class will be hurt. [cont'd]

January 16, 2017

“Those who do not learn history are doomed to repeat it." This quote, initially stated long ago either by Edmund Burke or George Santayana,  seems especially relevant today, as the 75th anniversary of Executive Order 9066 approaches. Executive Order 9066 was President F. D. Roosevelt’s order to incarcerate roughly 120,000 Japanese Americans during WWII . . .

AFT Washington applauds Governor Inslee and the House and Senate for passing a compromise 2015-2017 budget that supports education employees. The budget provides a 4.8 percent cost-of-living adjustment over two years for education employees covered by voter-approved Initiative 732. This not only covers K-12 teachers but also community and technical college (CTC) faculty, technical college classified employees, and K-12 school support staff. [full release]

March 14, 2014

Seattle – Exempt employees who work at the four Seattle Community College campuses today voted 68-39 to form their own union through a secret ballot process certified by the Washington State Public Employment Relations Commission in Olympia. The vote means that 156 staff who work in advising, IT, financial aid, student outreach, and other departments will be represented by the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) Washington. Faculty at Seattle Community Colleges are already represented by AFT Washington.

Statement on Governor Inslee’s State of the State Address
By AFT Washington President Karen Strickland

We are pleased to hear today in his State of the State Address that one of Governor Inslee’s top priorities this session is to educate every child, from early learning to higher education, and that he is backing his priority by advocating for $200 million in school funding this session.