Texas AFT is a statewide union that exists to serve its members and local unions. Texas AFT currently has more than 65,000 members statewide, either through local unions or our Associate Membership Program.

When you join a local union, you automatically become a member in the statewide organization, Texas AFT, and our national organization, the American Federation of Teachers. Likewise, when you join the Associate Membership Program (AMP) for districts not covered by one of our local unions, you also become part of the Texas AFT and AFT family.

Texas AFT provides lobbyists at the Texas Legislature, the Texas Education Agency, the Teacher Retirement System and other education-related state bodies. Campaigns for statewide pay raises, state-paid health insurance, and our successful initiative to pass the Safe Schools Act are examples of the advocacy activities of Texas AFT members and its team of registered lobbyists.

Texas AFT believes the local union is the key to promoting the interests of educational employees. Local school boards hire and fire, create work rules, decide local pay raises and implement initiatives that help or hurt employees on campuses. Texas AFT members have the greatest power over school boards if we’re organized to make our voices heard at the board level and at the ballot box during school board elections.

Members of local unions elect a president and a secretary-treasurer at state conventions in odd-numbered years, and the state organization is governed by an executive board made up of locally elected presidents. These local presidents provide ongoing policy direction to Texas AFT officers.

No. The state of Texas has many private and public sector employee unions. We are a union.

Texas’ status as a “right-to-work” state means union membership isn’t compulsory — not illegal.

That said, Texas is one of only a handful of states that denies collective bargaining to public employees. So our employment contracts generally are dictated to us by our local school boards. We believe local educational employees should have the right to negotiate a written contract with the local school board.

Until we can change this discriminatory law, we strive at the local level to enter into “elected consultation” arrangements with local school boards to do what is possible now to protect and promote the interests of educational employees.

We have won elected consultation in Corpus Christi, Dallas, San Antonio, Austin and South San Antonio, allowing us to serve as the single, strong voice for educational employees in local policy-making.

Not yet. But we do have members in some 890 school districts in Texas through our Associate Membership Program (AMP).

We’re always on the alert for members in districts without a local union who are willing to make the commitment and assume the leadership necessary for one to survive and thrive.

We know that for educational employees to have the best representation possible, a local union is essential. A major responsibility of Texas AFT field staff is to support members wanting to lead local unions, taking charge of operating largely independent and autonomous units in their particular school districts. This support system lets local leaders progress at their own pace until they’re ready to assume the responsibilities and privileges of managing their own local union.