The American Federation of Teachers’ Endorsement of Joe Biden Was Blatantly Undemocratic
The American Federation of Teachers recently announced its endorsement of Joe Biden for president. Even by the dismal standards set by the rest of the labor movement, the AFT’s endorsement was comically undemocratic.
Democratic presidential candidate, former vice president Joe Biden speaks during a campaign stop at the Water’s Edge Nature Center on December 2, 2019 in Algona, Iowa. (Scott Olson / Getty Images)
The American of Federation of Teachers (AFT) is by no means alone among labor unions in endorsing Biden as the Democratic Party’s nominee for president. Nor is the AFT’s endorsement, an action taken by its Executive Council, unique in its failure to adopt a system of one member, one vote, as did unions like the National Union of Health Workers, encouraging members to vote online, after extensive debate.
Yet the AFT’s endorsement is arguably singular because its violation of members’ rights combines with self-destructive political miscalculation, a combination that will harm public education and teachers.
Endorsing an Enemy of Public Education
The first danger comes from AFT backing a candidate its activist members do not trust. Teachers nationally have donated to Sanders more than they have any other candidate. The AFT leadership has pushed a candidate in the primary that representative bodies of its second and third largest locals, Chicago, with 26,000 members, and Los Angeles, representing 33,500 people, voted not to support in primaries. Los Angeles voted to endorse Bernie Sanders, Chicago both Sanders and Warren. More recently in New York, delegates representing 30,000 faculty and staff in the Professional Staff Congress of City University of New York voted to endorse Sanders in New York State’s primary.
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