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The Pennsylvania Senate and House have announced their session days for the 2019 Regular Legislative Session. Governor Wolf will make his fifth budget address before a joint session of the House and Senate on Tuesday, February 5. The state constitution requires the legislature to pass a budget by June 30. Read More

AFTPA President Ted Kirsch released the following statement following the death of a colleague, friend and union counterpart Dolores McCracken, who was president of the Pennsylvania State Education Association. Read More

AFTPA President Ted Kirsch released the following statement after a member working in a state correctional facility library was exposed to the substance know as K2. Read More

A coalition of community and labor groups and legislators continued its statewide campaign to raise the minimum wage in Pennsylvania, arguing that the $7.25 an hour minimum leaves working families with incomes below the poverty line. Read More

AFT Pennsylvania President Ted Kirsch slammed the Senate Education Committee's approval of Senate Bill 2, a flawed voucher bill that would siphon millions of dollars from neighborhood public schools. Read Ted's statement and tell your Senator to vote NO on SB 2 should it come to the floor. Read More

PHILADELPHIA – A Philadelphia Common Pleas judge has dismissed a lawsuit filed by the Community College of Philadelphia against its faculty and staff union for engaging in what the college claimed was an illegal partial strike. To win an injunction, the administration had to show that the union was endangering the welfare of Philadelphia residents by refusing to perform work not required by the faculty contract. Read More

The Faculty Federation of Community College of Philadelphia, Local 2026, started its second school year this fall without new contracts for all three of its bargaining units. Read More

The Pittston Area School Board and Pittston Area Federation of Teachers ratified new contracts covering teachers and paraprofessional employees on Wednesday, Oct. 25. Read More

The Trump administration plans to end a program that protects from deportation 800,000 students and working young adults who were brought to the United States as children. AFT President Kirsch released a statement to the media about administration plans to end DACA and asked union members to urge their Congressional representatives to pass the Dreamers Act of 2017. Read More

AFTPA convention delegates voted to endorse Governor Tom Wolf for a second, four-year term. The vote was unanimous. Read More

AFT Pennsylvania delegates voted unanimously to endorse Robert P. Casey for a third term as U.S. Senator. Read More

AFT Pennsylvania delegates re-elected Ted Kirsch president at the organization's biennial convention in Harrisburg this summer. Click here to see the full list of officers and board members from 2017-2019. Read More

AFT Pennsylvania held its Biennial Convention here this summer, during which delegates from across the state networked, shared ideas, attended workshops and set the organization's agenda. Read More

AFT Pennsylvania opposes taxpayer-funded school vouchers, education scholarship tax credits (Educational Improvement Tax Credit (EITC) and Opportunity Scholarship Tax Credit (OSTC) programs), which are back-door vouchers that use tax breaks to subsidize private and parochial schools. Vouchers represent a false hope for a few children, while most vouchers/scholarships are used by students already attending private schools. Vouchers do not deliver better outcomes for students and leave fewer resources for public school programs that are proven to work. Read More

AFT Pennsylvania opposes legislation prohibiting automatic payroll deduction of union dues or voluntary contributions for public employees. So-called paycheck "protection" shifts the balance of power by allowing unlimited corporate political spending while restricting spending on political and legislative issues by organizations representing workers. Read More