07/26/2026
I attended my first national AFT Convention in Washington, DC last week. A week later, I’m reflecting a lot on the fragile nature of union democracy. The more people we bring together, the stronger our potential to act together, but also the more challenging it is to maintain a process that can hold all the disparate views, backgrounds, and priorities that can exist together. How institutional and cultural leadership wields power and how it treats other views are big components of shaping whether and how we practice solidarity.
Over the course of convention, I felt inspired by the work being done across our union, sobered by the challenges we face, saddened by some of the internal politics and control that I witnessed, and grateful to everyone who believes our union can grow to be more and better.
Attending a national convention gives many opportunities to learn from educators, health care and public service workers from around the country and world, but it also gave me a chance to appreciate my fellow BTU and AFT-MA members, who I saw contributing in various forms, from registration to sergeants-at-arms, speaking on the floor and authoring resolutions, being honored for their service over decades, asking and answering questions, supporting their fellow members, and being present and active in so many different ways.
Returning to Boston still in Summer, I am approaching this coming year thinking more about how we make our BTU a more welcoming and critical space, more committed to participatory democratic processes where we can learn together to build the kind of shared understanding and solidarity to be able to have the power to fight and win against the many forces that are lined up against public education, working people and communities. There’s a lot to do, and it will take all of us contributing in different ways, which means we need to be dedicated to processes and structures that recognize that.
(Photos from AFT Massachusetts)
