This special edition of CFT United covers the 2025 CFT Convention: Union Power for All
The 2025 CFT Convention in San Diego was an opportunity for hundreds of delegates and guests from across the state to come together, connect, and strategize about how to take on the enormous challenges facing our schools and our country.
The three-day event included a mix of great speakers, thought-provoking workshops, the election for CFT officers, and debate on critical policy issues.
Lorena Gonzalez, the first woman and first person of color to serve as Chief Officer of the California Federation of Labor Unions, AFL-CIO, spoke to delegates the first morning of CFT convention about how labor can fight back against the Trump administration.
Another guest speaker that morning, Marielena Hincapié, is a distinguished Immigration Fellow and Visiting Scholar at Cornell University’s Immigration Law and Policy Program.
Hincapié talked about how her parents came from Colombia, but her extended family came from around the globe. She said her father was a union worker who moved his family to Rhode Island to work in the textile mills, so that his 10 children could have a better life.
Attendees at the CFT Convention walked a few blocks to the Federal Plaza in downtown San Diego, many wearing red shirts printed with “Rising Up for Justice!” and carrying signs reading “Gotta Get Through Us First,” among other slogans. The rally came at the end of a week when cuts to the U. S. Department of Education were announced that would reduce its workforce so severely the agency would struggle to provide services for disabled students, disperse federal funds, and conduct civil-rights investigations.
Among the most important resolutions was one articulating CFT’s commitment to “Fight Back and Fight Forward” amidst the chaos being wrought by the federal government in this moment of cuts to the social safety net, to Social Security, to Medicaid, and to the Department of Education.
Delegates championed this statement of unwavering support for the most vulnerable members of our communities, for the students we teach and the education professionals we represent, and the closing lines of the resolution make a statement about who CFT is as a union: “Therefore, be it finally resolved that CFT will fight to take this season of chaos to build a movement with our fellow workers and create a season of resistance to reclaim our country and build a future for all.”
Middleton started her talk by thanking CFT members for standing up for students.
“You do this every single day, without fear and without favor for all of us, rich, poor and all those in between, and you are not rewarded with stock options. You don't get any bonuses, and there are very rarely any fancy parties. But what you are always entitled to and must always have are these absolutes: a fair wage, a reliable pension, health care for your family, and most importantly, our respect.”
CFT members Janet Eberhardt, Janet Davis, Nelly Vaquera, James McKeever and Kent Wong all won various awards for their commitment and contributions to education and the labor movement.
Sunol is a rural town with a population of about 900 people. There’s a post office, a few small businesses downtown, and only one school, which is K –8 with less than 300 students. It’s usually fairly quiet.
Except for in the fall of 2023, when the Alameda County town got national attention because two of three trustees on the school board voted to ban all flags other than U.S. or state flags. That meant the LGBTQIA+ Pride flag was taken down from the school’s grounds.
In a panel discussion at the CFT Convention in San Diego, “Organizing to Win in Sunol Glen,” Chris Wheeler, President of Sunol Federation of Teachers, AFT Local 1494, parent Kelly Goldsmith, and Erin Choin talked about how they organized a campaign to recall Trustees Ryan Jergensen and Linda Hurley.
CFT – A Union of Educators and Classified Professionals
Jeffery M. Freitas, President
L. Lacy Barnes, Secretary-Treasurer
Juan Ramirez Executive Vice President
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CFT United, Special Edition, Spring 2025, Convention Edition
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