AFT Connecticut

In 2023, the union reported collecting $6,804,265 in dues from more than 30,000 members. ⁴

Political and Advocacy Activity

2024 Elections

During the 2024 election cycle, AFT Connecticut organized what it described as an “unprecedented” get-out-the-vote campaign, ⁵ claiming victory in 88 of 101 races it had endorsed while further claiming to have helped in creating “veto-proof majorities of pro-worker lawmakers” in the state legislature. ⁵

It operates its election cycle spending through the AFT Connecticut Political Action Committee (PAC), ⁶ while during the 2024 election cycle the AFT Connecticut PAC reported earning $77,000 in regulated political expenditures. ⁷

Support for Gun Control

AFT Connecticut has advocated gun control legislation, arguing that six AFT Connecticut teachers, along with 20 children, were amongst those killed in the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School spree shooting. ^{8 9}

Relationship with Miguel Cardona

In 2020, President Joe Biden nominated then-Connecticut commissioner of education Miguel Cardona to become U.S. Secretary of Education. ¹⁰

AFT Connecticut had previously worked with Cardona, who was later disclosed to have shared plans for COVID reopening and other education policy decisions with AFT Connecticut leadership and other teachers’ union officials for feedback before announcing them publicly. ¹¹

Cardona’s nomination was endorsed by AFT Connecticut, as well as the Connecticut Education Association and other Connecticut unions. ¹²

Organizing Office of the Attorney General

In 2016, AFT Connecticut won an organizing vote to represent 179 assistant attorneys general and other attorneys in the Office of the state Attorney General. ¹³ Five assistant attorneys general appealed to the Connecticut State Board of Labor Relations over the election, claiming the board had failed to correctly classify them as managerial or supervisory employees and that Attorney General George Jepsen (D), who was previously the Democratic nominee for lieutenant governor in 2002 and the chairman of the Connecticut Democratic Party between 2003 and 2005, had not challenged the board’s decision for political reasons. ^{14 15}

The appeal was rejected on the grounds that Connecticut law only allows unions or employers, not employees themselves, to dispute employees’ classifications. ¹⁵