The American Federation of Teachers – Wisconsin (AFT-Wisconsin) is the state-level affiliate of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), a member union of the AFL-CIO. 1 It claims to represent roughly 17,000 government employees including teachers and other school employees in K-12 school districts, technical colleges, and state universities; graduate student teaching assistants; public defenders and other city attorneys; scientists working for state government agencies; and other government employees. 2
AFT-Wisconsin is closely aligned with several policies and principals backed by Democratic Party candidates. The union staunchly opposes Wisconsin Act 10, a restriction on government worker collective bargaining enacted in 2011. 3 4 5
Activism Against Act 10
See: Teaching Assistants’ Association (TAA) Local 3220
In 2011, then-Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker (R) signed a package of government-worker labor policies and budget adjustments known as Act 10 meant to change the collective bargaining laws for government worker labor unions. 6
AFT-Wisconsin and other public sector unions in the state opposed requirements in the new policies that would require them to annually recertify their members’ choice to be represented by the union and that a majority of the union’s members, rather than just a majority of the members voting in the election, would need to approve that representation. 7 They also opposed Act 10’s elimination of the automatic dues deduction “check-off” and restriction of the scope of public-sector union bargaining to employee compensation within an inflation-adjusted range. 7
AFT-Wisconsin’s efforts to prevent and later overturn Act 10 included organizing an occupation of the state capitol building, attempting to recall former Gov. Walker, litigating against the reforms and supporting a shift in the partisan balance of the state’s supreme court. 5 8 9 10 11
Recall Campaigns
In 2011 and 2012 AFT-Wisconsin, several state public employee unions, and other left-of-center activist groups organized a campaign to recall then-Gov. Walker and several Republican state senators over their support for Act 10. 12 13 “Recall of Wisconsin State Senators (2011).” Ballotpedia. Accessed January 13, 2025. https://ballotpedia.org/Recall_of_Wisconsin_State_Senators_(2011).[/note]
In 2011, the AFT-Wisconsin PAC reported $43,995 in in-kind donations and the national American Federation of Teachers donated $500,000 to the We Are Wisconsin PAC that led the recall campaigns against Republican state senators. 14 15 Of the six Republican state senators to face recall, two lost to Democratic challengers. 16
Walker faced a recall election in 2012. 13 AFT-Wisconsin supported then-Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk (D) in the Democratic primary to face Walker. 4 Its PAC donated $10,000 to Wisconsin for Falk, a local advocacy group that supported her campaign. 17 4 Falk lost the Democratic primary to then-Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett (D), whom Walker defeated in the general election, receiving 53.1% of the vote against Barrett and an independent challenger. 13
Wisconsin Supreme Court Campaign
After the Wisconsin Supreme Court upheld Act 10 in 2014, AFT-Wisconsin and other public sector unions focused their efforts on creating a pro-government union majority on the Court by replacing Republican-backed incumbent Dan Kelly with Democratic-supported challenger Janet Protasiewicz. AFT-Wisconsin endorsed Protasiewicz, and in 2023, AFT-Wisconsin’s PAC donated $13,000 to her campaign committee. 10
Litigation
In 2023, following Protasiewicz’s election victory, the AFT-Wisconsin-affiliated Teaching Assistants Association was one of seven public employee unions to file suit in an attempt to overturn Act 10. 11 In July and then in December of 2024, Dane County Circuit Court Judge Jacob Frost ruled that portions of Act 10 were unconstitutional. 18
References
- “About Us.” AFT Wisconsin. Accessed January 13, 2025. https://www.aft-wisconsin.org/about-us.
- “Member Handbook – State/Public Employees AFT-Wisconsin, AFT, AFL-CIO.” AFT-Wisconsin. Accessed January 13, 2025. https://wpec.wi.aft.org/files/newmemb-stateemp.pdf.
- “Spring 2023 Elections.” AFT-Wisconsin, March 20, 2023. https://www.aft-wisconsin.org/resources/spring-2023-elections.
- Kroll, Andy. “Exclusive: Shadowy WI Group Bankrolled by Big Labor Unions.” Mother Jones, March 21, 2012. https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/03/wisconsin-for-falk-weac-afscme-scott-walker-recall/.
- Tarleton, John. “Inside the Wisconsin Uprising: Teaching Assistants Help Spark a New Movement in Labor.” PSC CUNY, November 9, 2022. https://psc-cuny.org/clarion/2011/april/inside-wisconsin-uprising-teaching-assistants-help-spark-new-movement-labor/
- “Take Action.” AFT-Wisconsin. Accessed January 13, 2025. https://www.aft-wisconsin.org/take-action.
- Billeaux, Michael, Katie Zaman, and Ty Carroll. “Why We’re ‘Grading In.’” SocialistWorker.org, January 1, 1627. https://socialistworker.org/2014/04/28/why-were-grading-in
- Schirmer, Eleni. “What Wisconsin Will Recall.” Labor Notes, June 26, 2015. https://labornotes.org/2012/03/what-wisconsin-will-recall.
- Brown, George Martin Fell. “The Battle for Wisconsin – Workers Fight Back.” Socialist Alternative, 2019. https://www.socialistalternative.org/the-battle-of-wisconsin/workers-fight-back/
- “Campaign Finance Report State of Wisconsin CF-2: AFT Wisconsin COPE.” Wisconsin Campaign Finance Information System, March 30, 2023. https://cfis.wi.gov/ReportsOutputFiles/01047171895dcb52132023101322PMCF-2Report.pdf.
- “We’re Taking on Act 10.” AFT Wisconsin, November 30, 2023. https://www.aft-wisconsin.org/news/were-taking-act-10
- Nichols, John. “Major Unions Endorse Wisconsin Recall Drive as a 99 Percent Solution.” The Nation, June 29, 2015. https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/major-unions-endorse-wisconsin-recall-drive-99-percent-solution/.
- “Scott Walker Recall, Wisconsin (2011-2012).” Ballotpedia. Accessed January 13, 2025. https://ballotpedia.org/Scott_Walker_recall,_Wisconsin_(2011-2012).
- “We Are Wisconsin.” Ballotpedia. Accessed January 13, 2025. https://ballotpedia.org/We_Are_Wisconsin.
- Author’s calculation from reports filed with Wisconsin Campaign Finance Information System for committee #0500513 in election year 2011, available at https://cfis.wi.gov/Public/Registration.aspx?page=FiledReports
- “Recall of Wisconsin State Senators (2011).” Ballotpedia. Accessed January 13, 2025. https://ballotpedia.org/Recall_of_Wisconsin_State_Senators_(2011).
- “Campaign Finance Report State of Wisconsin CF-2: AFT Wisconsin COPE.” Wisconsin Campaign Finance Information System, July 2012. https://cfis.wi.gov/ReportsOutputFiles/01047171895dcb52132023101322PMCF-2Report.pdf.
- Mcgroarty, Erin. “Dane County Judge Strikes More than 60 Sections of Act 10.” The Cap Times, December 2, 2024. https://captimes.com/news/government/dane-county-judge-strikes-more-than-60-sections-of-act-10/article_4c698b68-b0e6-11ef-8ddf-0b7906b6c3ed.html.