New York State United Teachers (NYSUT)

NYSUT is more than 600,000 people who work in, or are retired from, New York's schools, colleges, and healthcare facilities. We are classroom teachers, college and university faculty and professional staff, school bus drivers, custodians, secretaries, cafeteria workers, teacher assistants and aides, nurses and healthcare technicians.

NYSUT is a federation of more than 1,200 local unions, each representing its own members. We are affiliated with the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) and the National Education Association (NEA). We are also part of organized labor - the AFL-CIO - and of Education International, with more than 20 million members world wide.

We range in size from tiny locals of fewer than 10 members to the United Federation of Teachers, which represents more than 140,000 teachers and other school employees in New York City.

We are dedicated to improving not only our working conditions, but also our professions. We're united in a common commitment to improve the quality of education and healthcare for the people of New York.

NYSUT is a grassroots organization. We elect the people who lead our local unions and or state and national affiliates. We elect delegates to a state convention - the Representative Assembly - who discuss issues and set policy that determines the programs and services that NYSUT provides us.

Our NYSUT officers, elected by the Representative Assembly, oversee a staff of more than 450 that carries out the union's business. The convention delegates also elect a Board Of Directors, which determines policy between conventions.

NYSUT® is a federally registered service mark of the New York State United Teachers.

American Federation of Teachers (AFT)

The mission of the American Federation of Teachers, AFL-CIO, is to improve the lives of our members and their families, to give voice to their legitimate professional, economic and social aspirations, to strengthen the institutions in which we work, to improve the quality of the services we provide, to bring together all members to assist and support one another and to promote democracy, human rights and freedom in our union, in our nation and throughout the world.

The American Federation of Teachers was founded in 1916 to represent the economic, social and professional interests of classroom teachers.  It is an affiliated international union of the AFL-CIO.

The AFT has more than 3,000 local affiliates nationwide, 43 state affiliates, and more than 1.4 million members.

Five divisions within the organization represent the broad spectrum of AFT's membership: teachers; paraprofessionals and school-related personnel (PSRP); local, state and federal employees; higher education faculty and staff; and nurses and other healthcare professionals. In addition, the union includes more than 170,000 retiree members.

The AFT is governed by its elected officers and delegates to the union's biennial convention, which sets union policy and elects the union's officers.  Elected leaders are Randi Weingarten, president, Antonia Cortese, secretary-treasurer, Lorretta Johnson, executive vice president, and a 39-member executive council.  Weingarten also serves as vice president of the AFL-CIO.

In non-convention years, the AFT hosts the Quality Educational Standards in Teaching (QuEST) conference, a professional issues meeting that attracts nearly 3,000 educators from around the country.  AFT's healthcare, higher education, public employee and PSRP divisions also host yearly professional issues conferences.

The AFT advocates sound, commonsense public education policies, including high academic and conduct standards for students and greater professionalism for teachers and school staff; excellence in public service through cooperative problem-solving and workplace innovations; and high-quality healthcare provided by qualified professionals.