SPFT Strategies
At the Saint Paul Federation of Teachers, we have developed and are moving
forward with a set of strategies for the purpose of advancing our collective vision
for teacher unionism as articulated in our narrative. We intend to continue the
development of each of these strategies.
Our union always has and always will fight to defend the rights of our members
and we recognize that member rights advocacy alone is not enough. Our
decision to employ all of these strategies in order to build our power flows from
the recognition that public education and public employee unions face complex
threats and uncertain futures. These strategies build our power by continuing to
support our work to shift the narrative about public education, the work of
educators, and our union.
Organizing, internal leadership development, and member involvement
SPFT is intentionally working to shift our union from a service-oriented culture to
an organizing culture. We believe unions are strongest and most democratic
when they are led at all levels by members. We believe that investing in our
leaders by working to intentionally develop their organizing skills is essential to
this strategy. Organizing work must happen within worksite and union-wide
structures and in the context of a campaign culture so that it drives toward
specific goals shared by members. This allows members to see the fruits of their
labors in the form of campaign wins.
Elevating and incorporating racial equity into the work of the union
We are urban educators teaching in one of the nation’s most diverse school
districts. A passion for reaching all students and eliminating the racial
predictability of outcomes unites us within our professional practice. It is essential
that we make this work visible and keep it as a collective goal of our union. It is
also necessary for our equity work to extend to the way our union operates
internally. The success of this strategy depends on continuing the development
of our communications capacity. The future of public education, and therefore our
jobs, depends on our ability to confront and address racial inequities and
economic injustice in our schools, in our society, and in our union.
Organizing parents to increase our collective power
We believe that parents and teachers share the same hopes and dreams for the
success of our students. We have seen the power that comes from uniting our
strength with parents for a common purpose. We have also learned that parent
organizing happens most effectively when it begins with the relationship parents
and educators develop around the education of a child. Our strength comes from
building these relationships at the parent/teacher level.
Developing ongoing relationships between our union and external allies
Alone, we are not powerful enough to push back against the forces seeking to
destroy public education or win big against structural racism and economic
injustice in our community. When we unite with other organizations around a set
of shared and named self-interests – rather than personal relationships, we can
build durable coalitions and multiply our individual organizations’ power.
Using collective bargaining to impact conditions in classrooms and
communities
Our ability to collectively bargain sets us apart from all other organizations
involved in public education. As a union, SPFT has always used this strategy to
advance both the standards for ourselves as professionals as well as the
learning conditions for our students. We also intend to continue to develop this
strategy as a tool to impact our students’ lives outside of school in ways no other
organization can.
Building political power
We believe in using politics to advance specific issues and policies that will
impact our members and our students. Our involvement in politics is focused on
a set of permanent issues rather than around personal relationships with any
specific elected officials. We believe that our members voices, united with the
voices of students, parents and allies in our community are the most powerful
political force we can create. As we continue to work with elected officials, we
must inform and involve member leaders in the building of “inside power”
(working to build and maintain strategic relationships with elected officials,
including school board members) the same way we have involved them in our
building of “outside power” (building coalitions with parents, students, and
community members to pressure unfriendly elected officials to move on our
issues).
The pursuit of these strategies stretches our capacity as an organization and
challenges us personally as leaders. We recognize that we must be willing to
take risks as leaders and embrace the tensions these strategies create because
they are inherent in any work to create change.