News

Members,

After our September 29th guidance advising you to not sign the District's liability agreement for employee-assigned laptops until our concerns were addressed, we have secured the following revisions to the SDP liability form that will protect you from unfair imposition of costs or other discipline: 

● The agreement cover page will be revised to make it clear that staff will not be charged for stolen or lost laptops when a police report or serious incident report is filed; to allow for lost or stolen laptop replacements to be delivered to schools at the Office of Information Technology’s

Members: Don't miss our Solidarity Swag Sale, now with PFT logo mesh bags! Get the merch you need to show off your union pride. One order per school please, which is to be submitted by the Building Representative.

All orders must be placed by March 31st.

You will be notified when the order is ready for pickup. Exact cash only. Merchandise is limited. 

#PublicFundsPublicSchools #FundOurFacilities

The PFT calls on legislators at all levels of government to commit to and prioritize an investment agenda that is laser-focused on ensuring that the urgent needs of our young people are met.

On June 16, 2025, organized labor unions including the Pennsylvania AFL-CIO, SEIU Pennsylvania State Council, and AFSCME Council 13 signed a joint letter to Governor Josh Shapiro expressing our unified opposition to private school voucher and tax credit programs. Read our full letter here. 

In AFT President Randi Weingarten’s latest New York Times  column, she describes what it is exactly that unions do. Though unions are the most popular they have been in decades, anti-union sentiment still thrives in red states and across the nation. “Several years ago, The Atlantic ran a story whose headline made even me, a labor leader, scratch my head: ‘Union Membership: Very Sexy,’” Weingarten writes in the column. “The gist was that higher wages, health benefits and job security—all associated with union membership—boost one’s chances of getting married. Belonging to a union doesn’t actually guarantee happily ever after, but it does help working people have a better life in the here and now.” Click through to read the full column.

May 12, 2022

PFT President Jerry Jordan at the "No More Excuses" rally at FS Key School:

On March 29, 2019, so many of us here today stood outside this very school, the oldest school building operating in the school district of Philadelphia, to launch the Fund Our Facilities Coalition. 

We stood here then, just as we do now, to demand more for our children, our educators, and our school communities.  In the time since our coalition launched, we have grown in strength. 

We have secured millions of dollars in remediation efforts. 

We have fought for changes small and large in the approach to a toxic

April 7, 2022

PHILADELPHIA--"I am simply thrilled that the US Senate has voted to confirm a remarkable jurist, Justice-designate Ketanji Brown Jackson, as the next justice of the United States Supreme Court. Our country will be better off with Justice Brown Jackson on the bench of the Supreme Court.

"Justice-designate Brown Jackson is immensely qualified, and her confirmation represents an historic moment. Representation matters, and diversity is strength.

"For so many Black Americans, particularly women, this day, when the first Black woman is confirmed to the Supreme Court, is especially