In Fairfax, Zach Coe was one of the leaders in having 27,500 teachers bargain for a fair contract. Last night, @fcftunion.bsky.social was honored with an organizing award by NoVA Labor.
More than 50 years after my dad, David Shea, led his @AFT union to strike for a better contract, it echoes.

3/3

I am so proud to be a member of FCFT and to have played a part in this historic year of progress. I'm excited for what the next year will bring as our union continues to grow in size and strength and we get to experience first hand the difference of working under a good union contract. 5/5

And of course we could not have accomplished this without our exceptional organizing staff who charted a path and supported our member leaders each step of the way. 4/5

For those who do, the negotiation process alone typically takes at least a year and often longer. Our amazing victory was all made possible by the work of dedicated union member leaders talking with their colleagues about the union & inviting them to take the next step toward winning a contract. 3/5

In under a year 27,500 FCPS employees went from no representation to a ratified contract. The size and speed of this organizing undertaking is truly remarkable. A shocking statistic I heard during this process is that 50% of workplaces who elect union representation never reach a first contract. 2/5