The American Federation of Teachers Massachusetts elected Jessica Tang as president in an unanimous vote Saturday, making her the first person of color to lead the union representing 25,000 educators and other workers.
Tang, who is Chinese American, was the only candidate nominated for the position, a spokesperson for the organization said. Members elected her during a floor vote at the union’s annual statewide convention in Dorchester.
In a phone interview, Tang, the current president of the Boston Teachers Union, said her mission is to ensure union members statewide have opportunities to pursue their work, bring attention to workers’ perspectives, and build power “in partnership with our community allies.”
“I do truly believe that when union members come together and organize together, that’s how we’re able to improve our communities,” she said.
The AFT-MA has members in such districts as Boston, Lawrence, Lowell, Lynn, Salem, and Chelsea and is the smaller of the two statewide educator unions. The Massachusetts Teachers Association, which belongs to the National Education Association, is more than four times as large with 117,000 members in almost every district across the state.
Although the two organizations often work together, the AFT has been largely absent from the wave of teacher strikes that has hit Massachusetts in recent years, but have offered support.
Tang said she’s assuming her new role as local public school districts facing budget constraints cut positions held by union members.
“We don’t want to see layoffs, especially when we didn’t have enough staffing in the first place,” she said. “Cutting is not the answer.”
She said she’s also concerned about state control of public schools deemed “chronically underperforming” by the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education. Lawrence Public Schools were placed in state receivership in 2011, and two elementary schools in Boston are run by receivers, Tang said.
In 2017, Tang became the first person of color and first openly queer person elected president of the BTU; she said she plans to resign when the academic year ends next month.
“Even when I started out as a teacher, I had the same goal, which is how do I help to improve access and opportunity, particularly to communities that historically have been the most marginalized?” Tang said. “What continues to drive me is this belief that we can do better and Massachusetts can be a model for an inclusive community where students and families can thrive.”
Under BTU’s bylaws, vice president Erik Berg will serve as president until the next election, which is scheduled for June 2025. The union, which represents more than 10,000 active and retired educators and Boston Public Schools entered negotiations for a new contract in February.
Berg said BTU will “continue to move in the same direction that it has under Jessica’s leadership.”
Tang succeeds Beth Kontos, a high school social studies teacher in Salem who led AFT Massachusetts for six years.
“We’ve overcome enormous challenges and won incredible victories by organizing together as one union family,” Kontos said in a statement released by AFT-MA.
She cited the Legislature’s 2019 overhaul of public school funding, which rectified a budget formula that had been shortchanging districts by about $1 billion a year by inaccurately projecting school costs. Kontos said another milestone of her tenure was the passage in 2022 of the Fair Share Amendment, which established an extra 4 percentage point tax on incomes over $1 million to raise money for education and transportation.
She also helped local affiliates through the pandemic — advocating for better air ventilation, vaccines, and a delayed reopening of school buildings.
“I’m immensely proud of the victories we’ve won together, and…
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