The AFT-Oregon Executive Council (EC) currently has vacancies for Secretary, Vice-President of Political Action, Vice-President of Training and Education and one Vice-President at Large position in accordance with our Constitution. EC members act as liaisons to locals; attend EC meetings as voting officers; and work within our federation to accomplish our goals. Specific duties assigned to these positions can be found in our Constitution.
The appointed candidates will serve until the end of June 2027. At a minimum, EC Members are expected to attend monthly AFT-Oregon Executive Committee meetings (4-5 hours, one day a month, in-person or on Zoom) and to serve on other sub-committees as interested or appointed.
In accordance with the Constitution and Bylaws Article VI, Section 2.c, candidates must be union members in good standing, and no one local can field more than two Executive Council officers. Our Executive Council would be especially excited to consider candidates from locals or job classifications that are not already well-represented by elected leadership, and we encourage applicants who bring diverse perspectives to state federation leadership to apply.
If you are interested in serving as on the EC, we welcome a short candidate statement detailing why you’re interested, any relevant qualities or experiences, what you’d like to accomplish in the role, and/or what your goals or vision for AFT-Oregon are. We have crafted the following main questions, with sub-questions, to help you with this statement.
Ideally, you would address 3 of the 5 question categories. Please keep answers to just one paragraph per category. You are not required to answer all of the questions: 1. Candidate demonstrates a sincere commitment to democratic unionism (Why are you applying for this role? What does a truly democratic union mean to you? What are your values as a person and as a unionist? What values or principles do you think should be most important to our federation and/or our labor movement? How have you lived your values and demonstrated them through your actions?)
2. Candidate brings perspectives and/or identities that are underrepresented in current AFT-Oregon leadership and/or in the labor movement (What experiences or identities make you unique? What do you bring to the table that AFT-Oregon needs more of? Why are you a unionist – what core experiences or identities have contributed to your activism?)
3. Candidate is from a job classification or local that has not historically been well-represented in AFT-Oregon leadership (Where is your local, and what job do you do for work? Is your local active in our state federation, or does your local have a strong history of participating in AFT-Oregon leadership or organizing (attending convention, being active in legislative/political affairs, serving in leadership positions)?)
4. Candidate has some relevant prior labor or organizing experience (Are you active in your local union, and if so, in what roles or capacities? What skills have you learned that you could bring to AFT-Oregon leadership? What types of campaigns or union activities have you worked on in the past?)
5. Candidate has capacity to engage with AFT-Oregon organizing efforts (Do you have at least 5 hours per week available to devote to organizing at AFT-Oregon? What are your other commitments as a worker and unionist, and do you anticipate that any of them might hinder your ability to organize or engage in AFT-Oregon leadership? If so, do you have a plan for navigating competing commitments?)
