The AFT convention began by examining the unprecedented challenges that working people and our American democracy face. Friday afternoon's general session pivoted to how we build the power to win positive change: Through organizing, organizing, organizing.

And no one does organizing better than the AFT, which is now 1.88 million strong and the fastest-growing union in the AFL-CIO.

AFT Senior Director of Organization and Field Services Darrin Nedrow called organizing "the lifeblood of the union" and predicted, "The best is yet to come." As the session unfolded, it became clear that his optimism is grounded in reality, as AFT leaders from coast to coast (and Hawaii) offered real-life examples of organizing grit and success in an inspiring, upbeat hour emceed by AFT Secretary-Treasurer Fedrick Ingram.

AFT Michigan President Terrence Martin recounted how his union decided a few years ago that "we're going to organize everywhere we could. Today, we're seeing the payoff. Thousands of new members. Dozens of new leaders. First contracts. Better lives."

His now-40,000-member federation has seen especially spectacular growth in healthcare, going from zero healthcare members 10 years ago to closing in on 8,000 today-including at the University of Michigan Health System, where the United Michigan Medicine Allied Professionals began organizing in 2020 with one unit and is now a local of six units and more than 4,800 allied professionals across the system. Another standout success: organizing at the University of Michigan, where the University Staff United now represents 1,800 services and instructional services staff.

Ohio Federation of Teachers President Melissa Cropper described how her union embarked on organizing library systems in central Ohio-and now has seven in their union family. Library workers began contacting the OFT in 2020. "At the time we did not represent public libraries, but we could see that it made sense because of the connections between public education and public libraries," Cropper explained. She saw that both sectors are facing right-wing extremists' attacks and censorship. OFT's latest victory: overwhelmingly winning an election in July for new local CML United to represent staff at Columbus Metropolitan Library. Local President Jude Virostko, who battled leukemia during the organizing campaign, explained why she and her colleagues persisted: "We did this work because we believe in the work libraries do."

The stories rolled on: Emily VanDerhoff, president of the Fairfax County (Va.) Federation of Teachers, noted that at the last AFT convention, her local of 28,000 instructional and operations workers in the nation's ninth-largest school district had just won a groundbreaking election. It then went on to bargain a contract in 2024 with a 17 percent pay increase and new labor rights. "We have been growing, fighting and winning, and this is just the beginning. We are … gearing up for our next contract fight, and we can't wait to tell you about it next convention."

United Academics of the University of Kansas' Marsha McCartney described how her local began its path to its 86 percent unionization vote in 2024: "During the pandemic, our board of regents threatened to make tenured faculty fire-able at will. We realized that if they could come for one group of educators, they could come for all of us." In March 2026, the union won a contract ensuring job security, academic freedom and dignified compensation for all.

Maryland has been crushing it: First, organizing the 950-strong University of Maryland Resident and Fellow Alliance at Baltimore's University of Maryland Medical Center in 2024 (with a banner first contract in September 2025). And in April 2026, the United Academics of Maryland (AAUP-AFT) won a decadeslong legislative fight for collective bargaining rights for nontenured faculty and is now building unions across all 14 campuses.

Delegates cheered as affiliate after affiliate came to the mic to tell the tale of an ever-growing union: Thousands of new members at the Oregon Nurses Association over the past two years. Almost 50 percent growth in American Association of University Professors membership, also over the past two years. The District of Columbia Alliance of Charter Teachers and Staff more than tripling from 200 to 700 members over four years. The December 2025 affiliation of the 1,500-strong Hawaii Nurses and Healthcare Professionals union. And the AFT's first beachhead in the Tar Heel State, with the 2025 affiliation of the American Federation of Professional Educators of North Carolina.

"What is the common thread here?" Michigan's Terrence Martin reflected. "Organizing is where it starts, and every victory builds something even bigger."

[Christina Bartolomeo/Photo credit: Suzannah Hoover]