Rhonda "Randi" Weingarten (born December 18, 1957)Who's Who in America, 2007. is an American labor leader, attorney, and educator who has served since 2008 as president of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), an affiliate of the AFL–CIO. A former president of New York City’s United Federation of Teachers (UFT), she previously worked as the union’s chief negotiator and counsel and taught social studies at Clara Barton High School. She is widely noted as the first openly gay person elected to lead a national American labor union.
As AFT president, Weingarten has been a prominent voice in national debates over K–12 policy, advocating for “bottom-up” school improvement, community schools, and limits on high-stakes testing while supporting accountability measures and selective use of assessments. Her leadership and positions on standardized testing, charter schools, tenure, and educator pensions have drawn both support and criticism from policymakers, advocacy groups, and the press.
During her tenure with the UFT, Weingarten oversaw a series of major collective-bargaining agreements in New York City that increased teacher pay while lengthening the workday and workweek, positions that figured prominently in citywide education policy debates of the 2000s.
Early life Weingarten was born in 1957 in New York City, to a Jewish family, Gabriel and Edith (Appelbaum) Weingarten. Her father was an electrical engineer and her mother a teacher.Wadler, Joyce "Hoping to Continue Education as Union Head" , The New York Times, January 20, 1998. Weingarten grew up in Rockland County, New York, and attended Clarkstown High School North in New City, New York. A congregant of Congregation Beit Simchat Torah, she considers herself a deeply religious Jew.Nathan-Kazis, Josh, "The Leading Jew in Labor Wears Pearls" The Forward, May 12, 2010.Chan, Sewell, "Teachers' Union Chief Discusses Gay Identity" , The New York Times, October 12, 2007.
Weingarten's interest in trade unions and political advocacy was formed during childhood. Her mother's union went on a seven-week strike when Weingarten was in the eleventh grade. Under New York state's Taylor Law, her mother could have been fired for taking part in a strike. Instead, she was fined two days' pay for every day she was on strike. Later that year, the school board cut $2 million from the budget. Weingarten and several other students convinced the school board to let them conduct a survey regarding the impact of the cuts. The survey led several school board members to change their minds and rescind the cuts.
From 1979 to 1980, Weingarten was a legislative assistant for the Labor Committee of the New York State Senate. She received a B.S. degree in labor relations from the ILR School at Cornell University in 1980 and a J.D. degree from the Yeshiva University Cardozo School of Law in 1983.
Legal career Weingarten worked as a lawyer for the firm of Stroock & Stroock & Lavan from 1983 to 1986, where she handled several acrimonious arbitration cases on behalf of the UFT. She was appointed an adjunct instructor at the Cardozo School of Law in 1986. She also worked as an attorney in the real estate department of Wien Malkin and Bettex.
In 1986, Weingarten became counsel to Sandra Feldman, then-president of the UFT. Weingarten handled high-level grievances for the union. She was also lead counsel for the union in a number of lawsuits against New York City and the state of New York over school funding and school safety."Teachers Union Leader Is Elected to Full Term" , The New York Times, April 7, 1999. By the early 1990s, she was the union's primary negotiator in UFT contract negotiations.Traster, Tina "Crain's 100 Most Influential Women in NYC Business - The Power 25: Teachers' Favorite: Randi Weingarten, United Federation of Teachers" , Crain's New York Business, September 30, 2007.Greenhouse, Steven "Union Scandal Could Produce A Tougher Negotiating Stance" , The New York Times, December 20, 1998; Greenhouse, Steven "After Scandals, New Union Leaders Turn More Aggressive" , March 22, 1999.
Teaching career From 1991 to 1997 she taught at Clara Barton High School in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. The classes she taught included Law, Ethical Issues in Medicine, AP Political Science, and US History and Government. Weingarten was one of two coaches for the school's team for the 1995 We the People civics competition. The team won the New York State championship and moved on to the national championship where they finished in 4th place.
UFT career Elected the UFT's treasurer in 1997, Weingarten succeeded Sandra Feldman as president of the union a year later when Feldman was elected president of the national American Federation of Teachers. Weingarten was elected a Vice President of the AFT the same year.
Weingarten was reelected by consistently wide margins after her initial appointment in 1998. The local union's constitution required her to run for the UFT presidency within a year of her appointment. She received 74 percent of the vote against two opponents in 1999 and served the final two years of Feldman's term. She ran in 2001 for a full term and was re-elected. She won her third full three-year term with more than 88 percent of the vote, despite having two opposing candidates. On March 30, 2007, Weingarten won reelection to a fourth term as UFT President, garnering 87 percent of the vote.Greenhouse, Steven "Teachers' Union Chief Re-Elected" , The New York Times, April 2, 2007.
Weingarten stepped down from her post as president of the United Federation of Teachers on July 31, 2009. An opinion piece in the New York Post on January 16, 2011, characterized Weingarten's final paycheck from the UFT—which included payments for unused vacation days and sick time—as a $194,188 "golden parachute."
Collective bargaining Weingarten began negotiating her first contract as UFT president in 2000. Talks with the Giuliani administration began in early September 2000, but the contract expired on November 15, 2000, without a new agreement.Greenhouse, Steven "Teacher Contract Ends" , The New York Times, November 16, 2000; Greenhouse, Steven "Teachers' Union Seeks Parity With Salaries in the Suburbs" , The New York Times, January 26, 2001. By March 2001, the talks deadlocked, and a state mediator was called in.Day, Sherri "State Chooses A Mediator For Teacher Negotiations" , The New York Times, April 7, 2001; Greenhouse, Steven "Biggest City Union in Tentative Pact" , The New York Times, April 12, 2001; Goodnough, Abby "Head of Teachers' Union Warns of a Long Wait for a Contract" , The New York Times, May 13, 2001; Greenhouse, Steven "Teachers' Union Sets Deadline For Arbitration" , The New York Times, May 17, 2001 Talks collapsed again on June 5, and Weingarten asked for state arbitration.Greenhouse, Steven "Talks Break Down On Teacher Contract" , The New York Times, June 6, 2001; Greenhouse, Steven "Teachers' Union to Seek Contract Arbitration" , The New York Times, June 7, 2001.
To pressure Giuliani, Weingarten endorsed Alan Hevesi in the Democratic primary. In the run-off between Green and Ferrer, Weingarten endorsed Ferrer, who lost to Green. Michael Bloomberg defeated Green in the November 2001 election.Goodnough, Abby "Backing Ferrer, Union Focuses On Teacher Pay" , The New York Times, October 6, 2001. Weingarten demanded a 22 percent wage hike; Giuliani offered 8 percent. Talks collapsed on March 9, and Weingarten began preparing the UFT for its first strike since the early 1970s.Greenhouse, Steven "Giuliani Reproaches Teachers For Insisting on a 22% Raise" , The New York Times, November 28, 2001; Greenhouse, Steven "City to Reopen Contract Talks With Teachers" , The New York Times, January 19, 2002; Greenhouse, Steven "City Agrees State Money Can Pay for Teacher Raises" , The New York Times, March 7, 2002; Goodnough, Abby "Union for New York City Teachers Takes First Step Toward a Strike" , The New York Times, May 8, 2002 In the state arbitration panel's mid-April report, it advocated a major salary boost and a longer work week. Both sides agreed to a new collective bargaining agreement in June, raising wages 16 to 22 percent and lengthening the work week by 100 minutes.Greenhouse, Steven "State Panel Calls for Teacher Pay Raise and Longer Day" , The New York Times, April 10, 2002; Goodnough, Abby "Agreement on Teachers' Contract Is Imminent, Union Leader Says" , The New York Times, April 19, 2002; Greenhouse, Steven "Tentative Pact for City Teachers Increases Pay, and Workweek" , The New York Times, June 11, 2002; Luck, Thomas J. "Teachers Approve Contract" , The New York Times, June 26, 2002.
The UFT's contract expired on May 31, 2003. Once again, negotiations proved contentious. In January 2004, New York City School Chancellor Joel Klein proposed a merit-pay deal; in February, Mayor Bloomberg proposed replacing the union's 200-page contract with an 8-page set of guidelines. Weingarten rejected these proposals and asked for state mediation in late March 2004.Herszenhorn, David M. "Teachers' Union Accuses City of Avoiding Talks on Contract" , The New York Times, December 2, 2003; Herszenhorn, David M. "Chancellor Urges Changes in Teachers' Pay" , The New York Times, January 28, 2004; Herszenhorn, "Mayor's Goal Is 'Thin' Pact With Teachers" , The New York Times, February 6, 2004; Herszenhorn, David M. "Teachers' Union Warns of an Impasse in Talks With the City" , The New York Times, February 7, 2004. In May, Weingarten agreed to discuss merit pay.Herszenhorn, David M. "A Proposal for Incentive Pay at City's Low-Performing Schools" , The New York Times, May 9, 2004 The union began a public-relations campaign featuring subway and television ads demanding a contract and held protests and marches. On June 1, 2005, nearly 20,000 teachers—about a quarter of the UFT membership—packed Madison Square Garden for a rally at which Weingarten denounced Bloomberg and Klein, asked for a strike vote, and requested state arbitration.Herszenhorn, David M. "In Subway Ads, Teachers Renew Push for Contract" , The New York Times, April 18, 2005; Herszenhorn, David M. "Teachers Pack the Garden to Demand a City Contract" , The New York Times, June 2, 2005 Contract talks resumed in August and September.Herszenhorn, David M. "Mayor Moves Closer to Deal On Teachers" , The New York Times, September 27, 2005. A tentative contract was reached on October 3, 2005. The union won a wage increase of 14.25 percent over 52 months, retroactive to June 1, 2003. Other changes include a slightly longer workday (with the extra time devoted to tutoring) and the elimination of union control over some staffing decisions. The contract, ratified on November 3, 2005, passed with just 63 percent of UFT members in favor.Herszenhorn, David M. "City Reaches Tentative Deal With Teachers" , The New York Times, October 4, 2005; Herszenhorn, David M. "Teachers Approve Contract Deal" , The New York Times, November 4, 2005.
Weingarten concluded her third collective bargaining agreement on November 6, 2006, when the union and city reached a tentative deal to increase pay by 7.1 percent over two years. The agreement raised base pay for senior teachers above $100,000 a year, bringing city salaries in line with those in New York City's suburbs for the first time. The city did not seek any increases in the workday or workload or any other concessions, as it had with other unions. Negotiations over health benefits were to be conducted separately in talks with the Municipal Labor Committee, an umbrella group for municipal unions which Weingarten chairs.Herszenhorn, David M. "City in Tentative Deal With Teachers' Union" , The New York Times, November 7, 2006.