Randi Weingarten, president of AFT, and for many the face of Teachers’ unions (having been our president for over 16 years!), has a history of subtle defense of for-profit healthcare. When pressed, she will admit that Medicare for All is a possible solution to America’s healthcare woes – but only one among several, making sure to include for-profit as also being acceptable. For instance, she concludes a 4/10/2019 AFT press release as follows: “Sen. Bernie Sanders’ Medicare for All Act is one such solution. I thank him for proposing one option among several potential paths to achieve this goal.” By refusing to prefer non-profit over for-profit. Weingarten effectively prohibits AFT from taking action on this issue, thus negating AFT’s 2018 resolution which concludes: “RESOLVED, that the AFT reaffirms that the most sensible and cost-effective solution for health coverage is a single-payer system modeled after the federal Medicare system; RESOLVED, that the AFT reaffirms that the most sensible and cost-effective solution for health coverage is a single-payer system modeled after the federal Medicare system.”
In that light, I read her 1/13/25 email to AFT members, as a continuation of this subtle defense of for-profit healthcare. She writes: “At 6 a.m. on Jan. 10, nearly 5,000 caregivers at Providence Health & Services—including physicians, nurses, physician associates, nurse midwives and nurse practitioners—began an open-ended strike. These frontline caregivers are taking a stand against a corporation that puts profit over patient care… Add your name to demand Providence resolve longstanding problems like unsafe staffing levels in emergency rooms and unfair wages… Sign the petition to take a stand against a broken healthcare system.”
The words “a corporation that puts profit over patient care” implies that other corporations don’t put profit over patient care; that this isn’t foundational to corporations. And although she refers to “a broken healthcare system,” she doesn’t anywhere suggest a solution other than to support this strike (specifically no mention of Medicare for All); it seems that by “a broken healthcare system,” she is only referring to Providence.
Of course AFT members should support the strike, but we must be under no illusion that isolated strikes such as this will fix the whole broken system of US healthcare. But by endorsing limited actions, without admitting that it’s the for-profit motive itself which needs to be eliminated, Weingarten steers us away from a real solution, ultimately protecting the insurance industry.
There are three actions I suggest. 1) Weingarten can’t be held accountable for going against the demands of AFT members, because she is not democratically elected. We must demand that AFT be democratized – and then vote her out. 2) When the next bill for CalCare (Medicare for All in California) comes along, which should be early 2025, we must get our locals to pass resolutions which include action items, in support. 3) We must collectively make our support for CalCare very visible. It should be a demand within the nascent “We Can’t Wait” campaign. And we should prepare to take a personal or sick day to rally at the Capitol when the Assembly Health and Appropriations committees are voting on the bill, and again for the floor vote.
For more details on Weingarten’s opposition to Medicare for All, see:
For a broader understanding of Weingarten’s politics, read AFT’s Winter 24/25 “Fighting for our Children’s Future.” Note the omission of anything about medicare for all, policies to reduce economic inequality, nor to address climate change. Instead, she’s just another Kamala-apologist: the economy is great, but voters fell for Trump’s lies. The message is: no political action is required. We rank and file educators must unite and take our own actions.
Solidarity News 
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