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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 6, 1998

NEW ORLEANS – Delegates to the National Education Association's (NEA) Representative Assembly today set the Association's course for continued cooperation and collaboration with the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), proclaiming their commitment to pursuing unity. After a vigorous three-hour debate by almost 10,000 delegates, NEA members voted overwhelmingly to move ahead toward uniting the two organizations to better serve children and education.

"Today, delegates have charted a clear direction," said NEA President Chase. "The dream of uniting America's educators in a single organization is very much alive. NEA delegates will leave this Representative Assembly with a single voice, and that is a strong voice for unity. The NEA family is fully committed to reaching that shared goal."

Overwhelming adoption of a New Business Item (NBI) directed the Association to continue the NEA/AFT Joint Council's efforts to enhance teacher quality, improve school safety and discipline, and modernize America's school building. The measure also established a procedure to set guidelines under which state affiliates could unite. Several states -- Montana, Florida, New Mexico, and Minnesota -- are at various stages in developing unification agreements. As part of the action, delegates voted to encourage the NEA and AFT to continue their "no-raid" agreement, which discourages representational battles between local affiliates of both organizations.

The action today affirms the Representative Assembly's commitment to the concept of a single, national organization that represents teachers and other education employees. The previous day, the delegates had voted down the Principles of Unity, which proposed a method to merge the two organizations.

The National Education Association is the nation's largest professional employee organization, representing more than 2.4 million elementary and secondary teachers, higher education faculty, education support personnel, school administrators, retired educators, and students preparing to become teachers.

The National Education Association is the nation's largest professional employee organization, representing more than 2.7 million elementary and secondary teachers, higher education faculty, education support personnel, school administrators, retired educators, and students preparing to become teachers.