How AFT fights for affordable lives for our members

Working people join our union for a simple, powerful reason: We deserve to thrive. We need to be able to care for our families without high prices bleeding us dry. We deserve access to good, affordable healthcare. And we deserve to retire with dignity.

Yet, the AFT's Fight for Affordability campaign grew out of a harsh reality: In a survey taken earlier this year, thousands of AFT members-educators, healthcare workers and public service employees-said they're resorting to debt to cover the skyrocketing costs of everyday life.

The survey, which drew 7,500 responses from AFT members, showed that three-quarters are living paycheck to paycheck. More than a third can't cover their monthly bills, and more than half are financially worse off since the Trump administration returned last year. More than 8 in 10 describe healthcare costs as a source of distress. More than half make only minimum credit card payments. And a third of our teacher members said they need a side hustle or summer job to offset expenses. Meanwhile, teachers are spending more than $900 per year out of their own pockets on school supplies.

A focus on housing, healthcare

In an interview June 26 on "CBS LA Mornings," AFT President Randi Weingarten described how 70 percent of all teachers are working side gigs, while teachers in states with collective bargaining earn 24 percent more than other teachers. Weingarten said the nation's decision-makers must do three things: (1) fully fund public education to sustain the middle class; (2) use collective bargaining to fix local problems; and (3) address national issues like healthcare and housing. She noted that the housing bill President Donald Trump is refusing to sign is widely supported by both Democrats and Republicans in Congress.

Weingarten also is supporting a $25 minimum wage bill introduced June 25 by Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut. The Living Wage for All Act would phase in minimum wage increases nationwide, starting at $12 an hour in its first year and reaching $25 an hour by 2031 for large employers and by 2038 for employers with fewer than 500 employees. The bill would end the practice of subminimum pay for tipped workers, young workers and employees with disabilities.

"A living wage is about the kind of society we want-one where one job is enough and where, if you work hard, you will have a pathway to a life you and your family can live on," Weingarten said.

Kitchen table issues

The AFT's fight for affordability started with its fight against student debt-specifically, a class action lawsuit against student loan servicer Navient, which had driven AFT members to tears and even pushed a few toward thoughts of suicide. The bullying was so bad that the AFT called in a grief counselor. Weingarten attended a Navient shareholder meeting, calling out the company for taking money from our members and then holding them back from obtaining loan forgiveness.

The AFT began conducting student debt clinics (register here). As inflation grew worse, AFT leaders and our expert partners began asking themselves: What else can we help with? Medical debt? Credit card debt?

The answer was all of the above: affordability.

One of those experts was Bonnie Latreille, a student aid advocate at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau during the first Trump administration and student aid ombudsman at the U.S. Education Department during the Biden administration. Latreille called the AFT's strategy "special and impactful," in that it not only delivers relief for members but has changed the entire student loan market. For one thing, she said, the AFT pressed Navient so hard in court that the firm left the student aid marketplace. For another, the AFT worked with the Biden administration to help members who'd been knocked off track in the federal Public Service Loan Forgiveness program. Gradually,the AFT's efforts progressed from dozens of borrowers getting student debt relief to 5 million people getting relief.

"If not for AFT's actions, those companies would still be doing what they were doing: screwing consumers out of their money," Latreille told members of the AFT Public Employees program and policy council at their meeting in February.

Eventually, our union discovered that even members with "great" healthcare were falling into medical debt. We began learning what patients should do before and after surgery to protect themselves-for instance, what to do if the hospital's anesthesia department sends you one bill, the doctor sends you another and the whole mess goes into collection.

Latreille is now a fellow at the Debt Collection Lab at Princeton University, where she teaches others how to file an appeal. A video on AFT.org/affordability explains the process in an easy and user-friendly way.

Speaking out is what we do

As a union of professionals, the AFT has many experts of its own. For example, the New York State Public Employees Federation represents staff who work for the state attorney general. PEF, in fact, had the highest percentage of respondents to the AFT's debt survey, conducted by the AFT and Protect Borrowers, formerly the Student Borrower Protection Center. "We like telling people what we think," says PEF Vice President Randi DiAntonio.

"I can't afford a master's degree, which would help me get a promotion," one PEF member told AFT researchers. "I can't get my head above water, I am drowning in daily expenses. I even avoid social events. It costs money for clothes, gifts, food, and wear and tear on the car, plus gas. I can't afford it."

The AFT plans to continue rolling out debt clinics for different types of borrowers. The clinics help members craft letters and become part of a class action without having to shell out thousands of dollars. These clinics not only take away debt, they take away shame.

You see ads for Rocket Money, and next thing you know, you're on the hook, owing them money, Latreille told the PPC. "We know the tactics they're using, we know how they're making money, we know how they're hurting people. We live in America. Everyone has debt."

The stories are heartbreaking, AFT researchers have observed, noting that the highest level of debt for one member was $725,000, and that it's not unusual for members to be carrying $400,000 in student debt. Once they talk it out, they're no longer ashamed. They're mad. And that's good.

"We are in an affordability crisis," Latreille said. People are taking on second and third jobs just to pay off student debt."

Debt clinic participants say the experience can be enlightening and even empowering. One PPC member at the meeting described dealing with lingering debt from a helicopter ambulance service that cost over $100,000 in a rural area. Another leader spoke of bills for a single utility running $600 per month. A leader whose members make "decent" salaries said that with only an extra $100 taken out of their paychecks for healthcare, they can't afford to eat. And a leader who works for Medicaid said it took her six months to get a code fixed on a medical bill.

"I was an expert on student loans, and I got caught in 'hot garbage' billing," Latreille said, adding that together in our union, we can challenge overwhelming or improper billing. "There are these wins, but it's a fight in every which way."

[Annette Licitra]