International union leaders show solidarity with the AFT

Union leaders from over 30 countries-including Canada, Korea, Mexico, South Africa, Turkey and Ukraine-gathered for a welcome breakfast Wednesday morning in Washington, D.C., as part of the AFT's 89th biennial convention.

The AFT has always been a champion of human rights. Our union fights to protect the rights of immigrants, members of the LGBTQIA+ community and workers. But our fight for equality and justice doesn't stop at our U.S. borders. What happens across the world affects the day-to-day lives of each of our members. For example, conflicts overseas affect the prices of groceries and gasoline and shape the economic security of working-class communities at home and abroad.

That's why our commitment to global solidarity matters. The AFT partners with international organizations-most notably Education International and Public Services International-to fight for democracy, academic freedom and the rights of educators worldwide. The AFT also sits on the board of two global organizations: the Solidarity Center, a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting workers, and the National Democratic Institute, which works to promote democratic values worldwide.

While speaking before the crowd of international guests, AFT Executive Vice President Evelyn DeJesus said that in the wake of the second Trump presidency, the AFT's global solidary movement and its members are under attack "like never before."

"Our immigrant members-our neighbors and friends-are being rounded up, brutalized, jailed, deported and disappeared," she said, even as "billionaires are feasting on our country's wealth.

"You being here reminds us that we all-todos-belong to a worldwide movement of labor, and that every day-todos días-we demonstrate the deepest truths of our movement that together-juntos-we can accomplish much more than we could ever do on our own," she added.

Some of the AFT's most notable international work reaches back to fighting against apartheid in South Africa and, as our 2026 "AFT in the World" report explains, "our long history of supporting a secure and democratic Israel and engagement with Palestinians in the West Bank"-work that continues today. In recent years we've also partnered with the Ukraine Children's Action Project to provide nearly 50 generators to schools and childcare centers in Lviv, Ukraine, that lost power after Russian rockets struck electrical infrastructure near the region; donated $20,000 in relief aid to the Jamaica Teachers' Association after Hurricane Melissa hit the island in October 2025 and collaborated with the National Education Union-the largest educators union in the United Kingdom and Europe-to address the growing concerns around artificial intelligence in the classroom.

AFT Secretary-Treasurer Fedrick C. Ingram said that although there is a lot of chaos and confusion in the world, the AFT stands for global democracy, justice and freedom.

"We need your help. We need your leadership," Ingram said to the crowd. "We need your hand. We need you to walk with us, behind us, in front of us sometimes; but we are going to have to walk together to achieve what we all want. We want better schools, we want better healthcare systems, we want better public services, we want our unions to be strong because we know a voice that works, a voice at the table, collective bargaining, all over this world will make the world better."

[Alvin Buyinza]