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PITTSBURGH  FEDERATION  OF  TEACHERS

News Release from the Pittsburgh Federation of Teachers

For Release on Thursday, May 25, 2006

For Further Information, Contact:
     Ed Henke, Chair, PFT Nominations and Elections Committee
     John Tarka, PFT President
     Sylvia Wilson, Assistant to PFT President

     Pittsburgh Federation of Teachers
     412-431-5900; 412-431-4755 --- Office of the PFT

* Rufus Jordan and Sherman Shrager Re-Elected PFT Vice-Presidents
* Delegates and Alternates Elected to AFT National Convention

The 3,873-member Pittsburgh Federation of Teachers has re-elected Rufus Jordan and Sherman Shrager as two of its three vice-presidents. Rufus Jordan was re-elected to the position of Secondary Schools Vice-President. Sherman Shrager was re-elected to the position of Middle Schools Vice-President.

The union membership re-elected thirteen and elected three new members to the thirty-two member Executive Board. Union elections are held every two years, with half of the PFT’s Executive Board elected in each biennial election. All terms of office are four years in length.

Additionally, delegates and alternates were elected not only to the 2006 AFT National Convention to be held in Boston, Massachusetts, this summer from July 19th to July 23rd, but also to the PaFT State Convention to be held during in June 2007 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Ballots were mailed to the entire PFT membership at their homes on Wednesday, May 1, 2006. (Ballots were mailed to all PFT members in good standing.) All returned ballots were mailed to the Iron and Glass Bank of Pittsburgh, which acted as custodian for the election.

Ed Henke, Chair of the PFT’s Nominations and Elections Committee, announced the election results. Ballots were counted Wednesday night, May 24, by the PFT Nominations and Elections Committee and by additional PFT members recruited by the Committee to assist in the counting.

The PFT election results are as follows:
     Vice President, Senior High Schools - Rufus Jordan, re-elected
     Vice President, Middle Schools - Sherman Shrager, re-elected
     Secretary - Sylvia Wilson, re-elected
     Financial Secretary - Hal Marks, re-elected
     Trustees – Mary Ann Cupples and Barbara Supinka, re-elected
     Secondary Group Representative – Kathy Ramos, re-elected
     Elementary Group Representative – Barbara Jett, re-elected
     Middle Schools Representative - Marsha Ekunfeo, re-elected
     Paraprofessional Group Representative - Annette Parker, re-elected
     Technical-Clerical Group Representative - Douglas Bishop, re-elected
     Intermediate Unit #2 Group Representative – Barbara Dermitt, elected
     At-Large Executive Board Members -
        Barbara Antrom and Jeff Laurenson, re-elected;
        and Hannah McCarthy and Lora Turner, elected.

Additional Background Information

The Pittsburgh Federation of Teachers is the collective bargaining representative for 3,200 Pittsburgh teachers and other professional personnel, 675 paraprofessional personnel, 70 technical-clerical personnel, 200 day-to-day substitute teachers for the Pittsburgh Public Schools, and 55 teachers and other professional personnel in the IU #2 unit---approximately 4,250 school personnel in all. The PFT membership constitutes approximately 3,900 of these teachers and other school personnel.

John Tarka, along with his position as President of the Pittsburgh Federation of Teachers, is also the Executive Vice-President of the 35,000-member AFT Pennsylvania. He also serves as a Vice President of the 1.1 million-member Pennsylvania AFL-CIO.

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