PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Philadelphia Federation of Teachers president Jerry Jordan is retiring after 15 years in the job, and the way his successor was chosen is raising some eyebrows among members of the union.
Jordan announced he would retire from his position following the conclusion of his current term on June 30. He didn’t tell members about his plan to retire until just after the deadline to file to run for union leadership.
One person did file, Arthur Steinberg, currently the head of the union’s health and welfare fund and president of the state chapter of the American Federation of Teachers. Jordan’s move precluded a challenge to Steinberg from anyone who might have been waiting for Jordan to retire before taking a run at the presidency.
So Steinberg, who would have been one of the few people who knew Jordan’s plan to retire, will be the next president by default. He will take the helm on July 1.
Kathleen Melville, who ran against Jordan in 2020 but is no longer a member of PFT, said members should have a say in who is leading the union and what the union is fighting for.
“I really believe the more democratic the union is, the stronger it is and so I think it’s a shame that PFT members won’t have a chance to choose the next leader of their union,” she said.
Melville ran with the union’s Working Educators caucus, which decided in November not to field a candidate this time after losing twice to Jordan.
Kristin Luebbert, a member of the Working Educators caucus, said Steinberg has done well in his current jobs, but she thinks members should have had more notice.
“What I do wish is that we had more of a truly democratic discussion of what we would like to see in union leadership going forward,” she said.
She said Steinberg hasn’t worked in a school this century. “I would like to see somebody who has been in a classroom, in a school building, in the last two decades.”
Through a spokesperson, Jordan declined to be interviewed for this story, citing an exclusive he granted another outlet.