American Federation of Teachers

Joyce Wheeler was a member of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), a national teachers' labor union founded in 1900. She was particularly active in the United Action Caucus (UAC), a rank and file organization within the AFT. The UAC took stands on various issues within the American educational system, supported progressive politics in general, and campaigned for internal democracy within the AFT. Members of the Communist Party USA are thought to have played an important role in the UAC. Wheeler was also a participant in the Baltimore Teachers Union (BTU), AFT and in BTU's Teacher Unity Caucus.

With the formation of the AFT in 1916, teacher unionism spurted forward. In its first four years the AFT claimed 174 locals and approximately 9,000 members, but this growth was short-lived.

World War I brought increased calls for budget austerity, and teachers suffered with the rest of labor in the anti-union and red scare campaigns of the 1920s. However, by the 1930s, AFT organizing moved forward again with increased membership in urban areas which coincided with general labor union growth in the cities. The AFT launched a drive to improve academic freedom that resulted in a passage of limited teacher tenure laws in 17 states. The growing Communist influence within the AFT in the 1930s caused a crisis for teachers torn between a philosophy of academic freedom and those seeking political respectability. In 1941, the AFT expelled two New York City locals and the Philadelphia union as Communist-dominated.

During World War II, AFT locals in some cities won contracts through the collective bargaining process. In the postwar period the AFT continued to emphasize the need for collective bargaining, and by 1946, the St. Paul, Minnesota, AFL local struck for six weeks. It was the first strike by an AFT local and marked the beginning of a wave of teacher militancy in the postwar period. In the 1950s, teacher discontent increased as wages in private employment continued to outpace teacher salaries. The pivotal battle for collective bargaining in education began in New York City. Albert Shanker and David Selden brought about a merger of the fragmented New York locals in 1960 under the title of United Federation of Teachers. In 1960, the UFT won bargaining rights, and after a short strike in 1962, concluded a contract with the board of education. The UFT victory in New York moved it into a dominant position within the AFT. In 1963 the AFT national convention repealed its no-strike policy.

In the 1960s and 1970s, organized labor continued to place emphasis on organizing white-collar workers. Attempts to effect a national merger of the AFT and the NEA collapsed over the issue of AFL-CIO affiliation. Although NEA membership still exceeds that of the AFT, the federation bargains for a total of over a half-million teachers with members in nearly every major American city.