Anne Filardo (1922-2010) was a guidance counselor and education activist. She was a member of the former Teachers' Union of the City of New York, many of whose leading activists were Communists. The Teachers Action Caucus (TAC), a rank and file opposition group formed within the New York City United Federation of Teachers (UFT) in 1968, was founded by members of the Teachers' Union (including Filardo, who served as chairperson) and younger teachers representing the New Left of the 1960s. The impetus for the group's founding was its objection to the UFT's position relating to the impending crisis in relations between the UFT and the African American community. These tensions, particularly surrounding parents' right for community control in the Ocean Hill-Brownsville section of Brooklyn, erupted in a teacher strike. TAC also went on to oppose the leadership of the UFT on a broad range of issues relating to its education, labor, and domestic and foreign policy positions. With the rise of the progressive New Action Coalition in the late 1980s and early 1990s, which many TAC members participated in, TAC became less active and eventually ceased to exist.
Filardo was also active in the United Action Caucus (UAC), a rank and file organization created within the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) in 1971. She was a founding member of UAC and served as membership secretary and vice-chairperson. UAC took stands on various issues within the American educational system, supported progressive politics in general, and campaigned for internal democracy within the AFT.
Filardo was also a member of the Communist Party USA's National Teachers' Commission, the New York State United Teachers (NYSUT), and a number of other progressive teachers' organizations and other leftist groups.
From the guide to the Anne Filardo Papers on Rank and File Activism in the American Federation of Teachers and in the United Federation of Teachers, Bulk, 1970-1989, 1964-2001, (Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archive)
