California Federation Of Teachers

What California Federation Of Teachers does

The California Federation of Teachers (CFT) is a private, non-profit labor union federation founded in 1919 and headquartered in Sacramento, California, with additional offices in Burbank and Emeryville. It is the California state affiliate of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) and through AFT is affiliated with the AFL-CIO, embedding the organization in the national labor federation representing over 12.5 million working people. CFT comprises 147 local unions representing approximately 120,000 educators and classified professionals spanning early childhood education, TK-12 certificated and classified staff, community college faculty, university faculty, and retired members across California.

CFT's core functional offering is collective bargaining representation and labor advocacy rather than a product or technology platform. The organization was the principal lobbyist behind two foundational California statutes: the 1975 Educational Employment Relations Act (EERA, effective January 1, 1976), which granted public school and community college employees collective bargaining rights, and the 1978 Higher Education Employer-Employee Relations Act (HEERA), which extended those rights to university employees. Its product surface consists of member communications (three newsletters: CFT United, Classified Insider, and Part-Timer), the Raoul Teilhet Scholarship program (which has awarded $2,453,000 across 872 students since 1997), member-produced labor curricula, and the Climate Justice Toolkit, all delivered through a Drupal-based website and standard email/social channels.

The revenue model is a closed membership structure: funding flows from per capita payments remitted by 147 local unions, whose own revenue derives from member dues collected at the workplace. CFT employs 11-50 staff, has no subsidiaries, no public disclosures of financial results, and no external funding rounds. Governance is member-democratic through elected delegates to the Convention and State Council, with day-to-day leadership under President Jeffery M. Freitas (elected March 2019), Secretary Treasurer L. Lacy Barnes, and Executive Vice President Juan Ramirez.

Name

California Federation Of Teachers

Legal name

California Federation of Teachers

Website

https://cft.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

1919

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Short description

The California Federation of Teachers is a non-profit labor union federation representing approximately 120,000 educators and classified professionals across 147 local unions in California, providing collective bargaining, legislative advocacy, and member services as the California affiliate of the AFT/AFL-CIO.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Burbank

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices3 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels10 records

Core offering

The California Federation of Teachers is a labor union that represents approximately 120,000 education workers across California through 147 affiliated local unions spanning early childhood, TK-12, classified support staff, community college, and university levels. CFT provides collective bargaining representation, workplace rights protection, legislative and political advocacy, scholarships, member training, and union communications to its individual educator members.

Product overview

The California Federation of Teachers (CFT) is a union organization representing 120,000 educators in California, operating as a membership-based organization rather than a technology company. CFT offers its members a suite of publications and educational resources including three main newsletters (CFT United, Classified Insider, and Part-Timer), the Raoul Teilhet Scholarship program for members' dependents, and member-produced labor curricula and the Climate Justice Toolkit. These products serve to advocate for quality education, provide workplace resources, and deliver union communications to members across PreK-12, Community College, University, and Classified divisions.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• CFT United: The union's flagship magazine, previously named California Teacher, emailed to all union members containing union news and covering major issues in each division of the CFT.
• Classified Insider
• Part-Timer

Products and services

• CFT United Union's flagship digital magazine sent to all union members, covering major issues across all divisions (PreK-12, Classified, Community College, University, and Retired). Previously named California Teacher.
• Classified Insider Newsletter advocating for the rights of classified employees and paraprofessionals, exploring workplace issues of support staff in California public schools, community colleges, county offices of education, and private schools.
• Part-Timer Newsletter promoting the interests of part-time faculty working in California community colleges, containing news about the movement to establish better conditions of employment for adjunct faculty.
• Raoul Teilhet Scholarships Scholarship program for high school seniors and continuing college students who are children or dependents of CFT members in good standing, offering $3,000 for four-year programs and $1,000 for two-year programs.
• Labor Curricula Member-produced labor curricula free to educators, including materials for students at all levels from preschool coloring books to college readings, and union-based new member orientation programs.
• Climate Justice Toolkit Flyers and resources for educators and unions covering climate justice topics including the Climate Justice Agenda, green jobs, and climate crisis primer.

Segments6 records

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Four partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• American Federation of Teachers (AFT)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCFT is the California affiliate of the AFT, AFL-CIO. This is the primary national affiliation that provides resources, advocacy support, and connects CFT to the broader labor movement nationally.
• AFL-CIOcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCFT is affiliated with the AFL-CIO through its AFT membership, connecting California educators to the national labor federation representing over 12.5 million working people.
• California Labor FederationcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerEach AFT/CFT local union is affiliated with regional Central Labor Councils and the statewide Labor Federation, promoting and defending interests of working people in California.
• Central Labor Councils (Regional)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerLocal unions are affiliated with regional Central Labor Councils throughout California, connecting members to local labor solidarity networks.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• California Teachers Association (CTA): The NEA-affiliated statewide union representing K-12 educators in California — directly competes with CFT for the same member pool of public school teachers and has historically been its primary rival in statewide organizing and bargaining.
• United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA): AFT-affiliated local union representing Los Angeles Unified School District educators — directly comparable as a large CFT/AFT local with similar collective bargaining functions for K-12 teachers; CFT EVP Juan Ramirez previously served as UTLA's AFT Vice President.
• California School Employees Association (CSEA): The largest classified school employee union in the AFL-CIO, representing school support staff in California — directly competes with CFT's Council of Classified Employees for the same paraprofessional, clerical, and operations workforce in California public schools.
• United Federation of Teachers (UFT): AFT-affiliated local union representing New York City educators and a comparable state-level counterpart to CFT — operates with a similar bargaining, advocacy, and member-services model across K-12 and higher-education divisions.
• New York State United Teachers (NYSUT): A merged NEA/AFT state affiliate representing New York educators — directly comparable as a large state-level teacher union federation spanning K-12, higher education, and retired members, with a similar advocacy and collective bargaining structure.

Broad incumbents

• National Education Association (NEA): The largest U.S. labor union and parent of CTA — operates as the NEA counterpart to AFT, providing the national infrastructure behind CFT's primary California competitor and serving a near-identical member base of educators nationwide.
• American Federation of Teachers (AFT): CFT's national parent federation, affiliated with AFL-CIO and representing over 1.7 million members across education, healthcare, and public services — directly comparable as the umbrella organization providing resources, advocacy, and structure to CFT.
• American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME): The largest U.S. public-sector union representing government employees — directly comparable as a fellow AFL-CIO public-sector federation with a similar per-capita-funded collective bargaining model, though broader than CFT's education-only scope.
• Service Employees International Union (SEIU): A major AFL-CIO public-sector union representing healthcare, property services, and public employees — directly comparable as a fellow public-sector federation with similar collective bargaining and political-advocacy functions, though with a different member composition than CFT.

Others

• AFL-CIO: The national labor federation of which CFT is an affiliate through AFT — relevant as the umbrella federation providing political coordination, organizing infrastructure, and inter-union solidarity rather than as a direct competitor for members.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/user/cftunionvideos
• Facebookfacebook.com/CFTunion
• Instagraminstagram.com/CFTunion
• Xx.com/CFTunion
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/california-federation-teachers

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles8 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about California Federation Of Teachers