Jennifer Kaseman
Director of Membership Growth and Organizing
This video is a sample of some of the organizing campaigns I have recently directed.
A Record of Change
I am a labor and education staff leader with extensive experience at New York State United Teachers and American Federation of Teachers in executive, regional, and statewide organizing roles, including direction of membership growth and organizing, regional staff leadership, and constituency programs and services. My experience spans leadership of large multi-level teams, oversight of organizing, contract, recognition, recruitment, retention, leadership development, and member engagement efforts across public and private sectors, with responsibility for budgets, staff supervision, strategic planning, legal-assistance review, and cross-functional coordination. My core strengths include campaign strategy, labor organizing, contract campaign design, strike readiness, staff and leader development, conflict resolution, coalition building, policy support, and operational improvement, complemented by strong capabilities in digital organizing, campaign research, data systems design, and training development.
A demonstrated ability to work with diverse locals
Poughkeepsie Public School Teachers Association pickets outside of the school board meeting on October 4, 2023.
AFT Regional Director: Southwest Mountain Region
“Jennifer and I worked together for many years. In 2015, I was the President of the Houston Federation of Teachers when Greg Abbott made his first run at taking over our school district. Jennifer helped us build a cross departmental team that increased our resources and capacity to fight and helped us develop a strategy to win. We were able to stave off a complete takeover for several years, and Jennifer was a key player in making this part of our fight successful.” —Zeph Capo, Texas AFT President
NYSUT Regional Staff Director: Mid Hudson Region
“Jennifer was such an incredible resource for our local. We are small—representing 115 members—but Jen worked with us as if we were the most important group there was. She listened, advised, and became part of our “family.” She understood the intricacies of being in a small town and yet pushed us to be strong. I am incredibly grateful for the time I spent working alongside of her. She made a true difference for our members and made me a much better president.” —Matt Haynes, Tri-Valley Teachers Association and NYSUT Board of Directors
Experience Directing Large Scale Campaigns
Directed AFT’s campaign to engage and mobilize members in preparation for the Janus decision.
Built cohesion between members and their unions to strengthen engagement and alignment.
Converted agency fee payers through targeted organizing and mobilization efforts.
Mobilized members around key issues to demonstrate collective power and prepare affiliates for raids from anti-union organizations.
Developed field training programs and recruitment plans to scale up organizing, mobilization, and attrition response efforts.
Developed and implemented an organizing plan that resulted in over 560,000 conversations and over 800,000 actions.
Developed digital-based tools and materials to support affiliate preparation for the Janus decision in 18 states.
Developed AFT’s first nationally supported member organizer program, deployed in 10 states, including large-scale programs in New York and Florida.
Created staffing supports for affiliates, including networks, lead organizer training, and webinars.
Led a team that trained more than 8000 leaders on one-on-one conversations, worksite leader identification and recruitment, and member mobilization skills.
Organizing Director at AFT: Preparation for the Janus Decision
A Catalogue of Leadership Development
Over the years, I have trained thousands of leaders. I design, write, train trainers, recruit participants and fuss over all of the logistics. Highlights from the last couple of years are below.
Local Action Project
“When Jennifer became the director in charge of NYSUT’s Local Action Project, she brought staff together who cared about the program to discuss its direction as a team to take a good program and make it a great one. Through this discussion, we assessed that the goals for locals were basic and lacked ambition and the program didn’t develop the capacity needed to exercise power. Too many projects culminated with a nice result, but none really made real change. We knew that this program could transform NYSUT if we taught locals how to build a sound foundation, learn how to build and implement a comprehensive campaign and how to demand real solutions to problems their members and communities face. Since 2019, our locals went from projects culminating in coat drives to projects culminating in building entire community schools. This is changing how we do the work in New York.” —Mark Dwyer, NYSUT Labor Relations Specialist
BIPOC Pathways to Leadership
“BIPOC Pathways to Leadership was a life altering experience. I came in with an open mind ready to take on whatever opportunities the Union offered me. Through the experience I was able to learn how to turn my passion into a leadership role. I’m am living my dreams as a teacher as well as a Union Leader. I’ve gained a family that I know I can always count on. I’ve had the chance to work with unions affiliated with the AFL-CIO as well as introduce my students to the world of careers in which they could join a union. BIPOC allowed me to find my place in NYSUT. I look forward to continuing to build and grow within.” —LaShonda Bradberry, Cheektowaga Central Teachers Association
Contract Campaign Training
Member Organizing Institute
Oversaw the implementation of statewide conferences, webinars, leadership trainings, and hundreds of local trainings across the state, including School Related Personnel Conference, Health and Safety Conference, Healthcare Conference, New Local Presidents Conference, Leadership Institute, Local Action Project, and Retiree Leadership programs.
Supported the leadership of NYSUT committees focused on health and safety, health care, small and rural locals, SRP, and retirees, while contributing to policy development through NYSUT issues committees and identifying leadership and staff development needs through targeted instruction creation.
Created and launched NYSUT's BIPOC Pathways Leadership Program, a one year leadership development initiative designed to create opportunities and strengthen leaders within our members of color ranks, and established NYSUT's Members of Color Action and Affinity Conference.
Developed and advanced major statewide initiatives, including NYSUT's version of Implicit Bias Training with NEA, the SRP Mentor Program that trained 25 teams and implemented 22 SRP mentorship programs across the state, the redesigned three year Local Action Project, Workplace Violence Training supporting over 1200 locals in implementing a new New York law for public school workers, the Collective Care Team Program and Coalition, and NYSUT's School Nurse Network.
My recent accomplishments: