On March 22, Joshua Pechthalt delivered a “state of the union” address at the 72nd convention of the California Federation of Teachers (CFT). Union Watch, an organization that monitors California’s unions, called it “refreshingly candid.” It bluntly revealed the union’s political and social goals without wrapping them in rhetoric about educating children. Pechthalt declared:
[The CFT is] a beacon of progressive, social justice unionism. . . .