Aug. 1989: Albert Shanker, the president of the American Federation of Teachers, raises the issue of merger with the National Education Association at the AFT’s convention.
Dec. 1990: The NEA board of directors opens discussions on the possibility of merging with other teachers’ unions.
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July 1993: Delegates to the NEA’s Representative Assembly agree to open merger talks and reconsider the union’s 1976 policy banning affiliation with the AFL-CIO.
Sept. 1993: Negotiating teams for the NEA and the AFT begin merger talks.
Dec. 1994: Mr. Shanker and Keith B. Geiger, the NEA president, break off the talks. Teams were unable to reconcile different policies and traditions on voting procedures, term limits, and governance arrangements.
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July 1995: Delegates to the NEA Representative Assembly agree to resume merger talks, without preconditions.
July 1996: Members of both unions approve a “no raid’’ pact, in which the organizations agree not to recruit one another’s members or challenge each other’s bargaining rights.
Nov. 1997: Bob Chase, the new president of the NEA, and Sandra Feldman, the new president of the AFT, announce the creation of a 30-member joint council to address the issues of teacher quality, school safety and discipline, and school infrastructure needs.
Jan. 1998: Mr. Chase and Ms. Feldman release a joint progress report on unity talks, announcing conceptual agreement on key issues involved in creating what they call the “New Organization.’'
