Syed Adnan serves as Director of Organizing and Political Outreach for The American Federation of Teachers - Pennsylvania (AFTPA.) AFT Pennsylvania is the state affiliate of AFT National, a labor union that represents the interests of 1.8 million union members primarily in the education, healthcare, and public services sectors in all 50 states and Overseas Territories of the United States. Syed is a first generation immigrant and grew up in Southwest Florida. He is an alumnus of Cape Coral High School and Florida International University in Miami. As a student he served as president of both the CCHS and FIU Model United Nations Programs, leading both programs to national rankings, including leading the FIU program to its number 1 ranking in 2019.

 

He is a fourth generation union and political organizer and activist and has fought for labor and democratic rights throughout North America. He has the privilege of working in multiple organizing roles in Florida, Georgia, both the Texan and Mexican sides of the Rio Grande Valley, and throughout Pennsylvania. As Director of AFT Pennsylvania, Syed has worked to represent the interests of education, healthcare, and public services employees throughout the United States. Syed began his labor organizing career formally in Atlanta with the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades District Council 77, where he served to direct labor organizing campaigns to protect workers facing exploitative business practices in the construction industry and among immigrant communities throughout the Southeast. Syed has helped workers to organize in The United States, Mexico, and Canada in the English, Spanish, French, and Bengali languages.

 

His commitment to the Labor Rights and Democracy and to his craft is deeply personal and is rooted in the experiences of his own family members. Syed’s grandfather was a trade unionist in the Former East Pakistan/ modern day Bangladesh, the country where his family traces their roots. In his grandfather’s role as a trade unionist, the Bengali Labor Movement organized protests and strikes which played a critical role in the collapse of the Ayub Khan military dictatorship in 1968 in Pakistan and the eventual liberation and establishment of the independent nation today known as Bangladesh in 1971. Syed’s mother, known to many in our community as Ms. Irene, has served as a teacher, paraeducator, and cafeteria worker in the Lee County School District for almost 25 years. Ms. Irene has spent the majority of her career at Cape Elementary School and still teaches today at Patriot Elementary in Cape Coral. Syed is proud to follow in his mother’s footsteps as staff for the exact same labor union that she has been a member of for most of his life. Syed’s brother is a university professional and doctor in the Jefferson Health System in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania fighting for patient-first policies in his profession. Witnessing his family's storied passion for democratic rights, education, activism, inspired him to join the fight as well.