Ted Fertik’s commitment to political transformation deepend as the global justice movement of the late 90s gave way to the “War on Terror” after the September 11th attacks, which he witnessed as a high school student in Rudy Giuliani’s New York City. From 2008-2010 Ted organized with the Working Families Party in New York and Oregon. While a graduate student in History at Yale University he was part of the rank-and-file leadership of GESO (now Local 33 of Unite Here), the long-running campaign to organize Yale’s graduate teachers and researchers, where he was trained by a host of tenacious and dedicated union organizers. Under the supervision of economic historians Adam Tooze and Naomi Lamoreaux he completed his PhD in History in 2018 with a dissertation on the international economics and politics of nationalism, globalization, and US global ascendancy in the interwar period. Ted’s work at GPP is all about helping people’s organizations chart a path to governing power. His writing has appeared in The Nation, Jacobin, In These Times, n+1, and New Labor Forum. He lives in Mount Vernon, NY with his partner and their four-year-old son, Obiora.
