Randi Weingarten has a vision to get kids back to school — and strong words for Jews who say unions are the obstacle Randi Weingarten during a March 9 Zoom call with the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. (Screenshot from Zoom) Advertisement (JTA) — As president of the American Federation of Teachers since 2008, Randi Weingarten has become the public face of the messy politics of figuring out how to educate 50 million children during a pandemic. It’s a familiar role for Weingarten, who often travels from her Manhattan home to her office in Washington, D.C., in order to lobby on behalf of the union’s 1.7 million members.