BIOGRAPHY LUANA GIFFORD                             

Luana Gifford is the President of the Missouri Federation of Teachers.  The MFT is affiliated with the American Federation of Teachers and the AFL-CIO, and is the union representative for over 12,000 teachers and school support employees in Missouri, including the St. Louis and Kansas City School Districts.

hotel rooms HeraklionLuana is a former kindergarten teacher of thirty-two years.  She taught in Arkansas and southeastern Missouri before moving to Central Missouri in the early 1970s where she taught for twenty-five years in the Cole County R-V School District in Eugene, just south of Jefferson City. 

Luanas union involvement began in the 1980s when the Eugene school district continually dismissed the teachers appeals for better pay and improved working conditions.  She and her co-workers organized a local union of the AFT, the Eugene Federation of Teachers.  Luana served as the locals President and soon became involved in activities of the state AFT body, the Missouri Federation of Teachers.  She served on their Executive Board as both Treasurer and Vice President before being elected as the Federations President in 1996.

Luana is also a member of the Missouri AFL-CIO Executive Board and is Treasurer of the Jefferson City Central Labor Council.  She is a member of the Missouri Education Roundtable, the Governors Commission on Performance, she serves as Cole County Democrat Committeewoman for the  3rd Ward and a number of other education, labor and civic committees and associations.