Ten years ago, Chicago teachers modeled what a militant fight for public education looks like by walking off the job. A decade later, the legacy of social justice unionism continues to animate the U.S. labor movement.
At Paulo Freire Social Justice Charter School in Massachusetts, teachers say a hostile administration is trying to crush their union. In 1968, Paulo Freire, a famous Brazilian philosopher, authored the book Pedagogy of the Oppressed, a Marxist argument for using education to empower the downtrodden. In 2013, a charter school named in his honor was founded: the Paulo Freire Social Justice Charter …
A Charter School Named For the Author of “Pedagogy of the Oppressed” Is Union Busting Read More »
Working people across the United States have stepped up to help out our friends, neighbors and communities during these trying times. In our regular Service + Solidarity Spotlight series, we’ll showcase one of these stories every day. Here’s today’s story. The San Diego and Imperial Counties Labor Council recently organized a rally in support of …
With the Democrats’ failure to win an outright majority in the Senate and Republicans making surprising gains in the House, Joe Biden’s sweeping promises to expand American labor rights just got a lot harder to fulfill. Proposals pushed by Democratic lawmakers to raise the federal minimum wage to $15, expand workers’ ability to form unions …
Democrats’ lackluster performance in Senate spells trouble for labor Read More »
Powerful elites are willing to sacrifice the lives and futures of millions to feed their own profits. Teachers are fighting back. Demands for students and educators to return to in-person schooling during the pandemic are coming from Democrats and Republicans, both claiming the return is necessary not just to provide high-quality education, but to save …
What Does a “Safe Return” to School Look Like? Ask Teacher Unions. Read More »
The American Federation of Teachers will support its members if they decide to strike over the rush to reopen schools without regard for safety, the union announced Tuesday. The union has been pushing for increased federal funding to help schools reopen safely, but with Mitch McConnell’s Senate taking its sweet time and Donald Trump demanding in-person schooling regardless of …
Major teachers union will back ‘safety strikes’ to block unsafe school reopening Read More »
Reopening schools is a major workers’ issue in multiple ways. There are the workers inside schools: not just teachers but paraprofessionals, librarians, custodial workers, nurses. Their lives are at stake in the push to reopen schools without regard for safety. Then there are the parents whose ability to work rests in part on their kids …
Time to push back on the unsafe rush to reopen schools Read More »
Schools are a huge part of the economy—not just a place teachers and support staff and clerical workers and custodians work, but a place parents rely on to care for their kids so they can go to work. That means, as National Education Association President Lily Eskelsen García said in a statement, “The American economy cannot recover …
Teachers union weighs in on reopening schools safely Read More »
Olivia Udovic and her husband, Edgar Sánchez—both teachers in Oakland—are among millions of Americans receiving federal stimulus checks. The money didn’t stay in their bank account for long, however; the pair is part of a nationwide movement of teachers paying their checks forward to undocumented families in their schools. Udovic teaches kindergarten at Manzanita SEED …
Union Teachers Are Donating Their Stimulus Checks to the Undocumented Read More »
Chicago teachers say that just half of one percent of the Chicago Public Schools budget is between what they would accept to end their strike and the city’s current offer. That’s $38 million as the strike closes schools for a ninth day. Not only that, the teachers point to nearly $100 million of costs that have been …
Chicago teachers say 0.5% of the schools budget stands in the way of ending their strike Read More »
Madeline Messa is a 3L at Syracuse University College of Law. She graduated from Penn State with a degree in journalism. With her legal research and writing for Workplace Fairness, she strives to equip people with the information they need to be their own best advocate.
