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Teachers

The Chicago Teachers Union Won Big; What Comes Next?

September 9, 2023 Jim Daley, In These Times. , , , , ,
On the last Friday of summer break, Stacy Davis Gates was in high spirits. At a back-to-school party in the parking lot of Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) headquarters, she bounced from one group to another, smiling as she posed for photos with alderpersons, union activists, parents and children. Davis Gates, who has been the president of the CTU for a little over a year, has good reason to be happy. In April, Brandon Johnson, a former middle school teacher and CTU organizer, was elected mayor. And Chicago Public Schools (CPS) CEO Pedro Martinez, who often mentions that he’s a product of CPS, was also at the party, beaming and shaking hands.

Southern Washington Educators Are On Strike

September 9, 2023 Lyn Neeley, Workers World. , , , ,
A huge picket line stretched nearly a half mile around the Washington State Evergreen Public Schools headquarters on Sept. 1. It was the first day of school, and 1,500 educators from Evergreen County, on the third day of their strike, were joined by 450 Camas County educators who had been out since Aug 28. Evergreen School District No. 114 is a public school district in the state’s Clark County, and serves the city of Vancouver, Washington. Passing cars honked, and chants rose from a sea of red Tee-shirt-wearing teachers, all carrying strike signs reading “Evergreen Education Association: ON STRIKE!” Numerous local area businesses put up signs in their windows supporting the educators’ strike.

‘Big Bargaining’ In Oakland Led To Big Gains

August 30, 2023 Vilma Serrano and Tim Marshall, Labor Notes. , , ,
After a seven-month contract campaign and a seven-day strike, the Oakland Education Association won substantial raises and broad benefits, including “common good” demands. It was a hugely popular tentative agreement—ratified with a 90 percent yes vote, with nearly 80 percent of members voting—in large part because of our “big bargaining” approach, meaning an expanded bargaining team with robust communication back and forth with the members. Thanks to big bargaining, the union has 50 new leaders who have developed confidence and skills. Now they want to learn how to keep up the fight at their schools by enforcing the contract.

Plenty Of Black College Students Want To Be Teachers

July 20, 2023 Jill Barshay, Portside. , , , ,
A growing problem in American classrooms is that teachers don’t resemble the students they teach. Eighty percent of the nation’s 3.8 million public school teachers are white, but over half of their students are Black, Hispanic, Asian, Native American and mixed races. The small slice of Black teachers has actually shrunk slightly over the past decade from 7 percent in 2011–12 to 6 percent in 2020–21, while Black students make up a much larger 15 percent share of the public school student population. A Black teacher can make a positive difference for Black children. Research has shown that Black students are less likely to be suspended and more likely to be placed in gifted classes when they are taught by Black teachers.

New York City Teachers: Vote No And Fight For More

June 22, 2023 Keegan O'Brien, Left Voice. , , ,
Three years ago, we were essential frontline workers, heroes that kept this city running. Now; we are barely worth 3%. But our value is *so* much more than what this contract offers. Yes, there are some decent things, the city knew they couldn’t get away with giving us nothing, so they sprinkle in a few concessions to make it appear like they care; a sign on a bonus, a reduction in time it takes to move up in pay scale. These victories matter and we deserve them. We also need to be sober and honest with ourselves that sub inflation 3% annual raises, even with bonuses, utterly pale in comparison to what teachers desperately need and deserve in todays economic landscape, and essentially amount to a pay cut from previous years.

The 2023 Oakland Teachers Strike: An Assessment

June 16, 2023 Heath Madom, The Stansbury Forum. , , , ,
At the end of May, I closed the books on my tenth year as a classroom teacher, my seventh in Oakland Unified. When the year got underway back in August of 2022, I was hoping for something that had eluded me for most of my time in OUSD: an uninterrupted school year. While contract negotiations were set to take place, I did not anticipate any major escalation on the union front. For most of the year, that proved to be the case. But then shortly before spring break, word spread that the Oakland Education Association (OEA) bargaining team wanted to escalate to a potential strike before the end of the year.

Teachers’ Strikes: Government Is Refusing To Negotiate

April 27, 2023 Alexandra Topping, The Guardian. , , ,
Teaching unions have accused the government of stonewalling and refusing to enter into negotiations, as teachers in England and Northern Ireland started a fifth day of strikes on Thursday. Dr Mary Bousted, a co-head of the National Education Union, apologised to parents facing another day with their children not in school, but said teachers were striking for the future of education. She said there were strike exemptions for vulnerable children, and for children in years 6, 11, and 13 who were preparing for exams. “I apologise to the parents and say that this is not what the National Education Union wants to do, it’s not what its members want to do,” she said on the BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

65,000 Los Angeles Education Workers Are On A Historic Three-Day Strike

March 23, 2023 People's Dispatch. , , , , , ,
Los Angeles, California - 65,000 workers from Service Employees International Union Local 99 and United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA) began a three-day strike on Tuesday, March 21. SEIU Local 99 workers are striking amidst contract negotiations around higher salaries, more full-time work schedules, better treatment, and more staffing. The SEIU workers represent a broad cross section of school staff, such as bus drivers, custodians, campus aides, and cafeteria workers. The union claims that apart from refusing to budge on key workers’ demands such as a 30% raise and more full time hours, the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) is also harassing and threatening workers for participating in union activity.

Black Educators Are Reimagining A Better School System

March 22, 2023 Henry Hicks IV, In These Times. , , ,
Woodbridge, VA - The plastic sign displayed prominently on De’Ana Forbes’ classroom door is especially fitting this week. In big bold letters: ​“Warning! History Teacher Zone. Your understanding of the past may be corrected at any time.”  It’s early in this sleepy suburb 45 minutes outside Washington, D.C., and the sun is still rising over Freedom High School as students jog inside from late-arriving buses, backpacks half-hung over shoulders with winter coats swinging. They push through crowded hallways and hurry to first period.  Forbes, 28, who teaches U.S. history and social studies, is one of many teachers across the country participating in the annual Black Lives Matter at School Week of Action, held this year February 6 – 10.

‘If They Strike, We Won’t Cross The Picket Line’

March 21, 2023 Megan Giovannetti and Jasmin Joseph, In These Times. , , , , ,
Los Angeles, California - Following weeks of uncharacteristically gloomy days, the weather broke late in the afternoon on Wednesday, March 15, seemingly in preparation for the 4:30 PM Unite for Los Angeles Schools rally in Grand Park outside City Hall. The gathered crowd buzzed with excitement and righteous indignation. Drums and horns sounded, signs and t-shirts were given out and street vendors peddled everything from cotton candy to tacos, making the event feel more like a music festival than a rally. Our headliners? Leaders from two of the largest unions in Los Angeles County.

Teachers And Education Workers Set To Strike!

March 18, 2023 Julia Wallace, Left Voice. , , , ,
Los Angeles, California - On Wednesday March 15, tens of thousands of teachers and education workers rallied at the steps of Los Angeles City Hall.  The joint rally of K-12 teachers (UTLA) and education support staff (SEIU 99) was organized to announce plans for both unions to go on strike, with SEIU 99 taking the lead in the fight for better wages, improved staff to student ratios, and an end to harassment by administrators. The mood was lively, with a mariachi band made up of teachers playing for the crowd, teachers and support staff dancing to the music, and pockets of teachers and education workers striking up impromptu chants and banging on homemade drums.

Teachers’ Strike: Tories Go To War With NEU As Impasse Grows

March 15, 2023 Steve Topple, The Canary. , , , ,
The National Education Union (NEU) began two days of strike action on Wednesday 15 March. The teachers’ strike saw countless staff walk out across England. So, what does the Tory government do? It puts out some shameless, baseless propaganda to try and turn parents against the NEU. Fortunately, it so far doesn’t appear to have worked – and the trade union has also hit back. NEU members are striking over pay, working conditions, and students’ education. For example, the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) says governments have cut the real-terms pay of experienced and senior teachers by around £6,600 – or 13% – since 2010.

United Kingdom Teachers Join Strike Wave

March 3, 2023 Ross Domoney, The Real News Network. , , ,
The strikes in Britain are growing and this time it’s the teachers who have come out in force, demanding better wages amongst the cost of living crisis. On Feb. 1 up to 500,000 workers walked out in the UK, in one of the largest coordinated strike actions since the pensions dispute of 2011. It was a cross-union action which also saw train drivers going on strike as well as thousands of the government’s own civil servants. The teachers are refusing to back down in their demands and have promised further strike action and disruption in the coming months. TRNN heads to a protest in central London and speaks directly with the striking teachers, pupils, and other unions who have come out in support of the action.

This School District Is Recruiting And Retaining Teachers

February 16, 2023 Cinnamon Janzer, Next City. , , , ,
Across the U.S., a staggering 55% of teachers are thinking about leaving their profession earlier than they had planned, according to a National Education Association survey. Those who go through with the change would join the roughly 600,000 teachers who, per U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data, left the job between 2020 and 2022 — and the impacts on kids are dire. To fill the gaps created by the teacher shortage, classroom sizes swell, courses are canceled, and unqualified educators are brought on to fill open positions. One school district in Michigan has seen success with an innovative solution to help recruit and retain educators: Helping cover their rent and housing costs.

A letter From Teachers: ‘Who Will Replace Us When We Are Gone?’

February 15, 2023 Peter Baum, The Real News Network. , , , ,
From 2020 to 2022, educators faced the unprecedented circumstances of a pandemic, stagnated wages, and the hardships of virtual learning. Rising to meet these challenges put teachers on a strong footing in our ongoing fight for pay that is commensurate with our work. We have done what was asked of us and more, we have accomplished what seemed impossible and continue to work hard to make up for the learning that was lost during the pandemic—and, surely, that is worth the extra money. However, the negotiations between the teachers, Baltimore County, and the Board of Education have been plagued by bad faith, botched rollouts of measures secured in previous bargaining sessions, and confusion to the point that many of our staff simply do not know what they are supposed to make, let alone how valuable they are.
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