Chicago, IL – A flood of red shirts washed into the downtown headquarters of Chicago Public Schools (CPS) on Thursday afternoon, March 20, during the March Board of Education meeting. Members of the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) gathered to demand the settlement of their contract after nearly a year of negotiations.

CTU has already published three pages of contract demands on which they have won tentative agreements. The new contract will require greater investment in public education, which depends on a budget amendment that would allow the school district to cover the additional costs incurred by the new contract as well as pension payments for teachers and paraprofessionals.

Bargaining is currently stalled on a handful of points. These include smaller class sizes, higher pay for veteran teachers and paraprofessionals, more elementary school prep time, and reducing inequality in the teacher evaluation system.

“I want to thank the negotiations team for working very hard. We are extremely, extremely close to a settlement,” Chicago School Board President Sean Harden said while explaining that the budget amendment, originally up for a vote at Thursday's meeting, was withdrawn from the agenda to give CTU and CPS more time to reach an agreement.

The major stumbling block in negotiations has been Chicago Public Schools CEO Pedro Martinez, who stormed out of a meeting with CTU leadership and Mayor Brandon Johnson on Wednesday afternoon. Martinez has not attended a single bargaining session since they began last April, but he has stalled negotiations by filing a temporary restraining order to prevent CTU from negotiating directly with the school board and by proposing a budget which made no provisions for increased pay or any other item in the contract.

“For Pedro to decide that he doesn’t want to invest in our future after we’ve worked hard for years and paid our dues, after we’ve done our work making schools open on time, to say we don’t deserve a pension is a slap in the face,” Christel Williams, the recording secretary of CTU and a school clerk, said at a press conference before the meeting. Williams was speaking specifically about paraprofessionals and school related personnel, who are often treated as a second tier by CPS.

“As Trump and Musk bring chaos into our school system, we need a contract and we need it today,” Williams added.

“This board can work together with us to secure the most transformative contract in the history of Chicago Public Schools,” Vicki Kurzydlo, a 31-year veteran educator, emphasized the issues of veteran teacher pay and elementary school prep time.

“Teachers in my building are routinely robbed of their prep time,” elementary school music teacher Kathryn Zamarron said during public comments section of the boad meeting. CTU is demanding 20 additional minutes of prep time for teachers. This is a step towards bringing back 30 minutes of prep time lost under Rahm Emanuel’s administration.

“This system only works because of our free labor,” Zamarron continued. After giving her comment, Zamarron returned to grading her student’s work. She was joined at the podium by dozens of CTU members who also came to the meeting after working in a school system damaged by decades of local and federal defunding of public education.

“In these times of a massive assault on public education by Donald Trump and the oligarchs, we need the highest quality, strongest and most engaging community schools,” said Marc Kaplan, an organizer with Northside Action for Justice, who stressed the importance of a transformative local contract in light of intensifying federal attacks on public education.

Minutes before Kaplan spoke, Trump signed an executive order to dismantle the Department of Education. If the order is successfully carried out, schools around the country will be without funding for special education and other crucial programs.

Since Trump's election in November, CTU has uplifted their contract demands as a “forcefield” around Chicago designed to protect the city's students. One win in their 2019 contract, keeping schools as sanctuary spaces, has already successfully defended children from federal agents who attempted to enter Hamline elementary in January.

The next day’s negotiations saw a counteroffer from CPS which did not offer continuous prep time, pushing a settlement back by at least another day.

On Friday afternoon, March 21, CTU held a joint press conference with the firefighter’s union, which has been stalled for three years in negotiations, to demand the settlement of both contracts. The joint conference is an example of the solidarity CTU is building not only to settle its contract, but also to galvanize labor and the people’s movements in united action against Trump’s agenda.

“Since 2012, Chicago has been a place of resistance,” CTU president Stacy Davis Gates said at the Friday press conference, citing Rahm Emanuel’s massive school closing campaign which shut down 50 schools in 2013. “If anyone in this country wants to know how to resist the tyranny of people who want to privatize and close off opportunities, you can come to Chicago.”

#ChicagoIL #IL #Labor #CTU #Teachers #Contract

Santa Ana, CA – Over 200 educators rallied to the Santa Ana Chamber of Commerce Tuesday, January 29 to protest budget cuts and layoffs of up to 546 employees.

Elementary and secondary school teachers, counselors, curriculum specialists and social workers, as well as local union members, parents and children filled the chamber. Even more were forced into the overflow room and hallway of the district building.

Last month Santa Ana School District (SAUSD) approved a “Budget Stabilization Plan” that threatened to cut many of these workers. District Superintendent Jerry Almendarez said the decision was a necessary sacrifice that would not severely impact students and families. At the same time, no management positions were considered for layoffs: Almendarez received $447,561 in compensation in 2022, and the meeting agenda originally included a proposed 3% salary raise and one time 3% bonus for him before community backlash changed the board’s mind.

Ironically, despite this crisis, it was not public educators but pro-charter school activists who were first to speak. Compass Charter School advocates complained about large class sizes in public schools and praised hybrid and homeschool teaching, which are unrealistic models for working-class families in Santa Ana. Parent Max Page said he felt “safe” dropping his kids off at Compass, insinuating that SAUSD schools are dangerous. All of the Compass Charter students and teachers were white, in a city which is 77% Latino/Chicano according to 2020 census data.

Meanwhile, public school teacher Vladimir Benitez said in Spanish, “First of all, to all the immigrant families, we see you! We love you. We are here to support you. I know what is happening in your lives – my parents were also undocumented immigrants in the 90s when we had Pete Wilson, but we are still here! And we are going to remain here!”

Benitez continued, “Cutting the number of teachers that they want to cut in this historical moment – history is going to see, ‘What did we do?’ If you don’t feel any shame for cutting resources to these children, then I do not know why you are here!”

Educators in the overflow room cheered and demanded “No layoffs! No cuts!” despite warnings from the board to be silent.

Special education teacher Edith Esqueda said, “I’m here tonight as a concerned teacher, deeply invested in the future of our district.” To the board members and superintendents, she said, “One day you guys are gonna pack your stuff and move to the next best thing; we are here to stay!”

Esqueda said, “The heart of our district is not in offices, but in our classrooms where all our students are at.”

Protesters in the audience held signs that read “351 layoffs is the unimaginable,” a reference to SAUSD slogan “Imagine the unimaginable” plastered on district promotional materials this year.

Tanya Guzman, a teacher with SAUSD for 31 years, said, “As I pondered the magnitude of the proposed eliminations before us, I couldn’t help but ponder the ‘imagine the unimaginable’ theme for this school year. This theme has taken on a new significance as we imagine the unimaginable consequences that these cuts will create. It is unimaginable that learning will not be impacted by the proposed reductions.”

Erica Gonzalez spoke as an SAUSD alumni and parent, and she reinforced the previous speaker Albert Castillo’s points about “the $10.4 million dollars annually that goes to the 85 Santa Ana Police Department officers that are on campus 24 hours a day, seven days a week, even during the summer.” She said, “SAUSD has the third largest school police agency in all of California.”

Social worker Luz Gonzalez spoke on the vital support she offers to students, giving real-life examples of her work, “Third student of the day walks into her session, confiding her fears of looming mass deportations. Her family plan? Her parents would leave her 18-year-old sister in charge of her and her 11-year-old brother. She’s overwhelmed and terrified.”

Looking directly at Almendarez and in response to potential social worker layoffs she asked, “How much are you willing to risk?”

Public pressure forced the meeting to end near midnight without a vote on teacher layoffs. The board scheduled a special meeting to decide on the Stabilization Plan on Friday, January 31.

Protesters at the meeting included SAUSD educators, Santa Ana Educators Association (SAEA) members, National Union of Health Care Workers union members, and Communication Workers of America Local 9510 members (CWA).

#SantaAnaCA #CA #Labor #Teachers #SAEA #CWA #Layoffs #Feature

Saint Paul, MN – 110 members of the Saint Paul Federation of Educators Local 28 (SPFE) gathered on Monday, November 25 for a member meeting in which a vote was held for the union local to sign on to a letter urging President Biden to enact an arms embargo on Israel and work towards a ceasefire in Gaza, and to put pressure on their national union, the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) to do the same.

SPFE’s Progressive Caucus first introduced this resolution in October. With 55% voting in favor, the resolution passed.

Seven national unions, including the National Education Association (NEA) and the United Auto Workers (UAW), and locals including the Minneapolis Federation of Teachers Local 59 (MFT) and the MN Association of Professional Employees (MAPE), have signed onto the public letter named in the SPFE resolution.

During the meeting SPFE members highlighted how the United States government is using tax dollars to help carry out a genocide while schools remain critically underfunded. Members brought attention to the government funding of Lockheed Martin which is assisting the genocide in Gaza as well as the anti-immigrant violence on the U.S./Mexico border.

One member shared, “We have a responsibility to use the power our union holds to push our lawmakers to stop arming a genocide and stop funding companies like Lockheed Martin who profit from suffering.”

Another member noted that they advocate for an arms embargo to interrupt a cycle of violence and “to show students in our district that when leaders break promises, other adults will stand up for them.”

Some members suggested that the Progressive Caucus and supporters of the resolution only cared about the genocide in Palestine because it is “trendy” to do so. Others speaking out against the resolution criticized the newly-formed caucus for not bringing resolutions forth on other international issues. Some argued against the resolution on the grounds that LGBTQ+ Palestinians are persecuted in Gaza, to which members responded by sharing the experiences of queer Palestinians living under Israeli occupation.

Members speaking against the resolution also suggested that the resolution would cause Jewish students and teachers to feel unsafe in Saint Paul Public Schools, falsely equating anti-Zionism with antisemitism and suggesting that a critique of a state government is the same as hatred towards a national or ethnic group.

Elowyn Pfeiffer, a social studies teacher, shared, “Our union is our source of power as working people. Through our solidarity, we fight injustice.”

As unions have proven throughout history, working class solidarity with oppressed people across the world furthers the power that a union has to fight for change locally. SPFE’s solidarity with the people of Palestine is a lever for change in Saint Paul schools.

#StPaulMN #MN #AntiWarMovement #Palestine #Teachers #MFT #MAPE

The event featured prominent speaker Taher Herzallah, the director of outreach and grassroots organizing for American Muslims for Palestine (AMP). Herzallah was the primary target of the vocal attacks by Zionists and Mayor Frey in the lead-up to the event. Herzallah was labeled an antisemite, and the event was denounced as a sign of antisemitism in public education unions. Despite this opposition, rank-and-file members of both chapters of the Minneapolis Federation of Teachers (MFT 59) enjoyed Palestinian food, breakout sessions and well-informed discussions.

The attack on Taher Herzallah and the unionists seems to originate in part with the Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC), a national Zionist pressure group, and far-right website Alpha News.

Jewish Voices for Peace (JVP) Twin Cities explained in their statement, “As Minneapolis Jews, we are outraged by the shameful provocation from the JCRC and Mayor Frey. We are grateful for Taher’s tireless work in speaking out against Israel’s ongoing attacks in Palestine and Lebanon and his years of multifaith organizing for justice, and we are grateful to MFT Educators for Palestine for organizing this important event.”

“Herzallah and I are clear that Zionism – which claims Jewish safety requires a nation-state where Jews have more rights than others – is a political movement that must be condemned, that Jews are a politically diverse group and that we can work together across faith lines for justice,” said Rabbi Jessica Rosenberg of JVP’s Rabbinical Council in a separate statement, adding they “look forward to working with Herzallah for years to come.” She called for an apology to Herzallah, detailing her years of work shoulder-to-shoulder with him.

Mayor Frey released a video parroting right-wing critics of public schools and teachers’ unions. Frey said teachers need to teach reading and math, not what he called “hate, pure and simple.” He called for the event’s cancellation. Nevertheless, the event was a major success and kept Herzallah as its main event speaker. It marks another loss for JCRC’s reactionary campaigns locally. Previously the JCRC’s Minneapolis operation failed in major campaigns to stop a Minneapolis city council ceasefire resolution and to prevent multiple unions from taking pro-Palestine, anti-Zionist actions.

The attack from the JCRC is particularly egregious, considering many of the members of the Free Palestine Coalition served on the solidarity committee for MFTs historic strike, while JCRC offered no material, written, or verbal support. Many in the Free Palestine Coalition are union members, or, like Taher Herzallah, are active supporters of unions and workers fighting for the right to organize.

The breakout sessions included lessons from Jewish educators about the differences between anti-Zionism and antisemitism. Teachers also learned about the ongoing campaign to divest unions and Minnesota from apartheid Israel.

The divestment breakout focused on the Minnesota State Board of Investment (SBI). It manages Minneapolis Public Schools’ teacher, education support professional and public worker pensions, and has extensive holdings in Israel. Event organizers and attendees expressed outrage at the investment board’s ongoing decision to invest in Israel's apartheid and genocide, but were determined to work collectively toward divestment, a material contribution in the Palestine solidarity movement.

MFT 59 members have repeatedly given public comment at meetings of the SBI, demanding that it take immediate action to divest from apartheid Israel. Class struggle unionists celebrated this victory while looking ahead, members will make their voices heard at the upcoming SBI meeting on Tuesday, December 10.

#MinneapolisMN #MN #AntiWarMovement #Labor #Teachers #MFT59 #AMP #Palestine

Chicago IL – On June 7, the last day of the Chicago Public Schools 2023-24 calendar, over 300 paraprofessionals and school related personnel and teachers were laid off due to budget cuts.

Members of the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) attended the board of education meeting on Thursday June 27, to demand an end to layoffs as a part of the broader demand for fully staffed, fully funded schools. They explained the devastating effects these layoffs have on school staff and on students. The union is currently in contract negotiations with Chicago Public Schools, which is led by CEO Pedro Martinez.

“CEO Martinez ought to be ashamed of himself. We’re talking about 330 people who are connected to thousands of Black and brown families,” said CTU Recording Secretary Christel Williams Hayes at a press conference before the meeting.

“I do not understand how these budget cuts were made. Make it make sense. How will you make sure students will feel comfortable in their buildings without these veterans in their schools?” asked Sandra Lockhart, an instructional assistant who was laid off after 20 years of working at the same school. Lockhart is one of many paraprofessionals and school related personnel (PSRPs) laid off after serving their communities for decades. Many of these educators are breadwinners who cannot easily commute to other neighborhoods and acclimate to new schools.

“Why are you cutting off vital services? Why are you cutting one on one attention in oversized classrooms? The support of counselors, justice coordinators and people who protect student safety? You are cutting the backbone of our schools,” declared CTU organizer Tanille Evans.

“I’ve constantly advocated for our students who administrators see as criminals. I fight for them to be seen as human beings,” said Edward Ward, a restorative justice coordinator who was laid off for the second year in a row.

“The work I do, the work we do, we are not disposable. At the end of the day, it’s the students who suffer,” Ward added.

Chicago Public Schools (CPS) CEO Pedro Martinez and members of the board of education admitted during the meeting that Chicago's schools are struggling to adequately serve Black and brown children, and that the numbers of disabled, homeless and newly immigrated students have increased by thousands. The board, however, did not discuss or respond to questions about layoffs.

CTU members exposed the hypocrisy of a school district that claims to aim for equity also laying off overwhelmingly Black and brown staff who are crucial to the achievement of Chicago’s majority Black and brown students.

“You can’t say that we are moving in a direction that honors the voices of young people, then cut 20 restorative justice coordinators,” said CTU President Stacy Davis Gates. “85% of PSRPs are Black and brown women. Their work is often made invisible, but when the schools open we won’t see invisible work, we’ll see schools falling apart.”

“Budgets are moral documents, and there are things in this budget that do not compute,” CTU Vice President Jackson Potter stated in the board meeting. Potter pointed to years of financial mismanagement by previous elected officials such as former mayor Rahm Emanuel and Governor Bruce Rauner, which left CPS in a $400 million budget deficit after the end of federal COVID funding, as the reason why layoffs occur.

“Those bad actors must be called out and held accountable, pushed to renegotiate, and pay back revenue that translates to things like libraries and librarians,” Potter explained.

The current CTU contract, won in 2019 after a strike during the administration of then-Mayor Lori Lightfoot, expires on June 30. At this moment, with former teacher and CTU organizer Brandon Johnson as mayor, the union has, according to their communications department, “an opportunity for transformative change that can genuinely address the segregation, privatization, and budget cuts that have harmed Chicago students for so long.”

However, the Chicago Teachers Union still expects a struggle against “bad actors.” It’s public statement concluded: “We still have to grapple with a stubborn bureaucracy, inadequate state funding, and wealthy corporations funding Trump and the Illinois Policy Institute in order to pay fewer taxes and defund public education. Easy or not, we will set a new standard for public schools in Chicago.”

#ChicagoIL #IL #Labor #CTU #teachers #layoffs

Los Angeles, CA – Thousands of spirited Los Angles Unified School District (LAUSD) workers rallied on May 7 to protest proposed cutbacks and layoffs by Superintendent Alberto Carvalho.

In front of LAUSD headquarters, the educator’s union, United Teachers of Los Angles (UTLA) and SEIU 99 school workers voiced a united strong message of “no cutbacks and no layoffs” that will hurt students.

Ainelda Gonzalez, a Miramonte teacher and UTLA chapter chair stated, “Cutbacks will hurt our students with cuts to counselor hours and cuts to teacher aides, who are vital in supporting student learning and development.

At the rally, UTLA President Cecily Myart-Cruz gave a strong message saying what LAUSD workers won in 2023 in the three-day strike will not be cut!

UTLA reported in their bulletin, “By unilaterally cutting school-site budgets, Carvalho is creating chaos as schools scramble to save as many positions as possible. With a projected $6.27 billion in reserves, Carvalho and the district are trying to undermine what we fought for out on the picket lines and won — class size reductions and increased staffing to support our students’ mental health, well-being, and academic achievement.”

The rally was attended by many community organizations, including Reclaim Our Schools, a coalition advocating for public education. A delegation of Centro CSO attended and joined the loud chanting, “No cutbacks!”

Centro CSO members circulated a flier on our campaign to stop the construction of a large Extera charter school in an East Los Angeles residential community. This project would cause pollution, traffic and parking problems. An appeal hearing is set for September 17 at the LA County board of supervisors meeting on a motion by Supervisor Hilda Solis. Centro CSO encourages people to attend and send public comments opposing the Extera construction project.

Centro CSO is a long-time strong ally of UTLA and advocates for public education against privatization by charter schools.

#LosAngelesCA #CA #Labor #Teachers #LAUSD #UTLA #CentroCSO

Waukesha, WI – On July 12, nearly 800 people silently rallied to support Waukesha public school teacher Melissa Tempel. Waukesha Alliance for Education organized the rally and encouraged participants to wear black armbands. This is a subtle nod to Mary Beth Tinker, the lead plaintiff in the Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District ruling, a landmark 1969 decision regarding censorship in education settings.

The Waukesha School District (WSD) held a hearing for Tempel, a teacher at Heyer Elementary School. Tempel was also a union representative within the Wisconsin Education Association Council (WEAC) Region 7. The hearing was held to consider the recommendation made for Melissa Tempel's termination. The rally was heavily monitored by Waukesha area police at the specific request of the reactionary Waukesha school board members.

This is following the denial from Tempel’s supervisor, the principal of Heyer Elementary, to use the song Rainbowland by Miley Cyrus (featuring Dolly Parton) in a school play. It then went to the school board where they said that the song was “too controversial.”

This decision comes after a ban that WSD introduced that censored material related to “Black lives matter'' and “Pride.” Upon the passage of this policy, WSD Superintendent James Sebert and Deputy Superintendent Joe Koch stated in a letter, “Our advocacy for curricular resources and support for learning are never ending, but our personal beliefs and convictions must stay out of the classroom.”

Tempel and other union teachers took a strong position in 2021 against the bans. The Milwaukee Teachers’ Education Association (a WEAC affiliate), the National Educators Association and Free Little Library created a “Read Banned Books” campaign that focused on censorship policies in public schools.

The majority of WSD board members align with reactionary views. The Wisconsin Achievement Partnership (WAP) is a non-profit organization that is staunchly anti-union and anti-LGBTQ. WAP is an organization that most Waukesha school board members have strong ties to. The organization held a counter-protest in support of Tempel’s termination.

Tempel’s supporters argue that she was exercising her First Amendment rights. The right to free speech was seen across the many signs at the rally. Many of Tempel’s fellow educators at the event indicated that it’s important for them to show up for her because this could happen to any one of them.

In spite of the mass protest, the Waukesha School District board voted 9-0 to move forward with Tempel’s termination. She plans to follow up with a federal lawsuit focused on First Amendment violations. While the school board ruling comes as a disappointment, Tempel has an overwhelming number of supporters and fellow teachers willing to fight for what’s best for their students, and Tempel herself is committed to continuing the struggle, not only for herself but for her fellow educators as well as the students she cares deeply about.

#WaukeshaWI #Labor #teachers #Wisconsin #TeachersUnions

Chicago, IL – The bell rang, and teachers, staff and students slowly rolled out the school doors. Today they were all wearing union red at the two Instituto del Progeso Latino (IDPL) schools in Chicago. They grabbed signs and started to chant and picket, “Who’s schools? Our schools!”

Many educators spoke of a toxic workplace where there is no response to staff concerns. “Our boss doesn’t respect the educators or the students at Instituto,” said CTU Council Chair Skot Holcombe, “in spite of this, we are fully united in the fight for our students and for our union.”

As the school year rolls past spring break, workers at the 12 unionized charter networks in Chicago are without a contract. The Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) represents about 1200 members at 35 schools who are demanding equal pay for equal work and fully staffed schools with the social and emotional supports students deserve.

Days earlier a similar protest happened at the Chicago School for the Arts where the school’s private sector board cancelled its regular meeting rather than face protesters demanding that they put the public tax money they receive from Chicago Public Schools into classrooms, not boardrooms.

And more is yet to come. CTU has announced that it will protest the management of Acero Charter Schools at their board meeting on Wednesday, April 19. Acero is the largest unionized charter school network in Chicago, with 15 schools. CTU has also announced that it will participate in the Chicago May Day rally and march on April 29.

“Four year ago, we simultaneously – and successfully – struck three employers, including Instituto, on May Day. This is an important day of struggle for our educators, our students and the entire working class,” said Chris Baehrend, who was the chair of the CTU Charter School Division at that time.

The multiemployer contract battle in the Chicago charter schools promises to give an interesting finish to the 2022-23 school year

#ChicagoIL #teachers #TeachersUnions

Tampa, FL – Members of the Hillsborough County teachers union packed the school board meeting, September 20, to demand a better contract that takes teachers' needs for a livable salary into account. A sea of the union's red shirts confronted the board members and the county's superintendent, who with faux concern, offered nothing but the platitude that he “heard” teachers’ concerns.

The crisis could not have been clearer to anyone with eyes and ears, as union members shared stories not just of having to work second jobs for pennies, but unsafe conditions for students. One teacher said that because of understaffing due to a lack of funding, students were left without school counselors, wandering the campus, vaping in bathrooms, fighting and wandering off campus. Teachers emphasized to the school board that it was impossible to be pro-student and anti-teacher. School officials even suggested a plan to train high school students in technical repair and assign them to repair district computers and electronics, owing to a lack of adequate staff.

Eager to pretend that the crisis is over, public officials promulgated a story in the local press claiming the school staffing crisis was over. Several teachers referenced this absurd bald-faced lie, and how outrageous it is to ask teachers to disbelieve their own experiences working at severely understaffed schools.

Teacher’s demands are reasonable, with the same costs as district proposal. Teachers need a competitive wage that precludes them from having to work two or more jobs, sometimes working 21 or more hours additionally; adequate staffing that allows students to be monitored and kept safe; and working conditions that allow for learning, with often classrooms of 40-plus students and in sweltering temperatures over 90 degrees F in classrooms at times.

All this occurs in the backdrop of Florida siphoning over $1 billion this coming fiscal year from public education toward private school vouchers. Dismantling public education has long been a project of reactionaries in government like Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who would like an educational system that is not unionized, and which allows greater latitude to discriminate and for racist, homophobic curricula.

The increase in private school vouchers has outpaced increases in public school funding, and the aid comes directly from state and local aid to schools, meaning that districts are more reliant on local funding, contributing to the crisis.

Residents of Tampa Bay have already been fighting for rent controls and housing aid, a people’s budget that prioritizes people not profit, but, much like Tampa city council, school officials and the school board are all too ready to throw up their hands and claim that there’s nothing they can do to adequately fund the needs of those they supposedly serve.

Teachers deserve their contract proposals met, better conditions, and respect for their years of service. With the deterioration of conditions in the school system and no sign of a slowdown in the explosion of rent costs, the need for a united front that challenges the status quo has never been clearer.

#TampaFL #teachers #union #TeachersUnions

On multiple occasions the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) – representing the educators – requested to continue negotiations in good faith. However, Urban Prep management did not agree to meet again until 5:30 p.m. on Monday, June 7, after the strike was already underway.

The educators and Urban Prep management went on to bargain late into Monday night, but Urban Prep refused to compromise on several of the central issues that matter to the educators and students. No deal was reached and the strike continues.

One important sticking point is Urban Prep’s refusing to put students’ special education rights into the labor contract, where they would be enforceable. Management is also demanding an extended period to fire educators even if the educator is highly qualified. Urban Prep charter schools are well known to have a dangerously high turnover of educators.

The CEO of Urban Prep makes nearly as much money for overseeing three charter schools as the Chicago Public Schools CEO makes to oversee more than 500 Chicago public schools. The CTU is calling the question on this abuse of public monies.

In addition, CTU says Urban Prep has a long history of resorting to the use of payday loan terms and ‘sales of future receivables’ contracts with merchant cash advance organizations to finance school operations. It is otherwise unheard of for public schools to enter into these sorts of shady contracts because they come with shockingly high interest rates over time at the public’s and students’ expense. In fact, Urban Prep has paid more than $1.6 million to merchant cash advance businesses.

Urban Prep also received $3 million in forgivable COVID PPP loans, yet the teachers say they see no evidence that those funds have made it to the classroom or been used for education.

The strike is ongoing as public pressure grows on Urban Prep and its CEO.

#ChicagoIL #teachers #strike #Strikes #TeachersUnions #CTU #charterSchools #ChicagoTeachersUnion

Chicago, IL – Students in Chicago Public Schools (CPS) stayed home and learned remotely again on Thursday, January 28. The Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) continued to demand that any return to in-person learning be done in a safe way. Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot had ordered all teachers back to the classroom on Wednesday the 27th but was forced to backtrack and tell parents to keep their kids home again Thursday.

CPS has been demanding that 80% of school staff return in person and has refused to allow accommodations for staff who live in households with people who are in high-risk categories according to the Centers for Disease Control. CPS has also refused to provide weekly testing for unvaccinated staff and students at schools. In binding arbitration on October 2, CPS was ordered to allow school clerks and technology coordinators to work remotely, but the school system has yet to comply with that order.

The Chicago Teachers Union is seeking a health metric based on CDC guidance, a phased reopening, access to vaccinations for educators, and enforceable safety standards in school buildings, which have struggled to meet even basic needs for PPE, adequate ventilation and clean facilities. Because Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s CPS team has refused to offer vaccinations to educators before ordering them into school buildings, and has not been willing to agree to a phased-in resumption of in-person learning, the Chicago Teachers Union has now publicly called for mediation to resolve the impasse.

The teachers say that they continue to teach and want to continue to teach safely. To that end, their union has proposed critical precautions necessary for a safe return to in-person learning, but all of those precautions have been rejected by the Board of Education.

CTU President Jesse Sharkey said, “We are willing to keep teaching, but CPS has said they will lock us out. We are willing to keep negotiating, but CPS has refused to back down from insisting that 80% of educators and support staff return on February 1 to serve fewer than 20% of the students. Another 10,000 of our members became eligible for vaccinations on January 25. We can make schools safe with a phased reopening and enhanced COVID-19 testing for members of school communities.”

“It’s obvious to everyone but CPS and the mayor that parents aren’t sending their children back because they do not believe schools are safe or that COVID is under control,” said CTU Vice President Stacy Davis Gates. “This is especially true for Black and brown families. CPS does not need 80% of educators back in school to serve 19% of students. This makes no sense in a pandemic that continues to infect one in eight people in many of the Black and brown Chicago neighborhoods that have already shouldered a disproportionate burden of COVID disease and death. Our families want safety. Our educators want safety, yet CPS continues to refuse to negotiate an agreement that builds in that safety, and instead, has threatened to lock out tens of thousands of educators who have a right to safe workplaces to educate our schoolchildren.”

Only 19% of eligible students returned to pre-K and special education cluster programs on January 11, and in some cases teachers are being told to come in to schools in which not one family has opted in to the hybrid model in person learning, which shows that there is broad agreement in the community that the current CPS plan is not safe.

#ChicagoIL #PeoplesStruggles #teachers #union #TeachersUnions #CTU #pandemic #COVID

Half of the pre-K and special education cluster teachers in elementary and high schools scheduled to start teaching from school buildings refused to work in-person on January 4, electing instead to continue teaching students safely by remaining remote. Workers who did go in on Monday have also reported serious safety issues at their schools.

70% of Black and brown families continue to reject sending hundreds of thousands of their children back into unsafe school buildings. At the same time, a growing body of evidence shows that schools in neighborhoods with high COVID rates can increase spread of the virus. That’s a critical issue for families and educators, who fear both contracting the virus and inadvertently passing it along to elders or medically vulnerable household members.

A growing number of Local School Councils are also passing resolutions urging CPS to wait to reopen until the pandemic is under control. And more than 10,000 CTU members have pledged to oppose the mayor’s plan to reopen classrooms starting this week, with numbers increasing by the day.

Educators who returned to schools on Monday almost immediately began reporting problems with cleanliness, safety protocols, ventilation and more, with some members saying their rooms appeared not to have been cleaned since last March. Chicago Teachers Union members reported issues that ranged from no sinks or hot water sources for handwashing to lack of PPE and filthy classrooms.

#ChicagoIL #PeoplesStruggles #teachers #pandemic #Chicao #WFH

The event is called “Blackout for the Benchmarks” using the hashtag #RIPMetrics in order to highlight the neglect of state and county COVID-19 health benchmarks and safety metrics demonstrated by these school districts. State Superintendent of Schools Kathy Hoffman recommended at least two weeks of virtual learning as students return from winter break. Reactionary Governor Doug Ducey has publicly rejected this recommendation even as hospitals report their bed and staff capacities are reaching crisis levels.

The Chandler School District is located in the East Valley of the Phoenix area and its state legislative district has long been dominated by reactionary politicians connected with the corporate lobbyist group ALEC.

It is important to note that Governor Doug Ducey, himself a member of ALEC, weaponized education funding in July when he decided to give 105% of funding for schools that offer in-person instruction. This meant schools that decided on remote learning faced budget concerns for staff and have felt pressure to return to the classroom and jeopardize lives. Also, in the fall when the election neared, Ducey urged the state Department of Health to change the COVID-19 benchmarks to again create the conditions to force schools to return to in person. It comes as no surprise that, as the biggest school districts in the state returned to in-person learning, COVID-19 cases rose, deaths of educators and others occurred, and many districts had to return to remote learning within a matter of weeks in order to stop the spread of the virus.

President Trump also recently opened up federal Community Services Block Grant money to states to private tuition. This falls in line with the right-wing agenda of destroying public education and promoting private schools.

Arizona has been in the grips of a reactionary assault on public schools, through chronic underfunding from the state’s awarding tax loopholes to large corporations and relying heavily on regressive sales taxes. But educators and allies recently delivered a major blow to the reactionary regime by passing the ballot initiative called the “Invest in Ed Act.” This will secure around $900 million in annual public education funding by taxing the richest Arizonans.

#TucsonAZ #PeoplesStruggles #teachers #TeachersUnions #RedforEd

Tallahassee, FL – Well over 1000 educators, school bus drivers, custodians, counselors and other public school workers, dressed in red, rallied at the Old Capitol Building in Tallahassee on January 13 to demand lawmakers invest in public schools during the 2020 state legislative session. The 60-day legislative session begins January 14 and lawmakers will have a sea of red from the previous day to take with them to deliberation.

The rally was organized by the Florida Education Association (FEA), which is the statewide union for educators, and featured support also from the national unions the American Federation of Teachers and the National Education Association.

The demands followed the Fund Our Future Florida campaign, which was announced during the October 2019 Florida Education Delegate Assembly. The Fund Our Future Campaign is regarded as “The Decade of Education,” since it is a ten-year program with long term goals to lift Florida out of the bottom 10% in the nation for educational performance, as well as lift the state from 46th in the nation for teacher pay. The Decade of Education requires an immediate down payment from lawmakers, in the form of 10% raises for all public school employees.

Governor Ron DeSantis proposed a $600 million budget to go towards salary raises for new teachers. The Fund Our Future program challenges that and is demanding a $2.4 billion investment from lawmakers to grant raises to all employees, which would include not only new hires, but veteran teachers, counselors, bus drivers, cafeteria workers, custodians, etc.

In solidarity with Florida public school employees at the state capitol rally were faith leaders such as Al Sharpton, political leaders such as Republican and Democratic Caucus representatives, student organizations such as Students for a Democratic Society and the student president of the FEA, English Language Learner educators (ELL) and special needs educators, and union leaders from other states.

Some teachers were threatened by their district if they attended the rally. Polk County educators were told that if they took off, it would be considered a strike, which is illegal, and would cost them their job. Several Polk County employees were in attendance despite the threat, and they received an abundance of support from the statewide and national unions.

Jesse Sharkey, the Chicago Teacher’s Union president, came to the Sunshine State to speak about what it takes to not only organize, but to win. His words resonated strongly as he asked Floridians why it is not more common that we organize. He asked the crowd of angry, tired, but hopeful educators if Florida will keep building after the rally and reminded the crowd that strong unions are the tool to victory.

While a 10% raise is not enough to begin to fix the issues the Florida Public School systems face, the display of solidarity and willingness to organize, despite threats of job loss in some districts, is of much greater value in this struggle. As Chicago Teacher’s Union President Jesse Sharkey said, it is only the beginning. We must continue to strengthen unions and use them to fight back.

#TallahasseeFL #PeoplesStruggles #teachers #PublicSectorUnions #FloridaEducationAssociation #TeachersUnions #FundOurFuture

Garland, TX – On May 28 members of the community, together with some of the affected teachers, confronted the Garland school board about the board's failure to act to help teachers who had been trafficked from the Philippines to work in the Garland school district.

Three teachers and several community supporters addressed the school board, while dozens of other supporters sat in the room wearing t-shirts and buttons in support of the teachers' cause. After the last speaker, the supporters began chanting “When teachers are under attack, what do we do? Stand up, fight back!” and were escorted from the board meeting. They then set up outside the school administration building and began chanting, before police and security guards ordered them to move back to the sidewalk, where they continued speaking and chanting.

Between 60 and 70 teachers were brought from the Philippines to teach in Garland schools in the early 2000s by a network of unscrupulous recruiters. The recruiters charged the teachers thousands of dollars for services, forced them to pay excessive rents to stay in cramped conditions in housing owned by the recruiters, and committed visa fraud.

Garland Independent School District refused to cut ties with the principal recruiter for years even after a federal audit forced the school to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars of backpay to the teachers.

Since the discovery of the fraudulent practices of the recruiters, many of the teachers have lost their work visas and are facing long term unemployment and possible deportation. In the years since being

trafficked to the U.S., the teachers have established families in the country, and deportation is likely to mean separation from children and grandchildren.

Adelaida Legaspi, one of the affected teachers, told the board that due to her family's economic situation, her husband and son have been forced to go stay with his family in California while she stays with a friend in Texas. Legaspi had worked as a special education teacher at Garland ISD, and a Sarteesa Mills, a Garland ISD parent, addressed the board to say that Ms. Legaspi had been a great help to her son when she was his special education teacher.

Jamie Rivadelo, another of the affected teachers, related his experiences with administration. He said that when the facts of all of this first emerged, the superintendent came to visit his classroom and told him that if all Garland ISD teachers were like Rivadelo the superintendent would have no headaches. He said the superintendent set up a meeting to discuss the problem, but the meeting was cancelled before it could be held. He said the next he knew about the situation was when his classroom was visited by a human resources person who told him his employment was terminated. As far as help with the problem, “nothing has been done, nothing has been given, nothing has been offered,” Rivadelo said.

Johnny Beach, president of the school board, responded with what he called a statement of fact to the effect that the problem was entirely at the level of the federal government.

#GarlandTX #Philippines #PeoplesStruggles #AsianNationalities #teachers #TeachersUnions

The tentative agreement was reached after three days of striking by 3700 Denver teachers, who set up picket lines and went on marches all over Denver. The strike activities ended yesterday with a large rally and subsequent march by teachers and supporters to the Denver school board headquarters. The purpose of the march was to make valentines for the school board superintendent Susana Cordova and ask her “to show some love” for Denver’s teachers.

The proposed contract is generally viewed as being favorable to the DCTA members, who have been concerned about the failure of Denver Public Schools to retain qualified teachers due to low pay. “This victory is a victory for Denver’s kids and their parents and our teachers,” said Rob Gould, a lead DCTA negotiator and teacher.

The three-year tentative contract includes a 11.7% base salary increase in the first year with full cost of living increases in the second and third years. There is a transparent 20-step salary schedule topping out at $100,000 for teachers with 20 years of experience and a doctorate.

The use of bonuses, instead of base pay increases, is decreased under the terms of the new contract. There are still bonuses for teachers who work in hard-to-staff positions and Title I schools [schools with a primarily low-income population], among other incentives, but there is an agreement to later review the use of these bonuses with an opportunity to revise the use of this type of compensation. This agreement is seen as a rebuff to the Denver School Board, which has shown a preference for encouraging the privatization of public education through the use of charter schools and also attacking the living standards of public school teachers by the use of haphazard incentive pay rather than base pay.

This contract has inspired the local labor movement. Over the last two years the DCTA, through better communication and the militant pursuit of its members interests, increased its membership from 50.1% to 76% of Denver’s teachers. This organizing work was key to the victory for Denver’s teachers and shows that, even in the age of Trump, unions can increase their membership and win.

#DenverCO #PeoplesStruggles #teachers #strikes #TeachersUnions #Colorado

Chicago, IL – Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) educators at four CICS schools struck for the third day, February 7, with management dug in on exchanging wage parity with CPS educators for higher caseloads for counselors and social workers, larger class sizes with no enforcement language, and no written guarantee not to cut student services or resources. Management wants to increase the student-to-counselor/social worker ratio, which is already well over nationally recommended ratios, giving management the wiggle room to lay off some frontline staff.

CICS still refuses to dip into $36 million in public education funds it has siphoned out of classrooms. Up to 30% of the public funds CICS receives are deflected into inflated management fees, redundant bureaucracies and 'reserves.'

Educators have refused to trade raises for larger class sizes or reductions in student services.

On Wednesday, CICS sent at least eight corporate staff to bust legal picket lines at Wrightwood and Ellison, including Chief of Strategy & Portfolio Christine Leung, who earns $140,000 per year, Director of Network Policy Yesica Rufino-Perez, who earns $100,000 a year, and Chief of Network Services Kathleen Clark, who earns more than $140,000. One CICS corporate employee urged police to threaten to arrest all strikers if even one spoke to parents.

“Those are really pricey union busters,” said Northtown teacher Jen Conant, who heads up the CTU bargaining team. Management has told parents that children will be punished for unexcused absences (false) and that school was open for instruction (even though 'instructors' are on the picket line, not in school teaching) to try to get children across the picket lines. CICS also for the first time posted security staff at Wrightwood, beginning on the first day of the strike. “That's an awful use of public education dollars that could instead be used to settle the strike and preserve student services,” said Conant.

#ChicagoIL #PeoplesStruggles #teachers #Strikes #CTU #charterSchools

Los Angeles, CA – This morning, January 22, LA Mayor Garcetti, the Los Angeles Unified School District Superintendent (and former Wall Street banker) Austin Beutner, along with United Teachers of Los Angeles President Alex Caputo-Pearl announced a deal. On day six of the UTLA strike, LAUSD and UTLA came to a tentative agreement, which includes reducing class sizes, wage increases, hiring more support staff like librarians, psychologists and nurses, increasing spending on special education, putting a moratorium on charter schools, and investing more in community schools.

“Chapter chairs at 2 p.m. are meeting at Roosevelt High School to vote and bring back the information to all of our schools,” says UTLA chair and teacher Carlos Cerdan.

“We made history in the struggle for quality, public education,” says longtime Chicano revolutionary Carlos Montes. “The Brown and Black community of Los Angeles overwhelmingly supported the teachers. We will continue fighting back with them every step of the way.”

Currently, the Boyle Heights neighborhood is engaged in a fight against gentrification and with KIPP Charter attempts to open a new school. Centro CSO has sued KIPP and you may donate to the efforts here: http://gofundme.com/HelpCentroCSO

#LACalifornia #PeoplesStruggles #teachers #Strikes #California #UTLA #TeachersUnions #UTLAStrike

Los Angeles, CA – At 6 a.m., January 14, over 50 teachers, students, parents and supporters joined the picket line at Breed Street Elementary. Breed Street Elementary, in the Boyle Heights neighborhood, is under attack by the mega-charter corporation Kipp Charter. Kipp Charter is trying to build a new charter school only one block away from Breed Street.

Pouring rain and wind didn't seem to bother the angry and determined group. Centro CSO activists joined the teachers, chanting and helping to stop cars trying to enter school.

Chanting, “Austin Beutner, you can't hide! We can see your greedy side!” “What do we want! Fair contract! When do we want it? Now!” and “Whose schools? Our schools! What kind of schools? Public schools!” Two picket lines blocked both entrances at Breed Street Elementary.

“We arrived at 5 a.m.,” says Letty Navarrette, a Breed Street Elementary public-school teacher for over 22 years. “We arrived that early hoping to block the principal and support staff from entering. Unfortunately, they beat us, so tomorrow we plan on starting the picket line even earlier!”

Breed Street Elementary is co-located with Extera, another charter school corporation, so two different picket lines were held. On the Breed Street side, a standoff between an Extera bus carrying food and UTLA picketers resulted in the Los Angeles Police Department attempting to escort the bus into the school. The picket line did not break.

“On our side, the Chicago Street side, we had our standoff with two parents in two vehicles,” says Jaime Bermudez (known by his students as Mr. B), a teacher at Breed Street Elementary for 29 years. “We held our picket line for 20 minutes! Extera sent a charter goon to try to get us to move. We didn’t, and we won't!”

The picket at Breed Street will continue for the duration of the strike, beginning from 7 a.m. and ending at 9 a.m. Centro CSO will continue joining teachers at Breed Street Elementary.

After the picket line in the morning, UTLA teachers from around the district met at Grand Park for a large rally and march. They demonstrated an unwavering determination to strike for a better union contract and better schools in Los Angeles. Almost 30,000 people joined the rally. They marched through pouring cold rain through downtown Los Angeles. For over a mile the huge crowd stomped through puddles and potholes until the massive crowd finished at Beaudry Street – at the LAUSD headquarters. There thousands protested the LAUSD and new superintendent Austin Beutner for the attacks on public education.

Superintendent Beutner and school board members like Monica Garcia are backed by charter school corporations and facilitating the privatization efforts of Wall Street and Silicon Valley. Teachers chanting, “Down with privatization! Up with public education!” vowed to continue with the strike, rain or shine. Among their demands are fully-funded and staffed public schools with lower class sizes, ahalt to growth of charter schools, less testing and more staffing of counselors, librarians, nurses and teachers, and fair wages.

In places like Boyle Heights and East LA, the demands include a defense of public education. In the last few years, charters have increased by 25%. Scrutinizing charter growth in other cities like New Orleans – which recently announced that it no longer has any public schools, only private and charter schools – UTLA is demanding a cap on charters.

In Boyle Heights, there is a fight against KIPP Promesa Charter opening a new school that will massively disrupt the students and teachers at schools like Breed Street, 2nd Street and Soto Street Elementary. Centro CSO will continue to picket with Breed Street Elementary.

Support the UTLA strike! Support public education!

You can help protect public education in LA donating to the lawsuit against the KIPP here: GoFundMe.com/HelpCentroCSO

#LosAngelesCA #PeoplesStruggles #teachers #strikes #UTLA #TeachersUnions

Chicago, IL – Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) teachers, paraprofessionals and support staff at 15 charter schools run by the UNO/Acero charter network are striking for a third day, December 6, and extending picket times to two shifts at each school.

Teachers and staff at Acero are demanding fundamental changes in the charter industry. “It is time that we stop making CEOs and administrators rich. They are literally stealing from children,” said CTU organizer Richard Berg.

After the picketing, yesterday, December 5, CTU strikers went to the Board of Education 500 strong. They demanded smaller class sizes, sanctuary schools, equal pay for equal work and that the employer follow the law in giving required services to special education students.

#ChicagoIL #PeoplesStruggles #teachers #strike #TeachersUnions