NYC Students Are Back to School Today. It Is Still Not Safe.

Last Thursday, the New York City Department of Education announced that school reopenings will again be postponed for some students. Some of the city’s most vulnerable students, however, are being sent back to school today, even though the school buildings are still not safe. A teacher reports.

1,800 North Carolina Nurses Go Union in Landslide Victory

Nurses in Asheville, North Carolina won a big victory today: they voted to unionize, overwhelmingly, after many months of delay by the bosses and the government. It’s a victory for the entire working class, and particularly important in the South, where unionization levels are the lowest in the United States.

The Fight to Kick Cops Out of Unions Is a Fight Against the Union Bureaucracy

Though there is a growing movement from rank-and-file members to disaffiliate cops from unions, the leaders of the U.S.’s largest unions defend cops’ right to organize alongside workers. Both the union bureaucracy and cop “unions” are means by which the capitalist state maintains control over working class organizations. Mobilizing the power of the working class against police terror and capitalist exploitation requires confronting these two enemies of the working class.

Massachusetts Teachers Refuse to Enter Unsafe Schools

Teachers across the country are fighting against unsafe school reopenings. In Massachusetts, educators and staff are engaging in work safety actions and refusing to enter school buildings without safety measures guaranteed.

Not Until It’s Safe: Educators and Community Protest Rushed School Reopening

Schools in New York City have been open for just four days. The kids aren't even in the classroom yet and 55 people have already tested positive for Covid-19. Teachers across the city organized pickets protesting against unsafe reopening of NYC schools.

The PRO Act: Biden’s Latest Lie to Labor

Polls show that support for unions is rising. 60 million workers would join one if they could. At a Labor Day event with the AFL-CIO, Biden outlined his plan to be labor’s “friend in the White House.” But the PRO Act will be betrayed just like the Employee Free Choice Act over a decade ago. Only class struggle will give us our rights.  

NYC Teachers Were About to Strike… Then Union Leaders Cut a Backroom Deal

On Tuesday, the City of New York and the United Federation of Teachers (UFT) announced a handshake deal, made without the input of UFT members, that will allow schools to reopen with in-person instruction in late September. The deal, which was made less than a day before an expected strike authorization vote, does nothing, however, to address the vast majority of the safety problems in schools, and it does not make any inroads in allowing teachers with high-risk family members to teach remotely.

NYC School Workers Solidarity Campaign Rejects UFT President Michael Mulgrew’s Deal with Mayor Bill de Blasio

The union leadership of the United Federation of Teachers (UFT) struck a deal on Tuesday with NYC city officials to postpone reopening by 10 days. This deal comes as the UFT Delegate Assembly was planning to vote for strike authorization against school reopening. Below we republish a press release from the NYC School Workers Solidarity Campaign on this decision.

The Po-Po Are a No-Go at SEIU Drop the Cops Town Hall

More than a hundred people from across the United States participated in the “SEIU Drop the Cops” virtual town hall. Panelists reported on organized labor’s struggle to kick out police and security guards and elaborated a list of broader anti-racist demands. Speakers called on the broader labor movement to take up the fight against police terror and revitalize the unions through democratic debate and mass, anti-racist struggle.