From Puerto Rico to Minnesota, Teachers are Rising Up Again

With inflation continuing to rise, contract struggles, particularly among public sector unions, could become increasingly militant as workers look to regain lost wages. Already, teachers in Puerto Rico and Minnesota are leading the way with strikes, strike votes, and demonstrations.

Conservatives Want to Ban All My Favorite Books

Conservatives across the country have launched an offensive against the teaching of almost any text that honestly examines or criticizes the history of racism, sexism, and gender oppression in the U.S. In this article, originally published on the Stone Soup Magazine blog, nine year old Emma Hoff defends the right for young people to read what they want and decries conservatives’ attempts to hide the truth from them.

A Working-Class Program for Safe School Reopenings

Schools have been at the center of the capitalist strategy to reopen the economy for nearly two years. But the decision to reopen schools shouldn’t be up to the capitalists — it should be decided by the people who live and work within their communities. Here we present a working-class program for safe school reopenings.

“I Want to Thank the Staff That Held the Line”: Interview with a Chicago Teacher

Earlier this month, teachers in Chicago voted to resume remote learning rather than return to unsafe working conditions. In response, Chicago Mayor, Lori Lightfoot locked the teachers out of their classes and threatened to stop paying them. After a few days, the Chicago Teachers Union’s House of Delegates voted to suspend the teachers’ action and called them to in person classes. We spoke to a Chicago teacher about this struggle and what it means for educators across the country.

French Government Gives Crumbs in Response to Historic Education Strike. The Mobilizations Must Continue and Expand!

Tens of thousands of education workers, students, and parents, took to the streets across France on Thursday, January 13. The government is trying to calm the anger with crumbs, but the chaotic Covid-19 protocols and lack of resources remain unchanged. It’s time to keep up the mobilizations and demand that the unions create a battle plan going forward that will involve the entire working class.

Massive Strike in France Against the Government’s Covid-19 Protocols for Schools

Tens of thousands of public education workers across France took to the streets on Thursday, January 13, in a nationwide strike against the government’s “chaotic” Covid-19 policies that are pushing responsibility for fighting the virus onto parents while keeping schools open as “daycare” for the country’s capitalists.

“No One Is Coming to Save Us”: Brooklyn Teachers Organize Sickout

Teachers at a Brooklyn middle school organized a sickout in response to the surge in Omicron cases. We interviewed one teacher who emphasizes the importance of education workers having the agency to determine whether their workplaces are safe.

Unsafe School Reopenings Aren’t About Kids. They’re About Capitalist Profits.

As Omicron surges across the country, capitalists are trying to get things “back to normal” at all costs. Unsafe school reopenings have nothing to do with students; they have everything to do with keeping the capitalist economy running.

A Neoliberal Onslaught and a Pandemic: My Experience as a Teaching Assistant at a NYC Charter School

Working as a teacher’s assistant in New York City during the ongoing neoliberal assault on the education system and a pandemic makes viscerally clear why there’s a teacher shortage: the work is as bad and precarious as in many factories.