Teachers

“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.
Left Voice
January 17, 2022“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.
Left Voice
January 10, 2022#LoriLockout: Chicago Teachers Locked Out of Virtual Classrooms
In Chicago, public school teachers overwhelmingly voted in favor of remote instruction until adequate safety measures were in place for in-person instruction. In response, Mayor Lightfoot locked teachers out of their virtual classrooms and has threatened to withhold pay if teachers don’t report to work by Wednesday.
Maria Aurelio
January 5, 2022Columbia Seeks Scabs. NYC-Area University Educators Refuse
Columbia is trying to hire scabs to replace student workers for spring semester in an effort to break their 7-week-long strike. Student workers at NYU-GSOC have organized a pledge that no academic worker will cross the picket line by applying for or accepting these jobs. We reprint the pledge here and urge readers who work in higher education to sign on as individuals and ask their unions to do the same.
Left Voice
December 14, 2021Unite Our Struggles: All Out for Columbia Student Workers
Student workers at Columbia University have been fighting to win a first contract for almost four years and are once again on strike. In order to win, they will need the support and solidarity of students and faculty across the city and across the country.
Left Voice Higher Education Workers
December 4, 2021Repression in Sudan: 119 Arrested at Teachers Demonstration Against the Coup
On Sunday, 119 protesters were arrested by the military at a demonstration of thousands outside the Ministry of Education building in Khartoum. They were demanding the ouster of newly appointed education officials who are close to the former Sudanese dictator.
Romane Squm
November 9, 2021After Four Years without a Contract, Teachers Prepare to Strike in Scranton, PA
Union teachers in Scranton, Pennsylvania, are readying for a strike — threatening to help push Striketober into Strikevember.
Jason Koslowski
October 30, 2021Bates College Employees Made Labor History, and Admin Is Coming Out Swinging
Bates College, a liberal arts school in Lewiston, Maine, became the first private college in the United States to file for a wall-to-wall union. Despite their talking points of “social responsibility” and “the world beyond one’s self,” the bosses are fighting back tooth and nail, with censorship and illegal labor practices.
Sarah Frankie Sigman
October 25, 2021Temple University’s Rank-and-File Talk “Cops out of Unions”
Cops aren’t workers --- they’re weapons of the ruling class to attack workers and the oppressed. Despite what many of our union leaders say, building real union power means kicking cops out of our unions, and mobilizing from the bottom up to link our unions to a wider, class-wide struggle against the ruling class.
Jason Koslowski
September 20, 2021As the School Year Begins, America’s Children Are the Sacrificial Lambs of “Return to Normal”
Recent CDC data suggests that without masking or systematic testing, 91% of children under 12 could become infected with the delta variant of the coronavirus within three months. In many states, ICUs are already full. This could have been avoided if not for capitalists choosing profits over people’s lives.
Olivia Wood
August 31, 2021