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Ready to Work, But Not Indoors: Educators Bring Lawn Chairs »

September 3, 2020 | Barbara Madeloni

Educators in Andover, Massachusetts, set up lawn chairs, folding tables, and laptops in the shade of trees and next to school tennis courts and got to work on their first day of professional development August 31.
woman outdoors holds sign: "You try 10% wage cut Carmel!"

Turn the Tables: Demand Concessions from Your Employer »

September 1, 2020 | Richard de Vries

Employers look at COVID-19 and see an opportunity to demand concessions.


Can concessions save jobs? Almost always they cannot, and certainly not in the big picture. Concessions can’t fix a collapsed market nor the 1%’s relentless assault on workers.
Compilation of two Zoom screenshots shows 50 people on a call. Most are smiling faces, some show text only

Undergrad Workers Organize Wall-to-Wall at Kenyon College »

August 31, 2020 | K-SWOC Steering Committee

Undergraduate student workers—ranging from residence hall advisors, lifeguards, and library workers to art gallery assistants and student farmers—are organizing to form a union at Kenyon College, a small liberal arts college in rural central Ohio.
Masked person holding sign "Honor Our Contracts" in front of trees, other masked demonstrators

We Reinvigorated Our Undergrad Union… Just in Time for COVID Fights »

August 27, 2020 | Nat Luftman, Alice Troop, and James Cordero

All summer, our union of undergraduate workers has been battling UMass Amherst over its response to the coronavirus crisis. We won personal protective equipment (PPE), campus-wide COVID testing, and workers comp; then we won the reversal of an incredibly dangerous reopening plan.

VIDEO: Organizing for Safe School Openings: Lessons for Labor »

August 27, 2020

Workers across the country are taking up the fight for health and safety and against furloughs, budget cuts, and concessions.

In Battle for Virtual Schools, Rochester Teachers Caucus Leads from Below »

August 27, 2020 | Michelle Accorso Sapere

It was a pipe dream to think, when we went into crisis mode in March, that we could possibly have a vaccine for a rampantly growing and politically charged virus before school was due to resume in the fall.

Our Faculty Union Exposed the University's Debt—And Who's Paying for It »

August 26, 2020 | Rich Levy and Joanna Gonsalves

How should our university be funded? Should students be liable for its debts? Who are the winners and losers when public higher education is privatized?

Grad Employees at University of Texas Push for Pandemic Protections Despite No Collective Bargaining »

August 24, 2020 | Megha Joshi

Graduate students at the University of Texas at Austin do not have formal union protections, but that has not stopped us from organizing to put demands on university administration during the pandemic.
Outdoors at a public event, a woman in SEIU purple holds a clipboard while a man signs. The booth behind her is decked witht "SCHOOLS AND COMMUNITIES FIRST" signs and one that says "Step up against mass incarceration."

Overturning Austerity 101: California’s Prop 15 Will Tax the Rich »

August 24, 2020 | Fred Glass

California’s November ballot will feature a challenge to the notorious Proposition 13, which in 1978 helped to inaugurate the decades-long neoliberal assault on labor.

On Medicare for All: Fight for What We Want, Not What We Think We Can Get »

August 20, 2020 | Mark Dudzic

Whenever our overcoat is ragged
you come running up and say: this can’t continue,
you must be helped in every possible manner.
And, full of zeal, you run off to the bosses
while we who freeze are waiting.
And you come back and in triumph
A Black woman letter carrier walks across a lawn, in front of a white picket fence, carrying the mail

Milwaukee-Area Letter Carriers Are Refusing to Go Along with Mail Delays »

August 19, 2020 | Travis Albert

The most shocking aspect of the operational changes that Postmaster General Louis DeJoy announced July 10 was that the U.S. Postal Service would no longer commit to moving the mail if it would take too much overtime to do so.
A masked protester holds a sign: "Save the Post Office! Save the Elections!" Behind the person, traffic and a "Coney Island" (diner) across the street

‘Postmaster DeLay’ Takes One Step Back amid Media Scrutiny, Public Protest, and Worker Resistance »

August 19, 2020 | Alexandra Bradbury

A looming presidential election and a pandemic-fueled demand for vote-by-mail have trained a sudden spotlight on new Postmaster General Louis DeJoy and his sabotage of the U.S. Postal Service.

After Four-Year First Contract Fight, Northern Illinois Faculty Secure COVID Protections »

August 19, 2020 | Andy Bruno, Beatrix Hoffman, Mark Schuller, and Simón Weffer

Five years ago, it was hard to imagine a successful union drive on our campus at Northern Illinois University in DeKalb, Illinois.
A woman holds a bullhorn and a picket sign that says "On Strike for a Fair Contract," surrounded by dozens of picketers holding similar signs and marching in a circle on the sidewalk.

New UE Pamphlet Highlights Rank-and-File Control, Calls for Return to 'Them and Us Unionism' »

August 18, 2020 | Dan DiMaggio

Last week the United Electrical Workers (UE) published a new pamphlet, Them and Us Unionism, which argues that the labor movement needs to return to the class-struggle unionism that animated the founding of the industrial unions in the 1930s.
Teachers wearing masks hold signs that say Make Our Schools Safe and Not Until It's Safe.

Educators Demand Virtual Schools as 'Least Bad' but Safe Option »

August 17, 2020 | Barbara Madeloni

As the coronavirus continues to spread, teachers and school employees are being handed reopening plans that require them to be in their classrooms at the bell—and they are resisting.

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