Barbara Madeloni

“This is not the agreement you deserve.”

So said Chicago Teachers Union President Jesse Sharkey, announcing that members had voted to accept a plan to return to school buildings.

Chicago teachers began returning to schools on February 11 after contentious negotiations over whether they would be forced to teach in person. While their district’s animosity was exceptional, many similar struggles for safety are being fought across the country.

Despite Slow Vaccine Rollout, Teachers Are Being Pushed Back Inside

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Crowd in coats and masks. One hand-drawn sign reads "Roses are red, educators are blue, if one of us dies, Kenney, what will you do?" Another shows a train and reads "Choo-choo-choose a safe plan." Another says "ventilate, vaccinate, educate." Another shows an image of a fan with a "no" line across it.

We Need Democracy on the Job and in the Union, Too

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Barbara Madeloni

Democracy is on everyone’s mind, after the presidential election and transition we’ve just weathered.

There’s the democracy we had to defend. Union members participated in all kinds of ways—from postal workers making sure the ballots were delivered, to UNITE HERE members canvassing Arizona and Georgia, to central labor councils calling for the results to be respected.

Then there’s the democracy we don’t have yet. The struggle to vote and have your vote counted has a long legacy in this country.

UPDATE, January 25: Chicago teachers announced the vote results yesterday: With 86 percent of members voting, 71 percent voted to work remotely, defying the order that would have sent K-8 educators back into schools today (a week ahead of their students). The vote also authorized a strike if the district should retaliate by locking educators out of access to the remote learning system through Google Classroom.

Chicago Teachers Are Voting on Whether to Defy Monday's Reopening Order

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Person in driver's seat of red car, wearing red mask, holds sign: "Safe reopening! Until cases decline, class is online!" Taped to back window of car is another sign: "A nurse in every school!" It is snowing.

Today 915 of the 1,000 union educators in Brookline, Massachusetts, took part in a sickout demanding a six-foot distance between people in classrooms.

The district previously agreed to this safety requirement in a memorandum of understanding. But now it wants to allow the superintendent to change it.

“When they tried to give the superintendent unilateral control to change the distance, they tore up the MOU,” said Brookline Educators Union President Jessica Wender-Shubow.

Massachusetts Teachers Sick Out for Six Feet

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A collage of individual photos of teachers holding signs that say "Safer at six feet."

It’s election eve and anxious voters are wondering not only who will receive the most votes, but also: Will those votes be counted? Will the people or the Supreme Court select the next president? Will Trump supporters move beyond intimidation to violence to suppress the vote?

Will we face a president who refuses to accept the results of the vote? Will we have to defend against a coup?

Here's How to Join Labor's Anti-Coup Network

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Outdoors, Stacey Davis Gates speaks at a podium with microphones; representatives of several other unions stand behind her, distanced apart

“Therefore, be it finally resolved that the Rochester Labor Council, AFL-CIO calls on the National AFL-CIO, all of its affiliate unions, and all other labor organizations in the United States of America to prepare for and enact a general strike of all working people, if necessary, to ensure a Constitutionally mandated peaceful transition of power as a result of the 2020 Presidential Elections.”

Unions Are Beginning to Talk About Staving Off a Possible Coup

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The pandemic has made me see more clearly why it works when workers get together to solve problems collectively.

With no public health system to access and a disorganized, inept, and neglectful response from the government, individuals have been cast out alone to deal with the pandemic. Decisions about working—and risking one’s health and safety—have become individual.

Workers at home are isolated and workers at worksites are afraid.

Collective Action Is How We Shake Ourselves Free of Pandemic Isolation

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A group of teachers marches on the sidewalk in downtown Andover, Massachusetts.

New York City Teachers Work Outdoors after a Co-Worker Tests Positive

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Barbara Madeloni

UPDATE, September 18: Amid continued protests, yesterday Mayor Bill de Blasio announced the start of in-person school in New York City will be further delayed for most students. Pre-K and special ed schools will still open September 21, but elementary school reopening has been pushed back to September 29, and middle and high school to October 1. —Editors

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

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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.

The superintendent and school committee had announced a virtual professional development day—but insisted that educators be in the school building for the sessions. Yes, that meant that educators were to enter buildings with other adults in order to sit in empty classrooms to participate in virtual training.

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