Barbara Madeloni

Two more illegal strikes have hit Massachusetts! On October 14, members of the Haverhill Educators Association voted to strike. Malden educators voted to strike just a few hours later.

After four days out, Haverhill educators won their demands for school safety and commitment for diverse hiring; those in Malden settled their contract with a one-day strike.

Undaunted by Fines, Massachusetts Teachers Defy Strike Ban

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About 15 people, mostly white women, stand on a street corner wearing big red printed signs that say "Haverill educators on strike!" One woman holds her sign high in the air and turns to face the others, in profile to the camera, with a lively open-mouthed expression, maybe yelling or singing. Her sign says "Fair contract now."

Six thousand Seattle educators walked out on strike September 7, which would have been the first day of school. The top issue was the district’s proposal—disguised in social justice language—to end student-teacher ratios for many categories of special education.

Also key were struggles over class size, cuts to services, and wages, especially for substitutes and paraprofessionals, who often work most closely with students with disabilities.

Seattle Teachers End Week-Long Strike

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Large group of people outdoors, most wearing red shirts, some holding picket signs, on a sunny day. They are posed for a group photo on the steps of a school. The photo shows more than 200 people and it looks like there are more outside the frame.

Minneapolis Strike Wins Big Raise For Lowest-Paid Educators

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Barbara Madeloni

After three weeks on strike, members of the Minneapolis Federation of Teachers voted to accept a new contract that brought significant wins and made inroads on critical issues.

The wins: education support professionals (ESPs) will receive $4 more per hour over the two years of the contract and retroactively; they will also receive a one-time $6,000 payment split over two years and opportunities for more hours and days of work.

Labor is on fire in the Twin Cities. Educators in Minneapolis are wrapping up their second week on strike, and cafeteria workers are poised to join them.

St. Paul educators came close to walking out as well; the unions fed off one another as they built their contract campaigns. “St. Paul has the experience,” said St. Paul special ed teacher Jeff Garcia. “Minneapolis has the energy. They are really fired up.”

Minneapolis Strikers Demand a Living Wage for the Lowest-Paid Educators

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Huge, shouting crowd of people in blue hats, many with picket signs "On strike for smaller class sizes." One prominent handmade sign says "Bryn Mawr." A big banner at front of crowd says, in artsy spray-painted style, "District refuses to pay for ESPs, our children's education heroes!" The S in ESPs is the Superman logo.

Three contracts, two unions, one voice. On February 18, three groups of educators in the Twin Cities all announced strike authorization votes.

Two are bargaining units in the Minneapolis Federation of Teachers: 3,000 teachers, who voted by 97 percent to authorize a strike, and 1,000 education support professionals (ESPs) such as teachers aides who voted by 98 percent. Each chapter had over 90 percent turnout.

Meanwhile a combined unit of 3,600 teachers and ESPs in the St. Paul Federation of Educators voted by 78 percent to strike.

Twin Cities Teachers and School Employees Gear Up for Strike

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People march in the street on a snowy day. Those at the front carry two huge banners: MFT banner has blue union logo and hundreds of tiny images of members holding signs. SFPE one is red. Others in crowd are holding up beautiful hand-painted signs on sticks with messages like "Educators: the heart of the community" (with a fist/heart image) and "Educators for Black lives"

Chicago Teachers Union members voted by 77 percent on January 4 to go fully remote until effective Covid mitigations to protect educators and students were approved by members and enacted, or until the current Covid surge subsided.

Within a week they had a tentative agreement on mitigation measures. Members ratified it January 12 by 56 percent and returned to in-person teaching.

As Omicron Rages, Teachers and Students Fight for Safety Measures in Chicago and Elsewhere

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25 people in front of a school, masked and bundled up. Handmade signs read: "Keep our parents, teachers, students safe!""Safe schools should not be a debate!" "Let us teach!" "15 out of 18 classes in my school had at least 1 covid positive case" "Porque tenemos que suplicar para tener escuelas seguras?" (in Spanish: Why do we have to beg to have safe schools?) "Little Village has a positivity rate of 26.9%" "Lori let us teach (remotely) until Jan. 18th #EndTheLoriLockout"

Whatever Happened to 'Eight Hours for What You Will'?

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Barbara Madeloni

When Frank Carrico talks about why he and his co-workers at the Heaven Hill distillery went on strike, he talks about family. “I missed out on my kids’ activities” because of forced weekend shifts, he says. “I missed out on a lot, and I don’t want the young people coming behind me to have that happen to them.”

When we spoke, the distillery workers had just come off a six-week strike demanding to maintain a 40-hour week, Monday-Friday, with overtime pay beyond that.

In mid-October six fights broke out in one day at Lawrence High School in Massachusetts. Police were called and arrests made. For those inside the school, this was shocking, but not surprising.

“The unrest is the students’ way of screaming out, ‘We need help,’” said high school English teacher Kristin Colucci. “Their social and emotional needs are not being met.”

Teachers Say Students Are Stressed and Fragile—While District Pushes Standardized Tests

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A crowd of red-shirted people stands outside Lawrence High School. One person is speaking to the group; others are shooting video of the event.

It was a long time coming, but when 400 members of the Scranton Federation of Teachers marched out of the school board meeting Tuesday night singing “Solidarity Forever,” they were strike-ready.

Teachers Strike against a ‘Heartless’ School Board in Biden’s Hometown

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People, mainly women, in red T-shirts in the process of getting up en masse to exit an auditorium. One has a fist in the air, and several are clapping. Most are viewed from the back or side. The backs of their T-shirts say "STANDING UP FOR PUBLIC EDUCATION"

Whose Safety? Our Safety!

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Barbara Madeloni

The safety of the community as a whole requires vaccines and vaccine mandates. But conversations about mandates have stumbled over questions about the power of employers and the rights of workers.

When unions avoid taking a stand for vaccine requirements (or even support resistance to mandates) they fall into three traps.

Trap one says our priority is to represent the rights of individual workers. Trap two says we cannot abide conflict or strong disagreement among members. Trap three says only the boss can exercise the power to require safety on the job.

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