VIDEO: Organizing for Safe School Openings: Lessons for Labor
Educators are demanding that school buildings reopen only when it is safe, while policymakers and administrators are desperate to open schools in the name of restarting the economy—at whatever cost to human lives. Photo: Dave Madeloni
Workers across the country are taking up the fight for health and safety and against furloughs, budget cuts, and concessions.
Faced with unsafe school openings, educators are at the forefront of these struggles—and we can learn a lot from them. On August 25, Labor Notes hosted a discussion with labor activists organizing around safe reopenings.
Educators are in a fierce struggle to demand that school buildings reopen only when it is safe, while policymakers and administrators are desperate to open schools in the name of restarting the economy—at whatever cost to human lives. The pandemic has exposed how racism and economic injustice permeate our lives. Yet the battle educators are waging teaches how we can organize for collective action for workers' rights and the common good.
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In this panel, we hear from educators and other labor activists who've been involved in this struggle.
Host: Barbara Madeloni, Labor Notes
Joined by:
- Donna Kelly-Williams, Massachusetts Nurses Association
- Rudy Renaud, Massachusetts Nurses Association
- Jay O'Neal, West Virginia United Caucus, West Virginia Education Association
- Ellen Schweitzer, Movement of Rank-and-File Educators caucus, United Federation of Teachers, New York City
Participants shared the following resources: