Teachers Take the Lessons of the Classrooms to the Streets from West Virginia to Oklahoma, Kentucky and Arizona with . Nema Brewer, a school employee and organizer, Fayette County, Ky. . Teresa Danks, Grimes Elementary School teacher, Tulsa, Okla. . Derek Harris, Tucson Unified District, middle school music teacher
The victorious wildcat strike in W. Virginia ushered in a new wave of teacher and state worker activism and strikes organized by the rank and file with their unions racing to catch up. Teachers without bargaining rights in Oklahoma, Kentucky and Arizona and where striking is illegal & their unions weak summoned their courage and walked off the job. The workers in Kentucky entered the fray en masse with a sick-out after a surprise attack by the state government on their pension rights. The strikes and mass protests have been led by the workers themselves forming new organizations often based on face book sites which host full-throttle conversations of what to do next such as Arizonas face book group that organized the #RedForEd campaign and Kentuckys KY120 United. They are fighting years of budget cuts which translate into low wages and benefits and as importantly for these workers reduced school budgets meaning overcrowded classrooms, lacking basic supplies, updated books and educational materials. They are fighting for themselves and their students and have rejected deals to separate the issues.
Workers have been under brutal attack & unionization has been in decline for over 40 years. The employer offensive against unions has included all-out war against militant action and especially strikes. Yet it has only been in the periods of struggle and strikes for the private sector in the 1930s and late 40s and the public sector in the 1960s that unions have grown and workers prospered. Now the West Virginia workers have sparked workers across the land to embrace their rekindled militancy.
produced by Ken Nash and Mimi Rosenberg
please notify us if you plan to broadcast this program - knash@igc.org
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