The War on Public School Teachers New Unions, New Alliances, New Politics
From: the Bullet Socialist Project • E-Bulletin No. 854
July 22, 2013
Michael D. Yates
Michael D. Yates is Associate Editor of Monthly Review and Director of Monthly Review Press. This article appeared on his blog CheapMotels and a Hotplate.org.
The U.S. working-class was slow to respond to the hard times it faced during and after the Great Recession of 2007-2009. Finally, however, in February, 2011, workers in Wisconsin began the famous uprising that electrified the country, revolting in large numbers against Governor Scott Walker’s efforts to destroy the state’s public employee labour unions.
A few months later, the Occupy Wall Street movement, which supported many working-class efforts, spread from New York City to the rest of the nation and the world. Then, in September 2012, Chicago’s public school teachers struck, in defiance of Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s attempt to destroy the teachers’ union and put the city’s