There's a national labor uprising happening right now that the media isn't reporting | Salon.com

There's a national labor uprising happening right now that the media isn't reporting | Salon.com

There's a national labor uprising happening right now that the media isn't reporting
Decades of wealth concentration and corporate domination leave unions no other choice

As the national press corps fixates on the coming and goings of President Trump as if it were the only story, the American labor movement is rising up, informed by almost a half-century of wage suppression made possible by unchecked corporate greed that’s turned our economy into a pyramid scheme where all the wealth drifts to the top.

For a generation after Ronald Reagan fired the nation’s striking air traffic controllers, unions were intimidated from striking. Those days are gone. With our politics so consumed with the blood sport of partisan self-preservation, the actual conditions in the country continue to decline. Hence, it is falling to organized labor to be last backstop against abject societal decline.

It has been decades since there been such tumult on the labor front with teachers going on strike in Oklahoma, Arizona, Los Angles and Denver. Last month United Automobile Workers (UAW) ended a 40-day walkout against General Motors. And last year, there were more strikes than there had been in 33 years.

Last week, 8,000 members of the Transport Workers Union Local 100 turned out in front of the Metropolitan Transportation Agency Headquarters in lower Manhattan chanting “a people united, will never be divided.”

In 18 months, working around the clock in a dangerous underground environment, they restored a subway system that the politicians had neglected for a generation and let fall into a decrepit state of disrepair. Yet, even as the system was showing signs of a rebound, with increased on-time CONTINUE READING: There's a national labor uprising happening right now that the media isn't reporting | Salon.com

Ed Notes Online: Parsing Randi on Health Care - From Under Assault

Ed Notes Online: Parsing Randi on Health Care - From Under Assault

Parsing Randi on Health Care - From Under Assault

This is a great post from a former ICEUFT colleague who blogs as Under Assault. She exposes the details of Randi's faux Medicare for All speaking out of 5 sides of her mouth. I keep wondering about the arguments our union leaders are making in favor of private insurance and arguing for the ability to bargain on health care in contracts when it is clear removing health care from bargaining can't be anything but advantageous. And then I began to think of the UFT Welfare Fund which gives the leadership control over the machinery (and patronage) that is paid for by the city.

"The glib and oily art to speak and purpose not" (part I)

https://underassault.blogspot.com/2019/11/the-glib-and-oily-art-to-speak-and.html 

Medicare for All means restructuring the tax code to eradicate a market-driven, for-profit industry that deprives Americans of coverage, needless expense and choice.

I'd venture to say that what the 99% really wants — in addition to universal coverage, of course — is a reduction of the overall costs we pay for health. Those include taxes and the out-of-pocket amounts we're hit with in the current design of things.

Unfortunately, as the Kaiser Foundation noted earlier this month, you can't discern that widely held position from the polls. Wording of the questionnaires themselves affects the responses you get, and how successful politicians and their spokespersons "sell" the various proposals in different parts of the country also makes analysis slippery.

The true Medicare for All candidates, catching the tailwind of the two bills already introduced in the Senate and House, are very clear on the issues. We have to change the tax structure to CONTINUE READING: Ed Notes Online: Parsing Randi on Health Care - From Under Assault

It's Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... A VERY BUSY DAY | The latest news and resources in education since 2007

Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... | The latest news and resources in education since 2007

It's Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... A VERY BUSY DAY | The latest news and resources in education since 2007

TODAY

The Berlin Wall Fell Thirty Years Ago This Week – Here Are Teaching & Learning Resources

by Larry Ferlazzo / 37min

Shugert / Pixabay The 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall is on Nov. 9th. There are many related resources at The Best Sites To Learn About Walls That Separate Us .

Thanksgiving Is In A Few Weeks – Here Are Teaching & Learning Resources

by Larry Ferlazzo / 1h

PublicDomainPictures / Pixabay Thanksgiving is coming up here in the United States. You might be interested in The Best Sites To Teach and Learn About Thanksgiving .

Video Of ABC Song Sparks Internet Outrage – People Need To Get A Life

by Larry Ferlazzo / 1h

blickpixel / Pixabay Dream English Kids is a popular site that produces excellent videos for people learning English. One of their older videos (seen below) is a version of the ABC Song that separates “LMNOP” instead of mushing them together as it’s done in the traditional song. It makes perfect sense to make that change for those new to the language. It, however, has sparked online insanity – as

YESTERDAY

Not Sure If You’ll Find A Better Guide For Making Good Presentations Than This One….

by Larry Ferlazzo / 11h

There are a lot of good guides out there for how to speak in public, and you can find many of them at The Best Sources Of Advice For Making Good Presentations . I’m not sure, though, if you’re going to find a better one – for teachers or for students – than the recent Harvard Business Review article, How to Look and Sound Confident During a Presentation. It’s short, accessible, and packed with us

This Week’s “Round-Up” Of Useful Posts & Articles On Ed Policy Issues

by Larry Ferlazzo / 11h

Here are some recent useful posts and articles on educational policy issues (You might also be interested in THE BEST ARTICLES, VIDEOS & POSTS ON EDUCATION POLICY IN 2019 – PART ONE ): Hands-on Philanthropists With a Proven Track Record, Ray and Barbara Dalio Announced in April They Wanted to Give $100M to Connecticut Schools. And Then Things Got Complicated is from The 74. I’m adding it to The B

Three Accessible Ways To Search For & Find My “Best” Lists

by Larry Ferlazzo / 11h

(Note: I am going to publish this same post once each month to remind regular readers and inform newer ones about how to access my “Best” lists) As regular readers know, I have about 2,100 categorized and regularly updated “Best” lists. You can find all of them in broad categories here . The link to that page can also be found at the top right of my blog: My Best Of Series I also have them all on

SEL Weekly Update

by Larry Ferlazzo / 11h

I’ve recently begun this weekly post where I’ll be sharing resources I’m adding to The Best Social Emotional Learning (SEL) Resources or other related “Best” lists. You might also be interested in THE BEST SOCIAL EMOTIONAL LEARNING RESOURCES OF 2019 – PART TWO Finally, check out “Best” Lists Of The Week: Social Emotional Learning Resources . Here are this week’s picks: Exerting self-control does

New Resources On Race & Racism

by Larry Ferlazzo / 11h

I’m adding these new resources to various “Best” lists. You can find links to all of those many lists that relate to race and racism at “Best” Lists Of The Week: Resources For Teaching & Learning About Race & Racism: Turn & Talk / Zaretta Hammond on Coaching and Culturally Responsive Teaching is from ASCD Educational Leadership. I’m adding it to The Best Resources On “Instructional Coaching” Seat

It’s “National Novel Writing Month” – Here Are Resources For How You & Your Students Can Take Advantage Of It

35by Larry Ferlazzo / 19h

It’s National Novel Writing Month, and there is a fabulous website called Young Writers Program to help teachers encourage students to write. The site includes the ability to create virtual classrooms to monitor student progress and student forums to discuss writing, as well as lesson plans. You can learn more about this annual event at NaNoWriMo Celebrates 20 Years . The New York Times is doing

“Voices Of The Civil Rights Movement” Shares Nearly 200 Video Interviews

by Larry Ferlazzo / 19h

WikiImages / Pixabay Here’s how “Voices Of The Civil Rights Movement” describes itself: Voices of the Civil Rights Movement, a multimedia collaboration of Comcast NBCUniversal and the Equal Justice Initiative, honors 

Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... | The latest news and resources in education since 2007

Chicago Teachers Didn’t Win Everything, But They’ve Transformed the City—And the Labor Movement

Chicago Teachers Didn’t Win Everything, But They’ve Transformed the City—And the Labor Movement

Chicago Teachers Didn’t Win Everything, But They’ve Transformed the City—And the Labor Movement

Chicago teachers and staff returned to the classrooms Friday after more than two weeks on strike. Their walkout lasted longer than the city’s landmark 2012 strike, as well as those in Los Angeles and Oakland earlier this year.

The Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) strike also lasted long enough for the season’s first snowstorm to blanket thousands of teachers and staff who surrounded City Hall Thursday morning to demand Mayor Lori Lightfoot agree to restore missed instructional days as a final condition of their returning to work. After a few hours, the union and the mayor arrived at a compromise of five make-up days—a move Lightfoot had resisted until the eleventh hour, despite the fact that it’s a standard conclusion to teacher strikes.

Over the course of an often-bitter battle, CTU and its sister union, SEIU 73, overcame a series of such ultimatums from the recently elected mayor. Before the strike, Lightfoot had refused to write issues such as staffing increases or class size caps into a contract at all. Following a budget address last week, Lightfoot vowed that there was no more money left for a “bailout” of the school district. But a tentative agreement approved by CTU delegates Wednesday night requires the school district to put a nurse and social worker in every school within five years and allocates $35 million more annually to reduce overcrowded classrooms. Both unions also won pay bumps for support staff who have made poverty wages. 

Yet these substantial gains still fell short of what many members had hoped to CONTINUE READING: Chicago Teachers Didn’t Win Everything, But They’ve Transformed the City—And the Labor Movement

EdAction in Congress November 3, 2019 - Education Votes

EdAction in Congress November 3, 2019 - Education Votes

EdAction in Congress November 3, 2019

NEA-supported College Affordability Act headed for the floor

The College Affordability Act (H.R. 4674), a comprehensive reauthorization of the Higher Education Act (HEA), cleared the House Education and Labor Committee in a 28-22 party-line vote last week. The next stop is the floor. NEA supports the bill and successfully advocated for expanding eligibility for Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) to include adjunct and contingent faculty—a huge victory. Amendments that would have further limited PSLF were defeated, along with other measures opposed by NEA. Tell your representative to support H.R. 4674 and your senators that students and educators need a comprehensive HEA reauthorization. TAKE ACTION

Vote delayed for DeVos ally nominated as appellate judge

The Senate Judiciary Committee had scheduled a vote on Steven Menashi’s nomination to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, but it was delayed at the last minute—a sign our efforts to defeat him are working. One Republican Senator, Susan Collins of Maine, has already broken ranks and said publicly she will not support his nomination.
An architect of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos’ disastrous policies, Menashi could do even more harm as an appellate judge. He has failed to protect students from predatory online institutions, failed to ensure student loans are forgiven for public service, and weakened protections against sexual assault and harassment. Menashi also worked with presidential adviser Stephen Miller on immigration policies that have traumatized students, families, and entire communities. Continue to speak out. Tell your senators to VOTE NO on Menashi. TAKE ACTION

Cheers and Jeers

Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) joined Democrats in supporting the Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolution to roll back the 1332 waiver rule that threatens health coverage for the 130 million Americans with pre-existing conditions—the only Republican to do so. Unfortunately, the CRA was defeated.

Reps. Susan Davis (D-CA), Alma Adams (D-NC), Susie Lee (D-NV), and Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) spoke in support of NEA’s position that adjunct faculty should be included in the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program.

Rep. Donna Shalala (D-FL) sponsored an amendment to H.R. 4674, which passed unanimously, requiring the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to conduct a study on the impact of revoking professional licenses (including teaching) of individuals who default on their student loans.

Rep. Lloyd Smucker (R-PA) joined Democrats in voting down the Allen amendment to H.R. 4674, which would have prohibited undocumented students from obtaining in-state or otherwise discounted college tuition.

 EdAction in Congress November 3, 2019 - Education Votes

Arthur Camins: Take Back Our Government. Start with Public Schools. | Diane Ravitch's blog

Arthur Camins: Take Back Our Government. Start with Public Schools. | Diane Ravitch's blog

Arthur Camins: Take Back Our Government. Start with Public Schools.

Arthur Camins retired after a career as a teacher, a professor, a scientist, and director of a lab in charge of innovation.

In this post, he lays out the great mission of our era: take back our government, restore our democracy of the people. Start with public schools.

An excerpt:

Public schools are the bedrocks of democracy and equity. They are a great place to start reclaiming government because they are under assault by market enthusiasts who promote charter schools.

At best, charter schools–publicly funded but privately governed–benefit a few at the expense of the many. The evidence is in. At worst, they drain funds from public school districts, exacerbate segregation, facilitate corruption, and promote competition rather than solidarity among diverse constituencies for education quality and equity. It is time to hammer the nails in the charter school coffin.

In a dramatic and welcome shift for presidential candidates, Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren have announced their opposition to continued federal support for charter schools. However, don’t make plans for the Democratic funeral just yet. The charter school lobby has CONTINUE READING: Arthur Camins: Take Back Our Government. Start with Public Schools. | Diane Ravitch's blog