Posts tagged AFT
PA Union’s Vendetta Against School Choice Isn’t Afraid of Jay-Z
June 25, 2024 // Jay-Z’s pro-voucher push has included information sessions and a widespread advertising campaign to mobilize Pennsylvanians in support of educational choice. According to representatives from Jay-Z’s Roc Nation, the rapper became committed to the voucher issue not only through his longtime initiative to fund college scholarships, but also thanks to his familiarity with Pennsylvania. Not even Jay-Z, however, is immune to AFT’s onslaught. On June 7, AFT Pennsylvania tweeted a clear-cut message in response to the musician’s campaign: “This ain’t it.” Union president Arthur Steinberg reemphasized AFT’s intransigence three days later: “The crisis in public education funding in America could have been solved a long time ago if billionaires like … Jay-Z simply paid their fair share in taxes instead of robbing needed money from public schools to fund failed voucher schemes which hurt poor kids.”
Thousands Of Virginia Public School Teachers And Staff Vote To Unionize
June 12, 2024 // The labor victory is the biggest for Virginia unions since Democratic lawmakers overturned a decadesold prohibition on public-sector bargaining.
St. Louis KIPP Charter High School Educators’ Vote to Remove Unwanted AFT Union Bosses is Now Official
June 3, 2024 // “AFT union officials never stood up for us and instead undermined our students’ success,” stated Johnston. “This was especially on display when union officials called a divisive strike to demand we abandon our classrooms and our students. I’m grateful for my colleagues who have decided to set our school on a better path without the union.” The KIPP High School educators are not the only charter school employees who have removed unwanted unions with free legal aid from the National Right to Work Foundation. In 2023 in San Diego, CA, employees of Gompers Preparatory Academy prevailed in 2023 after a nearly four-year effort to vote out the San Diego Education Association (SDEA) union, an affiliate of the National Education Association (NEA).
COMMENTARY Chicago Teachers Union: An Example in Corruption
May 29, 2024 // The scandals didn’t end in 2023, regrettably. An ethics complaint filed in 2024 over a “leaked email detailing a plan to help students vote” violated the CPS Code of Ethics, according to the Illinois Policy Institute, which filed the complaint. To be fair, CPS officials aren’t barred from engaging in some political activities. They cannot, however, conduct such activities during working hours. The Illinois Policy Institute claims the email shows “the union is asking its members to violate the CPS Code of Ethics and possibly other state or city provisions.” In fact, while writing this article, another shocking revelation came out about the Chicago Public Schools system. A former student is suing the CPS, alleging that a dean there raped her at the age of 15 and then posed as her stepfather to get her two abortions, and the staff failed to report it. I need to stop writing before another scandal comes out, or I’ll have to add that, too.
Staff at New Orleans’ French immersion school, Lycée Français, vote to unionize
May 16, 2024 // This week's vote comes as Republican state lawmakers have introduced several bills aiming to weaken public-sector unions. However, one of the harshest measures, which would outlaw collective bargaining for teachers and other public employees, would not apply to charter schools because the federal labor board has ruled that they are entitled to union protections. Lycée Français is the seventh New Orleans charter school to unionize since 2013, when Morris Jeff Community School joined UTNO. The other union schools are Rooted School, International High School, Bricolage Academy, Ben Franklin High School and the Living School, though that school is set to close.
KIPP St. Louis Charter High School Educators to Vote This Week on Whether to Oust AFT Union Bosses
May 14, 2024 // “AFT union officials haven’t stood up for us,” commented Johnston. “I think the majority of my coworkers agree that they’ve only made it harder for us to help our students succeed, especially through a divisive strike order, and that’s a trend I hope we can reverse with this vote. We hope the election proceeds without delay and without interference from union officials.” The NLRB has scheduled a vote to occur on Friday, May 17. According to Johnston’s petition, the vote will occur among “College and Career Advisors, English Language Learners, Leads, Lead Teachers, Learning Support Teachers, Mental health Professionals, School Nurses, Special Ed. Teachers, Specials Teachers, Speech Language Pathologists, Virtual Learning Facilitators, Behavior Support Specialists, High School Registrars, Long Term Subs, Office Coordinators, Paraprofessionals, Permanent Building Subs and Receptionists” at the school.
CONNECTICUT: Senator’s Dual Roles Raise Ethical Questions Amid Legislative Decisions
April 29, 2024 // Citing the need to pay people “a fair wage and a fair pension,” Sen Hochadel argued that the state must provide higher wages — which already exceed the private sector — to address state job vacancies. This stance suggests a dual agenda: to attract job candidates to the state and swell the ranks of her union with more dues paying members. During her remarks, the Senator acknowledged her members, expressing appreciation for their contributions to the state of Connecticut and urged her colleagues “to vote yes.” While this advocacy may not be surprising, she also serves as the president of the Connecticut American Federation of Teachers (AFT) — one of the unions involved in the negotiations. AFT represents a broader group than just teachers. The union also includes dues paying members who are state employees in the executive and judicial branches, as well as staff at state colleges, universities and UConn Health.
Commentary: The Teachers’ Unions Are More Political than Ever
April 18, 2024 // Americans for Fair Treatment, a national nonprofit organization that educates public employees about their rights in a unionized workplace, recently released a report detailing the National Education Association’s (NEA) financial filings from Sept. 1, 2022, through Aug. 31, 2023. The NEA declared that its political spending totaled $50.1 million during the fiscal year, though the true number is much higher. During the most recent reporting period, the union disclosed that it spent “$126.3 million on ‘contributions, gifts, and grants,’ which is where most unions detail their charitable giving.” However, a closer look at the union’s “contributions, gifts, and grants” shows that the NEA is directing more money towards political causes than it reports.
Michigan’s largest unions have seen plummeting membership over the past decade
April 18, 2024 // Analysis Michigan’s largest unions have seen plummeting membership over the past decade Jobs and incomes are up, workplace injuries are down By Jarrett Skorup | April 16, 2024Share on FacebookShare on X Photo by Kateryna Babaieva on Pexels In recent years, most of Michigan’s largest labor unions saw massive declines in membership, despite significant job growth in most industries. The reason? A decade with right-to-work law, which gave workers the ability to choose whether to join a union, as a member or through a fee, or not. The reports many labor unions are required to file with the federal government reveal the state of labor union membership, as do reports from the Michigan Civil Service Commission. Every one of Michigan’s 15 largest unions or so has seen a decline, whether in state government, schools, local government, or private industries such as construction or food service. But the declines are uneven. A variety of AFSCME associations, representing mostly state and local government workers, have seen a loss of more than half their members. The SEIU, which mostly represents workers in health care and local government, is down nearly 70%. Despite job gains in the auto sector over the past decade and a highly publicized strike last year, the UAW branches in Michigan have lost 16,000 members over the past decade. Other private sector unions have seen fewer losses. These include the United Food and Commercial Workers (-8.7%), Michigan Regional Council of Carpenters (-6.8%), the Operating Engineers (-2.5%) and Michigan Nurses Association (-3.7%). Losses in the public sector are much more pronounced than those in the private sector. The Michigan Education Association has now lost more than 38,000 members, or one-third, since the right-to-work law went into effect in 2013. The American Federation of Teachers branch, the bulk of which is in the Detroit Federation of Teachers, is down more than 25%. The Michigan public school system added 27,000 employees since 2012, but its largest employee unions have lost a combined 45,000 members. The total number of public sector union members in Michigan has dropped by 80,000 since the right-to-work law was passed. Unions representing state of Michigan employees are down by more than one-third. That may soon change. The Democratic-led Michigan Legislature repealed the state’s right-to-work law in 2023. The UAW and other unions representing workers for private employers can now require them to rejoin or pay fees. A 2018 ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court means that public sector employees such as schoolteachers still have the right to decline paying or joining a union. Repealing the law is expected to boost union membership and financial support for the Democratic Party. In fighting in 2012 against a law allowing workers to opt out, SEIU Healthcare Michigan President Marge Faville said unions needed the forced funds to “make sure Democrats get [elected].” Just before legislators voted to enact a right-to-work law, a local Michigan Education Association leader sent an email out on a public server to tell other public school employees that “[emergency management] is the future in Michigan with a Republican governor and Legislature” and union members need to “[get] everyone we know to vote for Democrats.”
Dearborn schools responds to CapCon story on illegal contract language
April 4, 2024 // Steve Delie, director of labor policy at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, thinks the contract poorly serves Dearborn employees. “Whether or not this language is enforced, it is still misleading,” he told CapCon. Keeping inoperative language in the contract is not the best practice, he said, as it requires teachers to be up to date on the latest legal developments. “School employees have a constitutional right to work without being forced to pay a union, and their contracts should clearly reflect that.”