Posts tagged Immigration
While NAEP scores hit 20-year lows, teachers’ unions were debating ethical veganism
July 16, 2026 // Recognizing ethical veganism as a protected philosophical belief; glyphosate has no place on student food and beverages; opposing merging US military operations, intelligence, and/or defense technology with those of any foreign military; comprehensive immigration reform; banning the use of AI in the decision-making process for the use of nuclear weapons; investigating fires for evidence of microwave energy attacks through the use of “direct energy weapons”; prohibiting weather modification to be injected into the stratosphere; calling for the impeachment of Trump before the November election, at a campaign cost of $5.2 million; and ending the war in Iran. For an entity that cloaks itself in sanctimony for defending the rights of teachers, it seems very much that the welfare of average union members might not be the C-suite’s top priority.
Dream Team of Three Congressional Primary Winners Joins UAW Union Rally for Columbia University Researchers
July 5, 2026 // Three recently elected Democratic nominees for Congress — Darializa Avila Chevalier, Claire Valdez and Brad Lander — spoke at a Tuesday rally for CPW-UAW Local 4100, the union that represents 1,600 postdoctoral workers at Columbia University. The lunchtime rally was held in a pedestrian plaza outside the university’s massive medical center in Washington Heights. Drawing over 200 participants, it took place on the day CPW-UAW’s current contract was set to expire and right before a bargaining session between the union and Columbia. As of Wednesday afternoon, the university and the union have yet to settle on a new contract.
Pritzker gets his school cell phone ban bill despite CTU opposition
June 23, 2026 // While acknowledging that “phones can be distracting,” the CTU opposes the measure because phones can be “lifelines for students” who fear immigration enforcement. But that’s arguably covered by one of the exceptions districts can detail in their emergency and crisis response plans. The union also called the bill itself a distraction, that noting managing phones already “is part of the daily work” of educators. With just 2-in-5 Chicago Public Schools students reading at grade level and about 1-in-4 doing math proficiently, maybe the CTU shouldn’t get distracted itself by a cell phone law.
AFL-CIO president aims to unionize 2 million workers in 5 years
June 9, 2026 // To get there, Shuler said the labor movement would turn out an additional 2 million voters to the polls this November along with 50,000 "trained election protectors." Shuler was addressing a crowd of hundreds of union members on the first day of the labor federation's national convention in downtown Minneapolis. The convention, which happens every four years, brings together representatives from 65 unions covering all sectors of the American economy, from Hollywood actors to Pittsburgh steelworkers.
HGSU-UAW Strike Becomes Longest in Union History as Harvard Holds Firm at Bargaining Table
May 28, 2026 // The Harvard Graduate Students Union-United Auto Workers plans to picket through Commencement after its 27th bargaining session with Harvard ended Thursday without a contract, pushing the walkout into its 31st day — the longest strike in the union’s history. In an email sent two days before Thursday’s session, HGSU-UAW told the University it would consider a membership vote to end the strike if Harvard moved on five core issues: paid immigration leave, an agency shop, a grievance process for harassment and discrimination, paid medical leave, and pay parity between teaching fellows and research assistants.
Largest federal workers union warns ICE agents are not trained to replace TSA and putting them in airports ‘does not fill a gap. It creates one’
March 24, 2026 // TSA officers’ call-out rates reached their highest level of the shutdown on Sunday, with 11.76% of workers, or more than 3,450 employees, not showing up to work, DHS data showed. That included about 40% of TSA officers from George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston, Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport, and Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, according to DHS data.
Teachers Union Anti-Trump Lawfare Cases Have Little Connection to K-12 Public School Education
December 4, 2025 // The AFT began as exclusively a teachers union but has six separate divisions that also represent other public school employees, such as teacher aides, custodians, and bus drivers, as well as health care workers and higher education faculty. The union’s website says it also represents public employees, including federal and state employees. “The AFT’s lawsuit spree against the Trump administration reveals what we’ve long known: these organizations have strayed far from their mission of representing teachers,” Aaron Withe, president of the Teacher Freedom Alliance, a conservative education group, told The Daily Signal. “This is exactly why so many teachers are choosing to opt out—they want representation focused on their profession, not a political action committee.”
Union support for immigration protests proves workers need freedom
December 4, 2025 // Yet while union leaders are fighting the president, union members are divided. More than 40% voted for Mr. Trump in November, and union members are increasingly a key part of Republican and Democratic coalitions. Yet even in cases where workers lean to the right, unions use their dues to fund liberal causes that have little to do with their members’ interests, including nationwide protests. Unions have heavily spent their members’ money to bus workers to protests, buy anti-Trump placards and foment disruption on city streets. Even when unions have organized press conferences to denounce the arrest of the SEIU California president, it cost money they took from their members, many of whom support Mr. Trump and his immigration crackdown
Teachers unions sue over Trump immigration crackdown
September 11, 2025 // The National Education Association (NEA) and the American Federation of Teachers joined a federal lawsuit Tuesday after the Trump administration took away the directive for immigration officials to stay away from school grounds. Although no Immigration and Custom Enforcement (ICE) officials are known to have entered a school for enforcement, the lawsuit alleges people have been arrested while dropping off students and other parents have pulled students from school or certain activities due to fear of deportation.
The president of the AFL-CIO says she’s committed to the fight against Trump’s immigration policies
June 18, 2025 // We’re deploying strategies in the courts, in Congress. We have pension fund investments that we know can be used strategically as leverage as well. We’re the only institution in the country that has a network of local labor bodies in every state and every city in this country. We have access to working people and workplaces that we can use to educate and train and activate on a moment’s notice. We [were] not going to just close up shop and move on after David’s been released. This is just the start.