Posts tagged NEA
Labor unions start to unify behind Kamala Harris. Here’s why.
July 25, 2024 // Randi Weingarten, head of the 1.7-million member American Federation of Teachers and a close ally of President Joe Biden, said she'd forgotten to bring something on stage with her at the union's national convention in Houston, Texas on Monday. "I don't have tissues -- I should, unfortunately," Weingarten said, before thanking Biden for his achievements. A day earlier, Weingarten had been among the first labor leaders to express support for the newly announced presidential candidacy of Vice President Kamala Harris.
Commentary: Call for End to Israel Aid Is More Proof Organized Labor Is Progressivism and Progressivism Is Organized Labor
July 24, 2024 // The UAW called for a cease-fire in Gaza in December of last year, with some UAW locals calling for one mere days after the Hamas attack on October 7. The UAW, in particular, has a large contingent of higher-education workers in its ranks, with college campuses being hotbeds of anti-Israel activism. The UAW represents about the same number of workers at the University of California system as it does at General Motors. The UAW Arab Caucus, which also supports the BDS movement, called for the union to change its stance from calling for a cease-fire only to also calling for a halt to all U.S. military aid back in February.
Union Reactions to Biden’s Exit
July 23, 2024 // Notably, many unions released statements in response to President Biden’s announcement without officially endorsing Vice President Harris.
Self-Described ‘Most Pro-Union President’ Joe Biden Facing Skepticism From Labor Leaders Following Debate Debacle
July 16, 2024 // A day earlier, Fain met with his union’s executive board to discuss grave concerns about Biden’s ability to win the looming presidential election, according to three sources who spoke with Reuters. The UAW has roughly 400,000 members with an outsized presence in Michigan, a key swing state. Association of Flight Attendants President Sara Nelson reportedly was among the most outspoken regarding concerns about Biden’s electability at Wednesday’s AFL-CIO meeting,
Teachers’ union staffers locked out of union headquarters amid strike
July 10, 2024 // “The NEA management’s punitive lockout of its own employees is a dangerous, reckless, and reactionary move that undermines the rights of every union worker in this country,” said McLean. “These are clear union-busting techniques that will not be tolerated. I cannot imagine it lands well that the nation’s largest union is locking out its staff union.”
President Biden cancels speech at teachers union convention in Philadelphia after union staff goes on strike
July 8, 2024 // Biden had planned to speak Sunday, but his campaign says the president is a “fierce supporter of unions and he won’t cross a picket line.”
NEA’s Staff Union Is on Strike—Halting NEA’s Biggest Annual Gathering
July 6, 2024 // “We have witnessed excessive, even exorbitant, spending on just the NEA president’s physical appearance. Their failure to provide basic details about outsourcing makes us wonder what else the National Education Association is hiding,” NEA Staff Organization President Robin McLean said in a prepared statement. “For a public-service union that purports to oppose outsourcing members’ work, it is unconscionable that NEA would spend hundreds of millions of NEA member dues on contractors while union-busting and shrinking its staff unions.”
The NEA Faces an Unexpected Labor Adversary—Its Own Staff Union
June 24, 2024 // Outside of the National Education Association’s building on the city’s busy 16th Street thoroughfare, staff members marched with signs reading “Uphold union values” and “NEA: practice what you preach.” Other staffers made runs supplying snacks and water in the sweltering heat; staffers had organized shifts to keep the strike on pace until 5 p.m. The one-day work stoppage comes ahead of the NEA’s upcoming Representative Assembly, which will draw thousands of union members to Philadelphia over the Fourth of July weekend to vote on the union’s budget and priorities for 2024-25.
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).