Posts tagged social justice
Opinion: We can’t abolish America’s largest teachers union. But Congress can do something else
August 7, 2025 // If this is what happens when NEA completely controls an event and its programming, the union’s tremendous influence over classrooms is a five-alarm fire not just for public education, but the future of our country. Congressional action addressing the pernicious influence of the teachers unions is long overdue. That’s why I (Mr. Fitzgerald) and Sen. Cynthia Lummis from Wyoming have introduced the Stopping Teachers Unions from Damaging Education Needs Today (STUDENT) Act, which would overhaul the NEA’s federal charter to make the union more accountable and less partisan.
Is “Salting” the Future of Organized Labor?
August 3, 2025 // MA: Another point to just make is that as a salt, you have to earn your keep. Yes, you’re in closer proximity to people, and you can talk to them and build relationships. But part of that is also like doing the work, being taken seriously as a fellow worker, who knows what the hell you’re talking about. JB: Exactly. You have to be a good coworker. I worked at Starbucks for eight months before ever saying the word union. And my role wasn’t to be the vanguard of the revolution. It was to find people, like Michelle Eisen, whose family were coal miners in Harlan County, Kentucky, who had a deep sense of social justice and a deep commitment to unions, and who quickly saw that her legacy at Starbucks could be helping build a union for everybody who would come after her.
Sisters wield power as shareholders to force corporate reforms
July 2, 2025 // The Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace this year put forth a proposal to require Ford Motor Co. to stop fighting unionizing efforts at its new battery plants and to work with local residents who would be impacted by the new factories. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission accepted Ford's request to remove the proposal, so it never went to a vote. Religious of the Sacred Heart of Mary co-filed the request. "But we're still at the table and we're still raising the voices of the local community," Francois said. "We just want the neighbors to be in dialogue with Ford." IASJ, formerly the Tri-State Coalition for Responsible Investing, was started by congregations of religious in Connecticut, New York and New Jersey in 1975.
Idaho teachers union plots campaign to target conservatives in 2026 primaries
March 29, 2025 // But while the IEA may be nonpartisan in the sense that it doesn’t care about party labels per se and will happily back candidates running as Republicans if they support the IEA, there’s no disputing that the union’s ideology places it on the far-left flank of Idaho politics. As a Freedom Foundation analysis of the IEA’s political activity in 2024 previously documented: “The IEA behaves exactly as one would expect of a far-left advocacy group in a conservative state. The union attempts to curry favor by endorsing Republicans running in safe elections when the outcome isn’t in doubt, though rarely do such endorsements come with meaningful financial support. In GOP primary elections, the IEA focuses its resources on defeating select ideological adversaries and, as soon as the general election rolls around, it switches gears to prioritize electing Democrats in competitive races. Overall, 93 percent of IEA-connected PAC spending in the 2024 general election supported Democrats.” Also, as the Freedom Foundation reported last year, the IEA paid $25,000 in members’ dues to the Idaho Progressive Investor Network in the 2021-22 tax year.
California State Union Approves Tentative Deal, Despite Dissent
February 22, 2024 // . Some members publicly campaigned against the deal, expressing disappointment that the strike didn’t last longer. “We know that some members had strong concerns about the process and questions about the result,” Sharon Elise, the union’s associate vice president of racial and social justice, South region, said in the release. “We will only be successful if we’re working together to continue building a CSU that empowers students and provides work environments that support faculty and staff.”
The rise and fall of ESG investing
November 9, 2023 // Ideologically aligned investments are risky. Fink and others now seem to understand that. There’s a role for ESG investing if people want it, with the risks and realities clearly explained up front. As the conversation moves forward on rulemaking, regulation and what the law should be, the fiduciary responsibility that money managers have to their clients to produce the greatest possible return on investment must remain the paramount consideration.
TEACHERS, COMMUNITY MEMBERS PROTEST CTA’S RADICAL POLITICS AT UNION CONFERENCE
October 31, 2023 // This past weekend, the California Teachers Association (CTA) held its quarterly State Council of Education in downtown Los Angeles to elect CTA leadership, set CTA policy, develop legislation and strategize for the upcoming election year. Much to the consternation of the 800 CTA delegates in attendance, a group of local teachers, congregants and concerned community members gathered outside the building to protest the union’s repeated attempts to push a radical political agenda into California’s classrooms. Led by Brenda Lebsack of the Interfaith Statewide Coalition and Pastor Luis Olan of “Restauracion Familiar,” the demonstration featured around 120 participants — mostly Hispanic fathers, mothers and children raising their voices against CTA. For years, CTA’s financial and ideological priorities have shifted away from promoting “the well-being of its members.” Though the union collects a significant amount of revenue from membership dues, CTA spent less than half of its budget on workplace representation in 2021.
Biden Flip-Flops On Decision To Send Officials To Meet With Striking Auto Workers
September 20, 2023 // President Joe Biden announced last week that his administration would be sending White House senior advisor Gene Sperling and acting Labor Secretary Julie Su to Detroit to help resolve the UAW strike. The trip was canceled after the White House and the UAW decided it was best for the parties to speak virtually using the video-call platform Zoom, the White House told NBC News on Tuesday. Though the officials will not travel to Detroit this week, the White House is still exploring possible options to send Sperling and Su at a following date, though no plans have officially been made, NBC News reported.
San Francisco restaurant bans armed officers, police union responds
August 28, 2023 //
Colorado teachers union passes resolution declaring capitalism ‘inherently exploits children, public schools’
May 4, 2023 // The Colorado Education Association [CEA] reportedly passed a resolution that declares that "capitalism inherently exploits children, public schools, land, labor, and resources." A final version of the resolution that was passed states that "CEA believes that capitalism requires exploitation of children, public schools, land, labor, and/or resources. Capitalism is in opposition to fully addressing systemic racism (the school to prison pipeline), climate change, patriarchy, (gender and LGBTQ disparities), education inequality, and income inequality. However, a screenshot captures an earlier draft of the resolution that included a call to replace capitalism with a "new equitable economic system."