Los Angeles teachers unions announces sellout in bid to sabotage district-wide strike
The moves by UTLA and the administrators union are aimed at blocking unified strike action with 30,000 school support staff in SEIU Local 99.
Marc Wells, Tom Hall•
Educators Rank-and-File Committee
The Educators Rank-and-File Committee is an international network of educators, students, parents, and workers fighting for workers power in the schools, to stop the capitalist destruction of public education and eliminate COVID-19.
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University of Washington graduate student and his son deported, as immigration arrests surge statewide
Kennedy Orwa, a PhD student at the University of Washington, was detained at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport on April 7 and deported with his 13-year-old son the following day.
Bryan Dyne•
UK secondary school's sweeping censorship of library books
Librarian instructed to remove up to 200 books from school library deemed inappropriate by school with Christian ethos
Margot Miller•
Australian university chiefs back Labor’s corporate agenda while pleading for funding relief
Universities Australia vows to work even more closely with the Albanese government as it enforces its Universities Accord regime.
Mike Head•
Marc Wells, Tom Hall•
Committee for Public Education•
Jane Wise•
Tom Peters•
Marc Wells•
Reject the Australian Education Union sellout in Tasmania, unify with educators in Victoria, form rank-and file committees!
By calling off its work bans the AEU is signalling its willingness to force the state government’s offer through, further cutting real wages and doing nothing to address staff shortages and intolerable workloads.
Committee for Public Education•
Colorado healthcare workers issue statement supporting striking JBS meatpackers
“The same economic pressures that lead to dangerous line speeds, inadequate safety protections, and a lack of proper PPE and equipment in the past are mirrored in our own workplaces through chronic understaffing and cuts to essential services.”
Greeley Health Care Workers•
More Canadian workers support Will Lehman’s campaign for UAW presidency
The WSWS continues to receive statements of support from workers across Canada for Will Lehman’s campaign for the presidency of the UAW in the United States. Lehman is running as a socialist on a program to abolish the union bureaucracy and place power back in the hands of workers on the shop floor.
Our reporters•
Australian educators call for opposition to the war on Iran
The meeting called on educators, students and workers to move similar resolutions denouncing the US-Israeli assault on Iran and the Albanese Labor government’s participation in it.
Our correspondents•
International Workers Alliance of Rank-and-File Committees•
Postal Workers Rank-and-File Committee•
Our correspondent•
Ford Rouge Workers Rank-and-File Committee•
New York Healthcare Workers Rank-and-File Committee•
Frequently Asked Questions
What does the term “rank-and-file” mean and where does it come from?
“Rank-and-file” is originally a military term. It refers to the lower “ranks” of soldiers, who literally stand in lines or “files”. These soldiers have a different set of interests in preserving their lives than the officers or “brass” who prosecute the wars on behalf of the ruling elite.
Rank-and-file committees are of, by and for the rank-and-file workers, who have a different set of interests in preserving their lives than management, the bosses, the politicians, and the trade union apparatus, who send workers to die while defending the profits of the ruling elite.
Is it legal to build rank-and-file committees of educators and other workers to stop the spread of COVID-19?
Yes. The formation of rank-and-file committees is 100% completely legal under the First Amendment to the US Constitution.
The right to freedom of speech means you can say whatever you like about what you agree or disagree with. Freedom of association, also covered under the first amendment, means you have the right to associate with others who share your views, for political ends. You also have the right to petition the government for redress, to make demands on the government and tell them what you want them to do.
Does HIPAA law prevent schools or workplaces from disclosing information about the spread of COVID-19?
No. HIPAA has an exception for disclosures to prevent and control the spread of disease, but the state is deliberately not invoking this exception in order to conceal information from workers, so that they can pretend that what they are doing is safe when it’s not.
Rank-and-file educators have the right to know who’s gotten sick, where, when, and what happened. Rank-and-file committees have to demand this information, and have to share it with other workers as a matter of collective self defense.