Detroit Federation of Teachers pushes through contract, as school closures, austerity continue
The basic contradiction behind the tentative agreement is that district is offering limited raises while closing schools.
Phyllis Steele•
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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Australian educators discuss way forward after rejection of Labor-union sellout deal in Victoria
Educators who participated in the Committee for Public Education’s recent online public meeting speak about the issues raised at the meeting and the No vote that followed.
Our correspondents•
No Bundeswehr in schools! Against the cooperation agreement between the state of Berlin and the Armed Forces!
On 8 June, Berlin's Education Senator (state minister) Günther-Wünsch (Christian Democratic Union, CDU) signed an agreement with the Bundeswehr granting youth officers exclusive access to our classrooms.
Action Committee Nurseries & Education•
The US government’s multi-pronged push to coerce young people into the military
The drive to corral working class youth into uniform through automatic conscription registration, the expansion of JROTC and the deepening “economic draft” is being intensified as the US builds for World War III.
Nancy Hanover•
Luke Galvin•
Sue Phillips•
Eric Ludlow•
Renae Cassimeda•
Our reporters•
Reinstate Nexteer worker Antwiane Sanders immediately! An injury to one is an injury to all! Remove the company’s cops in the UAW bureaucracy!
Antwiane Sanders, a Nexteer worker with more than 10 years on the job, was fired after speaking out against the fourth tentative agreement at a UAW Local 699 roll-out meeting held on company premises.
Statement of the Nexteer Workers Rank-and-File Committee•
4 workers dead at Palmetto: The safety crisis, the privatization drive, and how postal workers can fight back
These were not simply tragic accidents but the lethal results of austerity. Preventing them requires an organized movement from below, not beholden to management, toothless regulatory agencies or corrupt union officials.
USPS Workers Rank-and-File Committee•
The way forward for resident doctors: Unite all NHS workers against Starmer government
The BMA and other health unions—Unite, Unison, the GMB and the Royal College of Nursing—are suffocating a unified fightback by National Health Service workers.
NHS FightBack•
Online meeting Sunday
Four workers dead at Palmetto—the consequence of decades of cuts and the drive to privatize USPS
Four workers have died at the Palmetto Regional Processing and Distribution Center in Georgia in the past two years. The most recent, Demarcus Little, told a supervisor he felt unwell last week, collapsed, and died.
USPS Workers Rank-and-File Committee•
Nexteer Workers Rank-and-File Committee•
Nexteer Workers Rank-and-File Committee•
Steve Hill•
Barry Grey•
David Harrison•
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.