The current wave of teachers standing up for public schools, picketing and rallying in the streets for fair pay, smaller classrooms, and adequate resources for students, started a year ago with a nine-day statewide walkout in West Virginia. West Virginia educators are again making headlines for standing together and winning, only this time it took only two days of striking — proof of their growing influence as a political force.
Teachers on the university level, adjunct professors who’ve joined SEIU Faculty Forward and formed unions, have also been working together to end the trend toward the low-road, corporate-business model for education — striking for and winning fair wages, stable work and dignity on the job.
That strength is what happens when people unite together — to do what can’t be done alone. With one loud voice, they can make a difference ... and what a difference teachers all across this country have made in building what is now the powerful #RedforEd movement!
The many educators who walked out over the past year and won, in places like Denver and Los Angeles, stood up against our economic and political systems — rigged against working people and for corporations and billionaires.
SEIU members are in this very same fight, united together for good jobs, affordable healthcare, and the ability to join a union to have a voice on the job. To show solidarity with teachers in recent weeks, hundreds of SEIU Local 99 members in Los Angeles, such as teaching assistants, food service workers, custodians and special education assistants, held sympathy strikes.
In honor of teachers everywhere who inspire activism, join the movement to improve the lives of working families! Sign up to act on the issues you care about.
