Milwaukee, WI – The Milwaukee Teachers Education Association (MTEA) has been fighting budget cuts and downgrades to public schools for years. Governor Scott Walker has been ruthlessly destroying the school system inch by inch and dollar by dollar. It is no exaggeration to say that every student, teacher, classroom and school connected to the Milwaukee Public School system (MPS) has been negatively affected. With hundreds of dedicated members spanning every school in the district, the MTEA has proven itself to be a committed and powerful force for justice within MPS. A force, it should be added, that is more necessary than ever as the school board releases a proposal for the upcoming fiscal period. The cuts are enormous and heartbreaking.
Tucson, AZ – Thousands of red-clad educators, parents, youth and community members poured into the downtown area April 4, during rush hour. Several marches from nearby schools convened on the street corners outside of the Arizona State Building to send a message to Governor Doug Ducey and the legislature to increase teacher pay and restore the missing $1 billion from the state public education budget.
México City, México – Fight Back! interviewed leaders of the militant teachers union in Oaxaca, México – the National Coordinator of Education Workers (CNTE) Section 22. The interview was done on March 5, during the 18th Congress of the World Federation of Teachers Unions (FISE) in Mexico City. In this interview, CNTE Section 22 leaders talk about the history of militant teachers’ struggle in Oaxaca and their current struggles to stop neoliberal education reform while confronting serious state repression.
‘Strike fever’ hits the Garden State as teachers push back to protect health care
Jersey City, NJ – On March 16, public school teachers in Jersey City, New Jersey went on strike after months of frustrating contract negotiations with the city’s Board of Education. Their union, the Jersey City Education Association (JCEA), announced the strike to their nearly 4000 members late on the night of March 15.
The Puerto Rican Teachers Federation and allied teachers’ organizations in the Broad Front in Defense of Public Education (FADEP) have called a national teachers’ strike in Puerto Rico for March 19. The strike is in response to the Puerto Rican House of Representatives passing an education reform bill this week that would introduce charter schools and private school vouchers and that would close hundreds of public schools. The government is trying to opportunistically push through this sweeping attack while Puerto Rico is still recovering from the destruction of Hurricane Maria.
México City, México – ¡Lucha y Resiste! entrevistó a Ibai Redondo, un representante del sindicato de maestros que forma parte de la federación sindical Langile Abertzaleen Batzordeak (LAB) en el País Vasco. La entrevista fue realizada el 5 de marzo 2018 durante el 18 congreso de la Federación Internacional de la Enseñanza (FISE) en la Ciudad de México. En la entrevista Redondo habla sobre porque hay una lucha en el País Vasco por la independencia de España, su perspectiva sobre la Unión Europea, y algunas de las luchas del sindicato de maestros.
México City, México – Fight Back! News interviewed Ibai Redondo, a representative of the teachers union that’s part of the union federation Langile Abertzaleen Batzordeak (LAB) in the Basque Country. The interview was done on March 5, 2018 at the 18th Congress of the World Federation of Teachers Unions (FISE) in Mexico City. In this interview, Redondo speaks about why there is a struggle in the Basque Country for independence from Spain, his perspective on the European Union, and some of the struggles that the teachers union is waging.
México City, México – El 5 de marzo ¡Lucha y Resiste! entrevistó a Niurka González Orberá, Secretaria General del Sindicato Nacional de Trabajadores de la Educación, la Ciencia y el Deporte (SNTECD). La entrevista fue realizada en el 18 congreso de la Federación Internacional de la Enseñanza (FISE) en la Ciudad de México.
México City, México – On March 5, Fight Back! News interviewed Niurka González Orberá, the General Secretary of the Cuban Union of Education, Science, and Sports Workers (SNTECD). The interview was done at the 18th Congress of the World Federation of Teachers Unions (FISE) in Mexico City.
México City, México – On March 5 the World Federation of Teachers Unions (FISE) successfully concluded its 18th Congress in México City. Militant teachers and education workers from around the world gathered to strategize how to resist regressive ‘education reform’ proposals that capitalist governments are pushing forward in country after country to corporatize and privatize public education.
