reform" that demonized teachers and led to massive privatization of public schools across the United States, teachers everywhere were ready to fight back. For many of us in Chicago, ahead of thestrike, political developments had shown a range of possibilities for what that fighting back could look like.
According to labor historian Joseph McCartin and former President of the Massachusetts Teachers Association, Merrie Najimy, the new approach to bargaining has beenunderstood that there was no way to confront the dynamics of austerity—and especially its devastating impacts on our most vulnerable communities—unless workers and those communities joined together around a shared analysis to advance common goals.
As a result of the success by teacher unions in advancing social justice in their bargaining, unions outside of education have also begun to