If you plan to come to the Network for Public Education annual conference in Indianapolis, please be assured that the Marriott is not on strike there.
Several people have written to ask about this.
None of us want to cross a picket line.
I asked Randi Weingarten and this was her advice:
“Good news, they aren’t on strike at the one in Indianapolis so there is no picket line. That’s good.
“There are several things the NPE folks can do, however. The first is to not accept Marriott’s so called “Green Choice” program. Marriott asks guests if they want to be “green” by not having housekeeping attend to a guest’s room – meaning no cleaning and no clean towels. This is a huge issue for UNITE HERE. It makes doing the laundry more difficult and unsafe, reduces steady work and makes cleaning at the end of a guest’s stay much more difficult. So NPE can either tell the hotel not to offer it to their conference participants or tell those coming to the conference not to accept the Green Choice option.”
We will make clear to the hotel that we support striking workers. As a guest, please make sure that you do not accept the offer to “go green” for the reasons stated above.
I will be in Louisville Thursday night for a rally against state takeover of the schools.
See you in Indianapolis for the best conference ever!
https://networkforpubliceducation.org/2018-national-conference/
Diane Ravitch's blog 
As a one who stays in Marriott brand hotels a lot, I really appreciate knowing more about the Green Choice program. I’ve used it once in the past because I thought I was doing the crew a favor. Thanks for clearing that up.
And where will you be in Louisville? I have some friends there that I’d like to inform.
Here’s the information on the rally in Louisville!
http://www.saveourschoolsky.org/2018/09/23/rally/
Thank you! Will share info.
Ed reformers aren’t stopping with Janus:
“Months after the U.S. Supreme Court dealt a hefty blow to teachers’ unions, a rash of new lawsuits has emerged that could further damage these labor groups.
Across the country, teachers’ unions are facing more than a dozen legal challenges from two major right-leaning sources in the wake of the Janus v. American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees Council 31 decision, which ended public-sector unions’ ability to collect agency, or fair share, fees. Those fees were charged to workers in some states who chose not to become full members of their unions. They were meant to cover the cost of collective bargaining.”
Next they go after private sector unions.
Because apparently ed reformers believe this country isn’t skewed ENOUGH toward wealthy people and they hope to tip the balance even further in their direction.
They won’t stop until labor unions are abolished completely. They ALL back this too- they all got in line with Janus- there was zero dissent. They all lose their Gates and Walton funding if they veer at all from the anti-union dogma.
The billionaires already went after private sector unions: only about 6.5% of the private sector is unionized!
“U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos said that socialism may be on the rise among young voters because they aren’t getting a strong foundation in civics and government at the K-12 level.
Students are “coming into higher education without the background to even know and understand competing ideas and without the ability to discuss and debate them,” DeVos said in response to a question about the trend from Robert Bluey, the vice president for communications at Heritage Foundation, in an interview on the conservative think tank’s Daily Signal podcast.”
This is what the Trump DOE does all day- they’re professional education critics.
She offers nothing of practical value to any public school anywhere- instead we get her barnstorming the country speaking exclusively to her far Right ideological fellow travelers.
Do we really need to spend 7 million dollars a year to fund the dissemination of Betsy DeVos’ political opinions? Is there a student or family in this country who would even notice if she stopped showing up for work?
We don’t spend $7 million a year to disseminate her views. That’s what we spend for her security detail.
We spend hundreds of millions to disseminate her views. EG, $399 Million handed out for more charters.
Thanks, Diane. I do love me some labor solidarity!
Thanks for fast and informative reply on the Marriot issue.
Is it true that hotels like Marriot recycle and reuse the water they use in their laundries like car washes recycle and reuse the water used to wash cars?
I understand how the policy would rob people of jobs by cutting down on the amount of work available for workers. What I do not understand is why it makes cleaning the rooms dangerous.