Vice News says that the labor movement, which was declining, is bouncing back to life, thanks to teachers, who organized walkouts in states where strikes are illegal.
The number of workers participating in strike actions and walkouts is rising.
“The nation is paying attention to labor again, and for that America has one profession to thank more than any other: the public school teacher.
“In 2018, 485,000 workers participated in what the Bureau of Labor Statistics classifies as a “major work stoppage,” up from just 25,000 in 2017. It was the first major increase in work stoppages in three decades, and it was nearly entirely driven by 379,000 teachers and other education workers, who accounted for 78 percent of all those who went out on strike.
“But while teachers — with their #RedforEd movement — brought new attention to labor, healthcare, fast-food service, graduate student, and hotel workers also went on strike. Marriott employees, for example, led a strike against the nation’s largest hotel chain in December and won San Francisco housekeepers a pay bump and some workplace protections.
”By their sheer numbers, teachers breathed new life into the stagnating U.S. labor movement — even with nationwide union membership at historic lows. Union membership stood at 10.5 percent in the U.S. in 2018, down 0.2 percent from 2017, and down by nearly 50 percent since 1983, when the Bureau of Labor Statistics started keeping track.”
This is surely bad news for the rightwing plutocrats like the Koch brothers, the DeVos family, the Walton family, and the other billionaires who hate unions, the minimum wage, and any benefits for working people.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
They brought a lot of attention to public schools. In fact, they seemed to be dragging state lawmakers, kicking and screaming, and forcing them to address public school funding.
The fact that state lawmakers were caught off guard by the strikes is itself an indictment- why don’t they know what’s going on in their public schools? They’re so out of touch teachers have to shut every school in the state down before they pay attention?
Every single one of these state legislators has public schools in their districts. They should stop in once in a while.
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So true.
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“In 2018, 485,000 workers participated in what the Bureau of Labor Statistics classifies as a “major work stoppage,” up from just 25,000 in 2017.”
Who should earn the credit for igniting that blaze, Donald Trump and/or Betsy DeVos? I do not think it is a coincidence that this happened after MAGA man occupied the White House.
The deplorable MAGA man and the brainless Betsy might be doing the country a favor by revealing what’s been going on behind the Gates, Broad, Walmart clan, and Koch brothers’ curtains of deceit and subversion.
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It is a fact that unions have been quietly losing ground during the terms of corporate Democrats that didn’t lift a finger to help union members. With Trump and DeVos the veil of secrecy has been lifted as they put their union crushing vehicle into overdrive. Teachers realize they need to take a stand or face extinction.
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That is one thing I have trouble forgiving Obama for. After grand pledges to walk with teachers in Wisconsin he was silent while Walker went about trying to destroy them.
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Worse than that, During the strikes in Wisconsin, Obama went to Miami to join Jeb Bush in celebrating a high school that “turned around” by firing most of the teachers. Except a month later, the state named it as a failing school on the closure list.
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and NEVER, not once, have we ever heard an apology or even an ‘ooops’ for this type of transparently bad call which RUINED LIVES.
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We should all find it very difficult to stomach Pres. Obama’s betrayal of the people of Flint in the water crisis.
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and not only did Obama and the Dems not lift a finger, but shockingly turned up their noses
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“’You can only stretch the rubber band so far until it breaks,’ said Sara Nelson.” — Yep. The wealthy elite should have known. But then, greed knows nothing.
This article made me smile at every sentence. Thank you for alighting my attention on it. Going on strike for smaller classes and better resources was one of the best things I ever did. Question: when are big cities going to start striking for an end to the standardized testing and scripted online curriculum madness?
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Yes, back in the late ’60’s and through the ’70’s strikes were illegal in Ohio and many other places. In Columbus, we struck successfully in ’75–though threatened with jail. And in some areas, our brothers & sisters did go to jail. But our strikes built a strong teacher organization. Nationally, we helped elect Jimmy Carter, President. He created The Department of Education, and Pres. Reagan struck back with “A Nation at Risk,” and assaulted public education with vouchers, testing, etc.
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There is a lot of noise about how many candidates are running for the democrats’ nomination for president. Some are using the number as a strange way to do the same thing for Biden as was done for Hillary in 2016. The corporate influences in the media are thrilled with this possibility. I wonder if there will be a candidate who recognizes what teachers have been doing, and what needs to be done on their behalf to make them the major force in all levels of politics that they should be. State representative and school board races could add up to be powerful forces for change, if they are able to not be smashed by huge piles of money. Has that been happening anywhere, yet.
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Should a Pres. candidate figure out how strongly the nation feels about public education issues (invasions, divisions, closures, charter scams, attenuated funding, endless testing, vicious teacher blame) and then speak out loudly against all of these things, that candidate might well be shocked at how dramatically he/she would move up in the polls. The nation has been desperate for help on this issue, but heard NOTHING about bringing change from Hillary/Bernie in the last election, and a sad number turned to Trump since he at least caught on that he should badmouth the Common Core (not that he understood what he was saying about it).
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Presidential candidate Eric Swalwell appears to be ed tech’s man. Presumably, he’ll tamp down his enthusiasm for ed reform and technology, while on the campaign trail.
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