As districts press to fully reopen, American Federation of Teachers endorses three-foot distancing in schools
On Monday,
US News & World Report published an article titled, “Teachers Union Switches Stance, Now Endorses CDC Guidance on School Reopenings.” The article describes American Federation of Teachers (AFT) President Randi Weingarten’s collusion with the Biden administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in reducing spacing recommendations for schools.
AFT President Randi Weingarten (left), First Lady Dr. Jill Biden and NEA President Becky Pringle at January 21 White House meeting
On March 19, the CDC unscientifically changed its guidelines saying that children in schools only need three feet of spacing between them instead of six feet. Just before the change, CDC Director Rochelle Walensky cynically told a House committee hearing, “As soon as our guidance came out [in mid-February], it became very clear that six feet was among the things
Anthony Vazquez, | Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times
A majority of the 185 teachers and staff at Latin School of Chicago filed union cards this week, taking a major step toward forming the Latin School Union.
The cards filed with the National Labor Relations Board affirm the educators’ intent to unionize, and an election to finalize the organizing effort will be held in June, the Illinois Federation of Teachers, which would be the group’s parent union, said in a news release.
“With our action today, the teachers at Latin School have demonstrated our collective desire to form a union,” Elissabeth Legendre, an upper school Latin language teacher, said in a statement. “We know that organizing will help us raise a powerful voice that will benefit our students and the entire school community.”
Rank-and-file teacher opposes Randi Weingarten’s fraud and capitulation
The following is a statement by Texas teacher Michael Hull, founder of the Facebook group Teachers Against Dying and a member of the Texas Educators Rank-and-File Safety Committee. It is a response to American Federation of Teachers (AFT) President Randi Weingarten’s surrender to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) over their unsafe three-foot distancing guidelines in schools.
On March 16, 2021, I spoke to AFT President Randi Weingarten at a Bad Ass Teachers town hall event, voicing safety concerns including the denial of medical accommodations, the impracticality of effectively implementing certain CDC guidelines, and the emergence of new strains of COVID-19. I explained that a doctor advised me not to return to in-person instruction and wrote a note to my district. Like thousands of others in this situation, I was still forced to choose between following medical advice and continued
Unions and labor advocates with high hopes that President Biden
A $15 minimum wage provision was jettisoned from the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan; labor’s top legislative priority, the PRO Act, is once again stalled in the Senate; and a union organizing effort at an Amazon warehouse in Alabama was soundly defeated.
Union leaders argue that Biden is still delivering on his campaign promise to be a pro-union president and that progress has been slow going because of razor-thin Democratic majorities in the House and Senate. But many progressive groups say Biden needs to be fighting harder for unions, especially with unified control of the White House and Congress for the first time in a decade, and that words of support like in the Amazon union fight aren’t enough.
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