Is the National Day of Action for Safe Schools (Aug. 3) a Precursor to a Nationwide Teacher Strike?

Several of the nation’s most vocal teachers unions, including those in Los Angeles, Chicago, Boston, and Milwaukee are planning to join a national “day of resistance” on Aug. 3, www.demandsafeschools.org...

There is so much going on around the schools reopening issue and the potential budget cuts to education, I have avoided writing because every time I try, more stuff keeps coming in. So let me chop things up into a bunch of blogs over the next week, as the stories keep changing every hour.

First up is a very interesting event coming next Monday taking place simultaneously around the nation. Check out the web site: www.demandsafeschools.org.

One of the key groups behind this is a fairly new national educators organization (Dec. 2018) initially based in the red states where the red state teacher rebellions took place: National Educators Union (NEU) - which you can check in with on Facebook - they have fabulous zoom events on many issues. I spoke to one of the leaders and asked how they differ from Labor Notes' sponsored UCORE (of which MORE is a member) and was told they are not focused on internal union struggles and the creation of caucuses - something I've come to agree with, but more on that another time.

They have been forming local car caravans and all kinds of other events and have toolkits to assist in organizing. The original hotbed seems to be Arizona.

Check out their web site: https://actionnetwork.org/groups/national-educators-united-neu

Here is a sample recent post:

What if your district has done the right thing and is going remote for 1st quarter or longer? How can we support August 3rd in regards to safety?

Here is a brilliant idea from an amazing organizer in Arizona which puts a new twist on an old labor slogan- an injury to one is an injury to all. If one district is safe, what about the ones next door? We are only as safe as the school next door. Here is a sample post- we have some districts making "safe" decisions and some that are not: We are only as safe as the students, educators & schools next door. Our communities live, love, work together intertwined. We are each other's neighbors, family, coworkers. If a student in Laveen, a teacher in Wilson, or a family in Vail are not safe- then I am not safe. I stand with my fellow educators across AZ and the country.
#onlywhenitssafe #istandwitheducators

They are in many states and keep growing and will be a big pressure point on the two national unions. Randi's recent claim the AFT will support teacher strikes over safety I believe is a response of sorts to this pressure. 

Here is a recent car caravan event:

One event I know of here is being sponsored by MORE - a march from the UFT at 52 to Tweed where a rally will take place. I would actually go - if I didn't want to risk dying from taking public transportation.

I will be back with more postings on what is going on soon including discussing the possibility of a strike here in NYC which I speculated about back in April when I compared our situation to the 1975 strike in April.

The Coming Crisis to NYC Education - 1975 to 2020 - Part 3 This is not the best of times - What Will Be Won't Be