On this edition of Your Call, we’ll speak with teachers and a teacher turned reporter about the resurgence of teachers unions and strikes in states like West Virginia, Arizona, Oklahoma, and California.
Over the past few years, hundreds of thousands of teachers have protested low pay, school closures, budget cuts, understaffing, and public school funding for charter schools. What’s next for the growing teachers movement as they prepare to go back to school?
Guests:
Eric Blanc,education strike correspondent for Jacobin Magazine, and author of Red State Revolt: The Teachers’ Strike Wave and Working-Class Politics
Joseph Glatzer, 7th grade history teacher at Pinole Middle School and member of United Teachers of Richmond
Erika Alvarez, English and Language Arts teacher at Legacy Visual & Performing Arts High School in Los Angeles, chair of the education committee for the Democratic Socialists of America, creator of ¡Huelga!LA Activist app
Web Resources:
Jacobin Magazine: Why Oakland’s Striking Teachers Won
EdSource: Lessons from the Los Angeles and Oakland teachers' strikes
The Atlantic: America's Teachers Are Furious
Chalkbeat: What the Democratic presidential candidates have said about education
Los Angeles Times: Prop. 13 reform headed to California ballot could swamp counties
