Australian teacher shortages worsen in public schools
Graduates are shunning teaching degrees, while registered teachers are leaving the profession in unprecedented numbers.
Erika Zimmer •
Educators Rank-and-File Committee
The Educators Rank-and-File Committee is an international network of educators, students, parents, and workers fighting for workers power in the schools, to stop the capitalist destruction of public education and eliminate COVID-19.
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Sri Lanka: Workers action committee discusses defence of school development officers
The online meeting was part of a campaign to alert workers to the government-initiated police attacks on SDOs and to rally support for their defence.
Our correspondents•
Democrats join Republicans in passing fascistic “Crucial Communism Teaching Act”
The passage of the bill reflects immense fear within the US ruling class that large sections of the population will be looking for a revolutionary alternative to the unending war, inequality, austerity and fascism offered by the capitalist system.
Jacob Crosse•
Detroit teachers face missing bonuses, inflation, and cuts: Join the fight to defend public education
The Michigan Educators Rank-and-File Committee insists that there are plenty of resources to pay educators what they need and deserve.
Statement of the Michigan Educators Rank-and-File Committee•
Chase Lawrence•
Norisa Diaz, David Benson•
Joe Raymond•
Our reporters•
A Western Sydney University Rank-and-File Committee member•
Unelected Canada Industrial Relations Board orders postal workers back to work from Tuesday
Postal workers must defy this anti-democratic edict, but this requires the mobilization of the broadest sections of the working class—public and private sector alike—across Canada and internationally.
Roger Jordan•
“Rank-and-file postal workers, not the corrupt union officialdom, should decide if MacKinnon’s antidemocratic back-to-work order will be respected or defied”
Canada Post workers call for working class to mobilize in opposition to Liberal government’s strike ban
The CUPW leadership has issued no call for postal workers to defy the impending, patently anti-democratic government-order illegalizing their strike. As for the Canadian Labour Congress, it hasn’t so much as bothered to issue a press release denouncing the Liberal government's strikebreaking.
Our reporters•
Mobilize the working class to defy and defeat MacKinnon’s strike ban! Stop the Liberal government-backed destruction of Canada Post and all public services!
Now more than ever, the central issue is to mobilize the social power of the entire working class. Every worker has a stake in our struggle and we must make them aware of that.
Postal Workers Rank-and-File Committee•
The Canada Post strike at the crossroads: Postal Workers Rank-and-File Committee to hold public meeting on Sunday, December 8
Canada Post strikers are determined to wage a struggle. But they are being hamstrung by the disastrous policies of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers and Canadian Labour Congress, which are forcing the workers to stand alone against the combined strength of corporate Canada and its bought-and-paid-for political representatives.
our reporter•
Health Workers Rank-and File Committee•
Our correspondents•
Transport Workers Action Committee•
Our reporters•
Tony Robson•
Frequently Asked Questions
What does the term “rank-and-file” mean and where does it come from?
“Rank-and-file” is originally a military term. It refers to the lower “ranks” of soldiers, who literally stand in lines or “files”. These soldiers have a different set of interests in preserving their lives than the officers or “brass” who prosecute the wars on behalf of the ruling elite.
Rank-and-file committees are of, by and for the rank-and-file workers, who have a different set of interests in preserving their lives than management, the bosses, the politicians, and the trade union apparatus, who send workers to die while defending the profits of the ruling elite.
Is it legal to build rank-and-file committees of educators and other workers to stop the spread of COVID-19?
Yes. The formation of rank-and-file committees is 100% completely legal under the First Amendment to the US Constitution.
The right to freedom of speech means you can say whatever you like about what you agree or disagree with. Freedom of association, also covered under the first amendment, means you have the right to associate with others who share your views, for political ends. You also have the right to petition the government for redress, to make demands on the government and tell them what you want them to do.
Does HIPAA law prevent schools or workplaces from disclosing information about the spread of COVID-19?
No. HIPAA has an exception for disclosures to prevent and control the spread of disease, but the state is deliberately not invoking this exception in order to conceal information from workers, so that they can pretend that what they are doing is safe when it’s not.
Rank-and-file educators have the right to know who’s gotten sick, where, when, and what happened. Rank-and-file committees have to demand this information, and have to share it with other workers as a matter of collective self defense.