Debate blocked at Australian Education Union “briefing” on sellout deal in Victoria
At an AEU meeting, officials declared out of order a resolution opposing their agreement with the state Labor government.
Our correspondent•
Educators Rank-and-File Committee
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As its contract expires, the Detroit Federation of Teachers hands its podium to the school superintendent
The DFT invited the school superintendent to the union meeting in order to stump for a millage vote, endorsing Proposal S, which will fall on Detroit renters to pay.
Phyllis Steele•
Ann Arbor public school teachers enter sixth month without a new contract
Ann Arbor Public Schools teachers have now gone nearly six months without a contract following their near-unanimous rejection of a tentative agreement.
Anthony Callahan•
No to the censorship of anti-war meetings! Against the militarization of the University of Stuttgart!
The university is to be brought into line, critical voices are to be silenced, while the campus is being transformed into a military research facility and recruitment ground for war.
International Youth and Students for Social Equality•
Committee for Public Education•
Mike Head•
Our reporters•
Tom Hall, Mike Ingram•
Our reporters•
The way forward for resident doctors: Unite all NHS workers against Starmer government
The BMA and other health unions—Unite, Unison, the GMB and the Royal College of Nursing—are suffocating a unified fightback by National Health Service workers.
NHS FightBack•
Online meeting Sunday
Four workers dead at Palmetto—the consequence of decades of cuts and the drive to privatize USPS
Four workers have died at the Palmetto Regional Processing and Distribution Center in Georgia in the past two years. The most recent, Demarcus Little, told a supervisor he felt unwell last week, collapsed, and died.
USPS Workers Rank-and-File Committee•
Nexteer workers: Vote NO! Prepare to walk out! The fight is ours to win!
The Nexteer Workers Rank-and-File Committee issued this statement to 1,300 workers at the Saginaw, Michigan plant voting on a third sellout contract pushed by the UAW bureaucracy.
Nexteer Workers Rank-and-File Committee•
Attend Sunday’s meeting to vote for an immediate Nexteer strike!
After workers voted down a second UAW-backed contract by 73 percent, local union officials called a membership meeting for Sunday. The following is a statement by the Nexteer Workers Rank-and-File Committee.
Nexteer Workers Rank-and-File Committee•
Steve Hill•
Barry Grey•
David Harrison•
National Steel Car Rank-and-File Committee•
Postal Workers Rank-and-File Committee (UK)•
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.