Last December, AFT President Randi Weingarten joined Education Secretary Arne Duncan on a visit to Ferguson, Mo., to talk with students, educators and community members about their experiences in the wake of Michael Brown’s death. You can hear some of what the students had to say in this video from the Department of Education. Duncan also recently wrote about the role of education in addressing inequity and injustice in The Root.

For all you last minute shoppers out there: Give your loved ones the very best this Valentine’s Day with this list of union made sweets and treats. Via AFL-CIO
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Colorado WINS, an AFT affiliate representing more than 31,000 state employees, has mounted a campaign to ensure respect in the workplace and economic
security for Colorado’s public employees. Part of that is a push for a
livable wage—connecting with the nationwide “Fight for $15” effort.
“As the economy improves, the state is losing employees to the private sector. We need to step up and recognize the value of our public workers at correctional facilities, veterans homes, transportation facilities and centers for the developmentally disabled across the state. Their work matters to all of us, and it should be rewarded fairly,” says Colorado WINS Executive Director Tim Markham.
Sometimes a chart is so much easier to digest than a bunch of figures. Pretty much all you need to know about this one—from our friends at the Economic Policy Institute—is that as union membership has gone down, especially since about 1960 (the red line), the share of income going to the top 10 percent has soared (the blue line).
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Sorry this will be a short diary, but in all honesty, I could write as much as I want about this story and it wouldn’t have the impact of the words written by in Claudia Klein Felske, one of …
86 Million Reasons Why The Koch Brothers Aren’t Socially Liberal
The anti-government billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch, who helped bankroll the Republican majorities in the U.S. House and Senate, reportedly plan to spend $889 million over the next two years in order to ensure their favored candidates control the entire American government after the 2016 elections. In recent weeks, the historically private duo has mounted something of a media charm offensive, attempting to frame themselves as not as partisan Republicans but as fiscally conservative, social libertarians eager to defend individual liberty.
Our International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers and Communications Workers of America sisters and brothers have been on strike for more than 100 days in the New England cold because of Fairpoint greed.
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A frightening police stop for a food service manager
It happened a few months ago, on a Wednesday night. School food service manager Steven Brinkley left a Masons’ meeting and was driving his SUV to his suburban Philadelphia home, wearing a black suit, a white shirt and a black bow tie, when he noticed police lights and heard a siren. A Delaware County (Pa.) police officer pulled him over. Brinkley knew his taillights were working, and he knew he wasn’t speeding, so he asked the officer why he’d been stopped. Instead of answering, the officer took Brinkley’s car keys, handcuffed him, put him in the police car and drove him around for about 20 minutes.
Finally, the officer stopped in an unfamiliar neighborhood, told him to get out of the cruiser and uncuffed him. Then he threw Brinkley’s keys on the ground and told him to find his way home “as best you can.”
He found a convenience store and paid someone $5 to borrow a phone and call his wife, who came and got him. He told his wife, and only his wife, what had happened—until an AFT forum on race in January. “Who was going to believe me?” he asks.
Brinkley’s own reaction shows how far we still have to go. How many others never speak up because they fear they won’t be believed?
(Photo by Nico Pavan)




