Thanks to Carrie Andrews of NYSUT’s Rochester office for this tip about how to help protesters in Wisconsin. Also see this post as well. Carrie and her mother Joanne drove 13 hours Sunday so they could support workers in Wisconsin. Joanne Andrews retired this summer after years of teaching French in Seneca Falls. The labor [...]

Join NYSUT, the state AFL-CIO, the Capital District Area Labor Federation, Move On.org and other progressive groups to stand in solidarity Saturday, Feb. 26 with the working people of Wisconsin. In Albany, the rally will start at NOON at the West Side Steps of the Capitol. In Cheektowaga, a rally will start at 9 a.m. [...]

If it wasn’t so close to home, perhaps I would have laughed harder. Of course I have a mini-crush on Steven Colbert. If not for his devilish smile, then for his efforts to save U.S. speedskating. But now he’s making fun of my home state. Have you ever seen a cheese log in the sun? [...]

If you haven’t met Pete Ludden, know that he’s a good listener and great  negotiator and huge labor historian and activist. During some down time he reports going to a store and talking with a young woman for 10 minutes about what was happening. A former teacher, he explained why what Walker proposes is such [...]

In Wisconsin, two-thirds of the corporations pay no taxes even as the governor pushes to slash services and end collective bargaining.

AFT President Randi Weingarten versus Steven Colbert at 11:30 tonight on Comedy Central. Oh, I can not wait to post about this tomorrow! Also, 61 percent of 1,000 adults surveyed Monday night said they opposed taking away collective bargaining from public employees. Polling goes on all the time. Sometimes results are announced. Sometimes they are [...]

Here’s some excerpts from Michael Rosen, president of Local 212, representing the faculty and staff at Milwaukee Area Technical College. I left on Thursday, following Local 212′s contract ratification vote and only returned late last night. …It is an inspiring event that allows you to see the potential of real democracy. Tens of thousands of [...]

Pete Ludden negotiates for NYSUT’s local unions out of the Syracuse Regional Office. He’s at the Capitol in Madison, Wisconsin with activists right now and reports: Climate is truly electric. Groups of people start marching around the Capitol chanting. Every few minutes another group starts up because people are coming from all parts of the state. [...]

In this essay to CNN, historian Diane Ravitch explains why the Madison rallies are “symptomatic of a simmering rage among the nation’s teachers. They have grown angry and demoralized over the past two years as attacks on their profession escalated.” If you don’t have time to read the whole essay, here’s five sentences. Unions actively [...]

Thanks for all the comments.  Another rally to support Wisconsin starts at 5 tonight in New York City at 6th Ave. and 48th St. (That’s in front of FOX News.) Here’s a sense of how last Friday’s rally went. Even though pressure is mounting, Wisconsin’s Senate Democrats say they are not giving up. Neither should [...]