American Federation of Teachers

Campaigns

• Healthcare Workers Need Protective Equipment Now

  I’m a nurse in Alaska. Nurses and other healthcare professionals are on the frontlines of fighting the COVID-19 outbreak and caring for our patients, but we're running out of personal protective equipment (PPE) in states across the nation. We don’t have the right kind of N95 respirator masks to keep us and you safe. We don’t have enough ventilators to keep the very sickest patients alive. We don’t have the ear or the attention of the president, who make promises and then walks away does nothing. This is scary. Our job is to treat and care for people, and we will not leave our patients behind. If we run out of equipment, healthcare providers and the patients we care for will die. Let's be clear: If we get sick and if people die, it’s because policies that go all the way to the top have failed us. We should have been producing the needed respirators, masks and ventilators long before this. The administration should have taken the outbreak seriously when it started three months ago. And the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention keeps lowering the guidelines for healthcare workers to be safe; the CDC just said that we can use bandanas as masks. The CDC is putting my life and the lives of other nurses at risk by telling us to use scarves rather than producing enough masks that will keep us safe. And it’s not just respirators, masks and ventilators we’re running low on. Hospitals are reporting shortages of gowns, gloves and other PPE that we need to keep ourselves safe as we care for the sick. Trump has said he’ll use the Defense Production Act to make masks and tests, after weeks of us pressuring him, but he has not said he’ll use it to ensure there are enough ventilators to keep patients from dying. And he’s still not releasing the stockpile of PPE that he has, which could fill the gap until enough n95 masks are made. Here's what we need right now: • The administration must make the production of N95 respirators and other PPE a top priority. • The President must use the Defense Production Act to make ventilators for patients. • The federal government has a stockpile of personal protective equipment, but has released less than 10 percent of the stockpile: We’re still running low. The federal government must release more of it immediately to keep us safe. • All healthcare workers should have immediate, free access to being tested to ensure that we are safe and not endangering non-infected patients. • The federal government needs to stop watering down guidelines that keep us safe. The minimum standard should be N95 respirators. Telling us to use bandanas puts our lives at risk. Will you please help us by telling the administration that we need this now.

  164,346 of 200,000 Signatures

  Created by David Walrod
• Center for Individual Rights: Stop Attacking Working People

  The Koch brothers are once again attacking our freedom to join together in unions to improve the lives of all working people, and we want them to stop! In my over 20 years of teaching, I’ve seen America’s economy swing out of balance in favor of corporate CEOs and wealthy special interests who manipulate the rules to benefit themselves at the expense of the rest of us. It’s already way too hard for many Americans to get by, let alone get ahead. Now there’s a new case before the U.S. Supreme Court that threatens to make things even worse. A group called the Center for Individual Rights, which the American Prospect recently revealed has been funded by the Koch Brothers, other right-wing one-percenters, and even white supremacists, is trying to make it even harder for public service workers – teachers like me, as well as nurses, social workers, firefighters and others -- to band together at work in order fight for benefits and wages we can use to provide for our families This Koch Brothers-backed group is asking the Supreme Court to impose the same kind of radical agenda we’ve seen hurt everyday people in states like Wisconsin and every state in the country. Worse yet, just like in Citizens United, this all-out attack on everyday Americans would be enshrined in the Constitution. When I began teaching at a California community college in 1992, it never even crossed my mind not to join a union, and it’s a decision I’ve never regretted. We’ve all seen the research showing that strong unions benefit the middle class. Being a union member has allowed me to speak in one voice with my fellow teachers for things that matter and benefit the community – better training, smaller classes, and wages and benefits that can sustain families. But if the groups behind this case get their way, it will be another major blow to the middle class. Tell the Center for Individual Rights: Enough is enough! It’s time to stop attacking working people -- the teachers like me and other public service workers who work to make our communities better. Sign this petition and join us as we tell the Center for Individual Rights that we will not let corporate CEOs and the wealthy special interests stop us from banding together and forming unions to make our lives better. Lacy Barnes, College Instructor, California Federation of Teachers, Local 1533

  41,000 of 45,000 Signatures

  Created by Lacy Barnes
• Let Temple adjuncts have a vote!

  Dear Provost Dai: I am a graduating senior majoring in African American Studies, and I support the right of my professors—including adjunct faculty—to vote to form a union. I urge you to allow the approximately 1,300 adjunct faculty at Temple University to proceed with a fair and timely election by dropping the legal challenges Temple has brought before the Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board. Temple’s adjunct faculty should be able to exercise their right to make a choice about unionization. I urge you to let them vote. Every student who has attended Temple has been taught by at least one adjunct faculty member. After all, adjuncts make up half of the faculty at Temple. They are a valuable part of our university community. Their commitment to our education is compensated with low pay, few benefits and no assurances that they will be able to teach future classes beyond the current semester. This is unfair not only to faculty but to students as well. For example, a professor I make a connection with one semester may not be around the next semester, in spite of excellent teaching and student support. I believe that adjunct faculty, like all workers, deserve to be treated with dignity and respect by the Temple administration, and I strongly support their organizing to form a collective bargaining unit with the union they have chosen, the Temple Association of University Professionals. I call on you to allow Temple’s adjunct faculty to hold a fair and transparent election, and I demand that you not use any tuition funds or other resources to hinder their efforts. Sincerely, Sarah Giskin, African American Studies Temple University

  3,011 of 4,000 Signatures

  Created by Sarah Giskin
• Support Teachers at Perelman Jewish Day School

  Perelman Jewish Day School teachers have been unionized for nearly four decades. Suddenly in March the schools board of directors withdrew recognition of the teachers’ union. Neither parents nor teachers had a voice in this decisions. The board met in secret for nearly a year, while refusing to sit down with the teachers’ negotiating team. Conservative Judaism is clear on workers' rights and employee unions. In a 2008 Teshuva, the Rabbinic Assembly ruled that Jewish employers are required to treat employees with respect and dignity, not interfere with union organizing and should hire union employees whenever possible. A school that teaches Jewish values should demonstrate Jewish values as well. The school should immediately reverse course and work with the teachers, rather than attacking them.

  1,153 of 2,000 Signatures

  Created by Jesse Bacon, Parent
• Don't hand over our neighborhood school to an unaccountable, union-busting charter company

  Although Luis Muñoz Marín Elementary School has been stripped of staff and resources during Philadelphia’s ongoing budget crisis, this year there was good news: The school is making a comeback under the guidance of a new, much-loved principal. But now the school district has targeted Muñoz Marín for a charter school takeover by ASPIRA of PA—and local parents are crying foul. ASPIRA of PA, a charter organization, is currently under scrutiny for suspicious financial practices and misuse of funds that never made it to the classroom. ASPIRA of PA is also engaged in an ugly anti-union fight at another Philly school, pitting its expensive lawyers against its own teachers who are seeking a voice and a union. The National Labor Relations Board has filed numerous unfair labor practice charges against the charter operator; in every case, ASPIRA of PA has been forced to concede, settle and correct its practices. Sadly, ASPIRA of PA has a powerful advocate in Councilwoman Quiñones-Sánchez, who was once its executive director. She pledged to support unions and workers’ right to organize, but was quick to endorse ASPIRA of PA, a union-busting organization, in its takeover attempt of our public school. We, the parents of Muñoz Marín students, do not want our children’s destiny in the hands of ASPIRA of PA—with its financial problems and anti-union values. We call on Councilwoman Quiñones-Sánchez to stay true to her constituents, to request a City Council investigation into the troubling allegations around ASPIRA of PA, and to protect our children from the School Reform Commission’s apparent strategy of abandoning our public school system. Rather than declaring our school a failure, we ask Councilwoman Quiñones-Sánchez to advocate for our school’s funding, staff and resources to be restored. That loss of resources is the real plague at Muñoz Marín. Our school deserves a fair chance.

  833 of 1,000 Signatures

  Created by Maria Cruz, School Advisory Council, Luis Muñoz Marín ES
• Philly: Reclaim the Promise of Public Education--Our Schools, Our Solutions

  In October, teachers, students, parents, community organizations, civil rights advocates and faith leaders met in Los Angeles and together endorsed "The Principles That Unite Us." Now, on Dec. 9, we're taking action in Philadelphia as part of a National Day of Action to Reclaim the Promise of Public Education. We're uniting around a common vision for our schools. Local teachers and parents, community groups and labor unions, students and faith leaders are united to reclaim the promise of public education for all children. We want great neighborhood public schools that are fully funded and are centers of our community, with wraparound services and curriculum that focuses on teaching and learning, not testing. We need our elected leaders to sign on to the principles. By signing this petition, you'll be telling Governor Corbett that you're united with us and that they should get on board. Together, we can reclaim public education as a propeller of our economy, an anchor of our democracy, and a gateway to opportunity for every child.

  2,035 of 3,000 Signatures

  Created by PFT President Jerry Jordan
• Illinois: Reclaim the Promise of Public Education--Our Schools, Our Solutions

  In October, teachers, students, parents, community organizations, civil rights advocates and faith leaders met in Los Angeles and together endorsed "The Principles That Unite Us." Now, on Dec. 9, we're taking action in Illinois as part of a National Day of Action to Reclaim the Promise of Public Education. We're uniting around a common vision for our schools. Local teachers and parents, community groups and labor unions, students and faith leaders are united to reclaim the promise of public education for all children. We want great neighborhood public schools that are fully funded and are centers of our community, with wraparound services and curriculum that focuses on teaching and learning, not testing. We need our elected leaders to sign on to the principles. By signing this petition, you'll be telling Illinois State Senators and Representatives that you're united with us and that they should get on board. Together, we can reclaim public education as a propeller of our economy, an anchor of our democracy, and a gateway to opportunity for every child.

  5,839 of 6,000 Signatures

  Created by Dan Montgomery, IFT President
• Austin: Reclaim the Promise of Public Education--Our Schools, Our Solutions

  In October, teachers, students, parents, community organizations, civil rights advocates and faith leaders met in Los Angeles and together endorsed "The Principles That Unite Us." Now, on Dec. 9, we're taking action in Austin as part of a National Day of Action to Reclaim the Promise of Public Education. We're uniting around a common vision for our schools. Local teachers and parents, community groups and labor unions, students and faith leaders are united to reclaim the promise of public education for all children. We want great neighborhood public schools that are fully funded and are centers of our community, with wraparound services and curriculum that focuses on teaching and learning, not testing. We need our elected leaders to sign on to the principles. By signing this petition, you'll be telling local officials that you're united with us and that they should get on board. Together, we can reclaim public education as a propeller of our economy, an anchor of our democracy, and a gateway to opportunity for every child.

  1,168 of 2,000 Signatures

  Created by Ken Zarifis, Education Austin
• Pittsburgh: Reclaim the Promise of Public Education--Our Schools, Our Solutions

  In October, teachers, students, parents, community organizations, civil rights advocates and faith leaders met in Los Angeles and together endorsed "The Principles That Unite Us." Now, on Dec. 9, we're taking action in Pittsburgh as part of a National Day of Action to Reclaim the Promise of Public Education. We're uniting around a common vision for our schools. Local teachers and parents, community groups and labor unions, students and faith leaders are united to reclaim the promise of public education for all children. We want great neighborhood public schools that are fully funded and are centers of our community, with wraparound services and curriculum that focuses on teaching and learning, not testing. We need our elected leaders to sign on to the principles. By signing this petition, you'll be telling Gov. Corbett that you're united with us and that they should get on board. Together, we can reclaim public education as a propeller of our economy, an anchor of our democracy, and a gateway to opportunity for every child.

  852 of 1,000 Signatures

  Created by Nina Esposito-Visgitis, President of the Pittsburgh Federation of Teachers
• Kansas City: Reclaim the Promise of Public Education--Our Schools, Our Solutions

  In October, teachers, students, parents, community organizations, civil rights advocates and faith leaders met in Los Angeles and together endorsed "The Principles That Unite Us." Now, on Dec. 9, we're taking action in Kansas City as part of a National Day of Action to Reclaim the Promise of Public Education. We're uniting around a common vision for our schools. Local teachers and parents, community groups and labor unions, students and faith leaders are united to reclaim the promise of public education for all children. We want great neighborhood public schools that are fully funded and are centers of our community, with wraparound services and curriculum that focuses on teaching and learning, not testing. We need our elected leaders to sign on to the principles. By signing this petition, you'll be telling Governor Jay Nixon, State Senator David Pearce and State Representative Steve Cookson that you're united with us and that they should get on board. Together, we can reclaim public education as a propeller of our economy, an anchor of our democracy, and a gateway to opportunity for every child.

  578 of 600 Signatures

  Created by Andrea Flinders, President of the Kansas City Federation of Teachers and School-Related Personnel