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Civil Rights leaders Norman and Velma Murphy Hill offer a tribute to Nat LaCour, the AFT's first Executive Vice President, who passed away earlier this month.
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Burnie Bond discusses how to address the fear and distrust of police in many communities, particularly communities of color.
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On the anniversary of the passing of former ASI executive director Eugenia Kemble, we reprint her 2012 post, in which she reflects on her time in the labor movement.
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Leo Casey argues that a powerful new working class movement is taking shape, with American teachers in the lead. But sustaining the momentum of this movement will require addressing the strategic challenges it now faces.
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We at the Shanker Institute wish you a happy and healthy holiday season, and a new year in which the moral arc of the universe bends toward justice. Posts will resume in the new year.
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It is with great sorrow that we report the death of Eugenia Kemble, the founding executive director of the Albert Shanker Institute, after a long battle with cancer. In her honor we are establishing and accepting donations for the
Eugenia Kemble Research Grants.
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In this reprint of a 1977 New York Times column, civil rights legend Bayard Rustin argues that every worker should have the right to organize and bargain collectively.
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Civil Rights legend Norman Hill remembers the 1968 Memphis sanitation workers' strike, during which Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated.
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Eugenia Kemble remembers Al Shanker 20 years after his passing, and how his commitment to democracy showed in how he ran his union.
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On the 20th anniversary of her father's death, Jennie Shanker remembers how his life's trajectory was formed by the struggles of his family.
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In our ongoing series commemorating the 20th anniversary of Al Shanker's death, Rick Kahlenberg discusses Shanker's inclusive yet firm brand of liberalism.
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On the 20th anniversary of Al Shanker's death, we celebrate his life and legacy with a series of posts by those who knew and were influenced by him, beginning with ASI's Leo Casey.
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Professor Guy Standing (U. of London) advocates a new vision of a Good Society that responds to the insecurities and aspirations of the precarious workforce.
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CAP's David Midland lays out a long-term vision for addressing our country's economic and democratic challenges, and some realistic steps for state and local governments to take to move us toward this vision.
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Although the issue of inequality received a great deal of attention during the financial crisis, attitudes about the government's role in reducing inequality are complex elude easy explanation.
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State and local taxes, unlike federal taxes, are regressive - low income households pay a larger share of their income than do high income households.
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The second and concluding part of ASI Executive Director Leo Casey's discussion of Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association.
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Part one of ASI Executive Director Leo Casey's discussion of the political calculus behind the Supreme Court case Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association.
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In a 1986 column, Al Shanker discusses a study suggesting that union-district partnership, not confrontation, is the best way to enact and implement reforms that will improve schools.
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Researcher and author David Cay Johnston argues that there is a pension crisis in the U.S., but it's not the one politicians are always talking about.
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The limited power of domestic workers, particularly undocumented immigrants, to form unions and seek legal assistance needs to be addressed to pave the way for improvement of domestic workers’ compensation, working conditions, and rights.
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Opening remarks from our recent "In Defense of the Public Square" conference focus on the importance of the public square as a driver of opportunity and justice not just for a privileged few, but for all.
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Please join us May 1-2 for a special conference, bringing together prominent elected officials, public intellectuals, and union, business and civil rights leaders “in defense of the public square.”
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So-called achievement gaps are important social and economic indicators, but they should not be used in formal school accountability systems.
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The newly-released results of Minneapolis' new teacher evaluation system should be examined, but should not be taken at face value.
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Librarian Connie Williams argues that school libraries create a culture of inquiry in schools, and that library cutbacks are harmful to students and teachers.
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Labourstart's Eric Lee discusses recent repression of trade unions in Turkey.
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Ian Robinson reviews a recent study of unionization, low wage jobs and poverty levels in the United States.
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Eric Chenoweth discusses whether the Solidarity movement can rebound after years of market-based reform in Poland.
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Historian William Jones remembers Richard Parrish, long time labor and civil rights activist who also played a key role in the 1963 March on Washington.
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Heba Al-Shazli reports on the stark, astounding contradictions that constitute daily life in Egypt under President Mohamed Morsi.
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In the part two of this two-part essay, Leo Casey discusses the coordinated effort to undermine the U.S. labor movement, specifically teachers' unions.
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In the first part of this two-part essay, Leo Casey discusses the coordinated effort to undermine the U.S. labor movement, specifically teachers' unions.
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A new paper by noted labor scholars calls for evidence and nuance in the often ideology-driven debates about public sector unionism.
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A recent survey caused many supporters of market-based reform to claim teachers are warming up to their ideas. The results, however, suggest otherwise.
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Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi has strategically revised a trade union law that will affect millions of the nation's workers.
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The harsh reaction against union leaders of “Arab Spring” demonstrations for democracy continues in Bahrain.
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An adaptation of a recent departure message from Eugenia Kemble, the Albert Shanker Institute’s founding executive director, a position she held from 1998-2012.
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A new study finds that there are fewer good jobs available for college grads today than 30 years ago, and points to union decline as the key cause.
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Heba F. El Shazli argues that Middle Eastern trade unions are crucial to the region's future political and economic health.
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Richard Kahlenberg and Moshe Marvit argue that a post-Wisconsin labor movement should focus on making union organizing a civil right.
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Opposing teachers' unions on policy issues does not, as is sometimes asserted, mean you are "bashing" teachers. But it does usually mean you hold different views than they do.
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Civil rights activists Norm and Velma Hill review "Why Labor Organizing Should Be a Civil Right," arguing that the book could form the basis for a strong and diverse coalition on behalf of civil rights, racial equality, and economic justice.
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Prof. James R. Stone argues that the U.S. needs to organize learning opportunities to provide rigorous, world-class technical education to the many disengaged youth now suffering through ever-increasing academic requirements.
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Being a professional - and being treated like one - is not about how you get raises or how easily you can be fired.
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Steve Brill's book makes the bold, oft-repeated claim that teachers' unions are the primary cause of low U.S. achievement. This argument has no basis in research.
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A Michigan state senator has a somewhat disturbing theory of how to improve teacher quality.
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Public servants deliver services better and cheaper than private contractors, according to an increasing body of evidence.
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The process of collective bargaining, voting on agreements, and the overall experience gained through union membership are crucial drivers in the process of “democratic acculturation."
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A new Shanker Institute report reviews the portrayal of organized labor in U.S. high school textbooks. The report concludes that U.S. history texts have essentially "taken sides" in the intense political debate around unions - the anti-union side.
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On Labor Day, we reprint a very brief passage from a 1992 Al Shanker speech about what makes a union successful.
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Workplace laws and policies are important, both for their own effects, and because they act as a guidepost to what we deem to be socially right or wrong. Unions were the key champions of almost every piece of social legislation affecting U.S. workers today.
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Given the trend in union membership over the past 40 years, conservative groups and individuals that claim to be battling "big labor" in the private sector must be living in a time warp.
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The D.C. policy community is finally getting a close look at the ILO's "Decent Work Agenda", nearly ten years after it was originally launched.
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There's an endless supply of heated rhetoric about the need to dismantle "unnecessary" and "inefficient" state and local government programs. Yet a simple breakdown of state/local spending reveals that most of what these governments do is vital, widely popular or both.
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Those who engage in dicussions about whether "we need teachers' unions," though usually well-intentioned, miss a critical point: The choice is not "ours" to make.
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A quick analysis of survey data yields some interesting, not-easily-interpreted insights into why people trust or distrust labor unions.
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It is well known that U.S. union membership has declined dramatically over the past three or four decades, but have Americans' attitudes towards unions changed too?
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The influence of organized labor on the likelihood of voting varies between public and private sector unions, but the recent attacks on public employee collective bargaining may be changing that.
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Virtually all comparisons of pay between public and private sector workers include the huge subgroup of teachers, which may be skewing the results of these analyses. This brief post examines how public and private pay compare when teachers are excluded.
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A recent USA Today article claims, as do many others, that public employees earn more than private sector workers. Using Census data, in a few hundred plain-English words, here's how these comparisons mislead, and how an accurate analysis reaches precisely the opposite conclusions.
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Historically and today, the U.S. is a relatively hostile environment for organized labor, but Wisconsin represents an opportunity to correct mistakes, adjust course, and finally speak to a receptive public about the benefits of unions for everyone.
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The Wisconsin protests are calling into question the dominant narrative in our education reform debate.
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The research on the effect of teachers' unions on student test scores is largely inconclusive - any arguments about strong "union effects" - whether postive or negative - are not supported by the available evidence.
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U.S. job growth has been low for well over a decade, despite rising GDP and corporate profits. Some are suggesting that the decline of labor unions may be in part responsible for this problem, and union growth a key to solving it.
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A quick analysis shows that recent attempts to blame unions for states' budget crises are unsupportable: There is no relationship between a state's union presence/strength and the size of its budget shortfalls.
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Michigan Governor Rick Snyder today released a report that says the state's public employees earn twice as much as private sector workers. It is based on a completely invalid, misleading comparison, which, incredibly, the report itself acknowledges.
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The rhetoric being deployed in the current attack on state government employees often seems crafted to misinform the public about the types of jobs that comprise this sector, painting them as faceless "bureaucrats." A quick look at the breakdown of state workers might surprise you.
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Remembering Szeto Wah, celebrated Hong Kong democracy activist, legislator, and teacher union leader, who died this week at the age of 79.
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A research report out of Europe puts a different spin on public spending and the role of government.
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A quick follow-up analysis of NAEP scores suggests that poverty/ELL matter, but the presence of teacher contracts does not. It's time to reorient this debate.
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The U.N.'s move to investigate violations of the rights of freedom of association and assembly is a good sign for workers and people everywhere.
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If teachers' unions have a negative influence on achievement, then why are the states without teacher contracts among the worst performing in the nation?
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International data reveal that most Americans acknowledge the benefits of unions, and that the prevalence of this attitude is comparable to other nations.
