California

The longest supermarket strike in history ended in February, when 70,000 members of the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) union in Southern California ratified a new three-year agreement with three grocery chains.

Helping the UFCW achieve this settlement, which preserves affordable health care, was the solid picket line support of other unions—including the California Teachers Association (CTA).

While its members joined the lines and many of its local chapters "adopted" struck stores, CTA ran a statewide radio campaign urging food shoppers to spend their dollars elsewhere. "Grocery workers are part of our communities and their children attend our schools," stressed CTA President Barbara Kerr in one radio spot. "These workers are on strike because giant corporations are trying to destroy their health care."

"If profitable supermarket giants can launch an attack on health care benefits, then every employer is sure to follow," said UFCW President Doug Dority. "We must have national health care reform."

Nevada

The Nevada State Education Association (NSEA) is collecting signatures to qualify a November ballot initiative that, if approved by voters, would require the state the fund public education at the national average.

"We would not presume to tell the governor and legislature how to pay for the increase in per-pupil funding," said NEA President Terry Hickman. "However, we believe it is their job to make such decisions. We expect there will be a mix of budget re-prioritizations, cuts, and/or dedication of new revenue—and we anxiously await the debate."

Wisconsin

A bill that would make subcontracting a "non-mandatory" subject of bargaining came under fire from Wisconsin Education Association Council (WEAC) negotiations specialist Greg Spring during a state senate hearing in January.

Spring reminded lawmakers that firms bidding on school support services often "lowball" their offers, "only to raise their prices once their hands are in taxpayers' pockets. While costs are going up, the quality of service is going down."

Profit-driven subcontractors cut costs by "cutting corners," Spring explained. "They hire inexperienced workers over whom the local governments have no control, because, after all, these workers are no longer their employees."

And ultimately, the WEAC staffer said, subcontracting diminishes school districts' ability to screen, train, and manage "quality employees who will be working with our children."

Massachusetts

Governor Mitt Romney's proposal to eliminate $12.6 million in funding for school-based health programs is "shortsighted and irresponsible" and will lead to nurse layoffs, said Massachusetts Teachers Association (MTA) President Catherine Boudreau. She cited the growing need for health services, stemming from factors such as mainstreaming of special needs students and the increasing number of "social morbidities" and kids without health insurance.

"As educators, we know that children must be ready to learn," Boudreau stressed. "School nurses are in a unique position to help students achieve maximum health and attain the knowledge and skills needed to maintain good health throughout their lives."

Virginia

As Virginia Education Association (VEA) leaders publicly join with partners in the Virginia Education Coalition to call for a "fair share" of state funding for education, VEA members are speaking about the school funding crisis in town meetings held across the state by the Alliance for Virginia's Students.

VEA members are telling taxpayers about teachers who must work three to five extra jobs to survive, textbook shortages, and outdated, leaky schools.

And more.

"Are you surprised that one of every three new teachers leaves within three years?" Loudoun County teacher Claire Scholz said at one town meeting. "Virginia is like a deadbeat parent who is delinquent on child support payments.

"Virginia needs to restructure its tax code," Scholz concluded, "and hold itself accountable to high standards that equal those for teachers and students."

Tennessee

When activists from the Tennessee Education Association's (TEA) "bargaining" locals conferred in November, talk quickly turned to the value of collective negotiations with school employers.

Bargaining gives educators the "freedom of expression" necessary to solve professional problems, said Murfreesboro local President Cathrine Gordon. "Without negotiations, our employment could degenerate into nothing more than a form of servitude!"

TEA President Judy Beasley stressed that bargaining locals can be directly involved in local decisions on implementation of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). In districts where bargaining does not take place, she said, "employees are not guaranteed any voice in those decisions."

The bottom line: You either bargain or you beg.