Prospective students hit by cuts to Australian university courses
As a result of a wave of job and course cuts, school leavers are increasingly being told that the subjects and degrees they wished to study are no longer available.
Leonard Johns•
Educators Rank-and-File Committee
The Educators Rank-and-File Committee is an international network of educators, students, parents, and workers fighting for workers power in the schools, to stop the capitalist destruction of public education and eliminate COVID-19.
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HRW report highlights impact of pro-market policies on public education in Sri Lanka
Extensive tax exemptions handed to big business by successive governments over decades have deepened the country’s social crisis and undermined public education.
W.A. Sunil•
Deadline to make schools safe from crumbling concrete shifted to 2029 by UK Labour government
Decades of neglect and lack of investment in education have left UK school buildings a danger to life and limb.
Margot Miller•
Australia: Queensland Teachers Union stages token rallies instead of strike
After cancelling a strike, the union held rallies to appeal to the right-wing Premier David Crisafulli to “intervene in our ongoing pay dispute.”
Antony Walsh•
Susan Allan•
Marc Wells•
Renae Cassimeda, Nancy Hanover, Jerry White•
Tania Kent•
Anna Siviero•
“Reject the politics of compromise and subordination”: Open letter from California nurse to New Orleans nurses
“The path forward lies in organizing independently—through the creation of rank-and-file committees democratically controlled by nurses themselves—to wage a genuine fight for your demands.”
Liz Cabrera•
The Tennessee munitions factory explosion and deaths at National Steel Car in Hamilton, Ontario: Workers must organize to defend workplace safety and their lives!
For those reading this in Canada thinking this explosion happened in the US and thankfully it cannot happen here, they should look soberly at what our current prime minister is doing without any real pushback, and our experience at the National Steel Car plant in Hamilton, Ontario.
National Steel Car Rank-and-File Committee•
Online meeting November 16: Build rank-and-file committees to fight layoffs and hunger!
The trillions hoarded by the billionaires must be expropriated and used to meet social needs: secure, well-paid jobs for all, healthcare, housing, education, and the eradication of hunger and poverty.
International Workers Alliance of Rank-and-File Committees•
Air Canada flight attendants reject sellout wage deal in massive rebuke to union bureaucracy, Carney government
The vote’s outcome underlines the urgent necessity of flight attendants at Air Canada and across North America, as well as workers in every economic sector, establishing their organizational and political independence from the trade union bureaucracy.
Roger Jordan•
Philadelphia Workers Rank-and-File Strike Committee•
Postal Workers Rank-and-File Committee (Canada)•
Philadelphia Workers Rank-and-File Strike Committee•
our reporters•
Philadelphia Workers Rank-and-File Strike Committee•
Frequently Asked Questions
What does the term “rank-and-file” mean and where does it come from?
“Rank-and-file” is originally a military term. It refers to the lower “ranks” of soldiers, who literally stand in lines or “files”. These soldiers have a different set of interests in preserving their lives than the officers or “brass” who prosecute the wars on behalf of the ruling elite.
Rank-and-file committees are of, by and for the rank-and-file workers, who have a different set of interests in preserving their lives than management, the bosses, the politicians, and the trade union apparatus, who send workers to die while defending the profits of the ruling elite.
Is it legal to build rank-and-file committees of educators and other workers to stop the spread of COVID-19?
Yes. The formation of rank-and-file committees is 100% completely legal under the First Amendment to the US Constitution.
The right to freedom of speech means you can say whatever you like about what you agree or disagree with. Freedom of association, also covered under the first amendment, means you have the right to associate with others who share your views, for political ends. You also have the right to petition the government for redress, to make demands on the government and tell them what you want them to do.
Does HIPAA law prevent schools or workplaces from disclosing information about the spread of COVID-19?
No. HIPAA has an exception for disclosures to prevent and control the spread of disease, but the state is deliberately not invoking this exception in order to conceal information from workers, so that they can pretend that what they are doing is safe when it’s not.
Rank-and-file educators have the right to know who’s gotten sick, where, when, and what happened. Rank-and-file committees have to demand this information, and have to share it with other workers as a matter of collective self defense.