Teacher Unions and Social Justice: Organizing for the Schools and Communities Our Students Deserve

by Michael Charney (Editor), Jesse Hagopian (Editor), Bob Peterson (Editor)

An anthology of more than 60 articles documenting the history and the how-tos of social justice unionism. Together, they describe the growing movement to forge multiracial alliances with communities to defend and transform public education.

Genres: Nonfiction, Education, Teaching, Politics

448 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2021

Reviews

[Juan · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Teacher Unions and Social Justice: Organizing for the Schools and Communities Our Students Deserve" is an excellent resource for educators who want to or are presently organizing within their union. It shows you how to organize through examples from educators throughout the country who organized to institutionalize change on their campus, district, or contract, but most importantly, have been able to align with the community at large. This reading was met with a lot of debate and challenge in our union about how to make our own union members more engaged.

[Lukas Wierer · Rating 4 out of 5]

I began reading this as part of a book study, with fellow members of my local, the Milwaukee Teachers Education Association. Many members of this book study have become disenchanted with the social justice work of our union. Much of that work has been performative (which is a good place to start) but has failed to evolve beyond and has even pushed to the margins those ready to challenge white supremacy and inequity within the district. So, we turned to this book to see what other locals around the country were doing, and how we might evolve to move beyond the performative (t-shirts, art builds, social media advocacy, etc...). I want to be clear that in a lot of places across the country, the work we are doing would be radical, but given the "progressive" nature of our school board, the union-friendly administration in Milwaukee, and the stated ideals of our union leadership, some of us feel that not enough is being done. All of this is especially true in a city that has routinely been identified as one of the worst places for Black Americans to live and in a district that is almost 90% students of color.

After reading through the collection, it is evident that there is so much we could be doing to move our work forward. Whether it is advocating for our permit teachers (who are largely persons of color), establishing racial equity teams in our buildings or strongly opposing racist and classist standardized tests, used to sort our students into haves and have nots. We could be further democratizing our union by encouraging debate in the process of electing union leaders, by encouraging members to be critical and value those dissenting views instead of silencing and crushing those who go against the narrow vision of our leadership.

As I enter my 14th year as an MTEA member and MPS teacher, I am no longer comfortable with the direction of my union, one that can only mobilize people to act when bread and butter issues are on the table, but then demure or ghost entirely when issues of equity take center stage. I found this collection to be empowering and affirming personally, as part of a small group of rank and file members who are trying to push our union in a direction that is closer to their stated values and ideals.

[Barred Owl Books · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love, love love teachers' unions & this book which is part history lesson and part call to action! Teachers our the touchstone of every community and this empowers them to engage with and create a better community!

[Christina · Rating 5 out of 5]

🍎🤎🖤❤🧡💛💚💙💜🍎

[Jane Owen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this Anthology of over 60 Articles regarding the history and ongoing fight for Educational Justice. It’s obvious by reading this book that a lot of research was done by the Author. Many Participants express their opinions on ‘Teachers Union & Social Justice’ and detailed information is included to help our children stand up for what’s right.

The book is extremely well written, the graphics are amazing and the Literature is informative. A Must read for anybody who has school age children and want better education, resources and support for our teachers.

I won this book from a Goodreads Giveaway and although I am under no obligation to leave a review I do like to express my honest opinion.

[Terry Jess · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book for those who believe that teachers, in partnership with our students and communities, have to be the agents of change to bring about just and equitable schools for every single student. It was great to see so many educators I respect, admire, and even work with mentioned or serving as article writers. This book has challenging articles, stories from the front lines, helpful tips, and great frameworks for doing the work of racial and social justice in our schools. We have no excuse not to create the schools our communities need!

[Matt Sautman · Rating 4 out of 5]

A strong quality anthology that does a great job breaking down teacher union’s relationships to social justices and the history of teacher unions, though occasionally the book seems to fixate on certain regions more than others, potentially making this book feel less directly relevant at times for teachers who feel their districts do not closely resemble the ones being discussed at greater length. Still, for the socially conscious teacher, much can be learned from this book.

[Angie Powers · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just finished a book study on this book with a group of justice-minded educators. We even invited Bob Peterson, one of the editors of the book, to a Zoom with us. He was amazing!

[Hannah Grbic · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very informational, inspirational, and inclusive. A great map to start a foundation of global knowledge on labor unions and their efforts.