As winter swept across the United States at the outset of 2018, ushering in the bitterest and bleakest days of the year, American teachers and their unions had little to celebrate. The first eight years of the decade had exacted a heavy toll, and still more trouble was lurking on the horizon. In the wake of the Great Recession, funding for public…

Today's movement in support of the 99 percent is a reminder that throughout U.S. history, a major engine of change has been grass-roots organizing and solidarity. Major history textbooks, however, downplay the role of ordinary people in shaping events--especially those who formed labor unions and used the strike to assert their rights. One of the…

Describes the strike teachers in Saint Paul (Minnesota) carried out in 1946 to protest poor working conditions and low salaries. These teachers stayed on the picket line for more than five weeks until they had won better school financing and higher salaries and affirmed the role of collective bargaining for teachers. (SLD)