We Strike Because We Care: Teaching
The required reading this week is Work Won’t Love You Back “Ch. 3 – We Strike Because We Care: Teaching” (83-110).
Answer one of the following reading questions using specific examples from the text including quotations, paraphrase, or summary. Explain your answers. Cite the page numbers for all quotes from a book following MLA rules. Your post must be at least 250 words long.
• What was the Teachers Union (TU)? Who were they and what did they fight for?
• How were the two Red Scares used against teachers and teachers unions?
• When teachers strike, what strategies have administrators and politicians used against them? How did Karen Lewis and the CTU counter this in the 2012 strike?
Sample Solution
The New York City Teachers Union or “TU” (1916–1964) was the first New York labor union for teachers, formed as “AFT Local 5” of the American Federation of Teachers, which found itself hounded throughout its history due largely to co-membership of many of its members in the Communist Party USA (CPUSA). Its principal co-founders were Henry Linville (a Harvard-educated, Socialist, pacifist biology teacher) and Abraham Lefkowitz (a New York University-educated academic). Their top agenda for the TU were: 1) recognition for teachers as professionals, 2) better salaries for teachers, 3) respect for teachers by administrators, and 4) academic freedom (including protection from loyalty oaths). In 1919, AFT and TU leaders resisted the Red Scare that targeted teachers and union organizers.
