The COVID-19 crisis and subsequent economic collapse along with the national uprising against police brutality and systemic racism have cast a glaring light on the nature of American inequality on the healthcare, criminal justice, and economic fronts. It has never been clearer that as most Americans struggle, the elite thrive. As a Forbes piece put [...]

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AFT 1931 Resolution Supporting Progressive Tax Bills in the 2020 Legislative Session
Whereas, the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the wealth inequality that has existed in the State of California by not only forcing millions of Californians into the unemployment line, but also allowing the ultra-wealthy to collect pandemic profits in the stock market rebound; and Whereas, 14.9% of Californians are currently unemployed, with a majority of job [...]
Labor Day in the Midst of a National Crisis: Dreaming of a Just Recovery
This weekend we celebrate Labor Day, but how many of us have any idea where the holiday came from or what it celebrates? The first Labor Day was celebrated on Tuesday, September 5th, 1882 in New York City and was proposed by the Central Labor Union (CLU) at a time when American workers were struggling [...]
The American Federation of Teachers Lays Out a Bold Vision of a Just Recovery with a Green New Deal
What should post COVID-19 crisis America look like? This summer your national union, the American Federation of Teachers, was thinking big at its biennial convention in late July. Clearly, the activist spirit sweeping the country was in the (virtual) air. Building on some of the work we have done here in San Diego along with [...]
AFT 1931 Stands Committed to Fight for Racial Justice on Our Campuses and in Our Community
In the immediate aftermath of the George Floyd murder, we shared the National AFT and CFT statements of outrage and solidarity with the protests against police brutality. We are pleased that the statewide body of which we are a part has clearly stood with the Black Lives Matter movement and is committed to not just [...]
The War on the Public Sector is On and We are in the Crosshairs
The battle is on in earnest. Recently, Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell said it out loud: drop dead blue states—and public sector workers in particularly. More specifically, McConnell took a strong stand against providing any more financial relief to devastated states and local governments in the midst of a pandemic that has caused the biggest [...]
The American Legislative Exchange Council’s Agenda is on Full Display: Empowering America to Death
At present, it seems like there is no leadership in America. Indeed, as we watch the Trump Administration ignoring their own guidelines as White House aides get sick and the national response slides into a chaotic patchwork quilt of ineffective policies, one might just conclude that we are dealing with a tragic case of national [...]
AFT 1931 Calls for More Robust Relief and a Just and Transformative Recovery For All Americans and the Environment
AFT 1931 has long supported bold new political and policy initiatives that move beyond lip service to effectively address the two great issues of our age—historic economic inequality and climate change. To that end, AFT 1931 has adopted resolutions that called for the construction of more public transportation, opposed the Keystone Pipeline, supported climate literacy [...]
AFT Intern Lora Mathis Gives Speech on the Need for Change at San Diego’s Virtual Earth Day
The Need for Change By AFT Intern Lora Mathis The fight against the climate change crisis is a fight for the future. Changes in our environment are taking place at an unprecedented rate, and they don’t call for passivity as a response. In the face of the pandemic, we are all being called to look [...]
AFT Joins the San Diego Green New Deal Alliance in Calling for More Relief and a Just Recovery
For the last several months, a coalition of labor, community, and environmental groups have been meeting to help forge an alliance in support of a local version of the Green New Deal. In the midst of this process, we have all been hit with the COVID-19 crisis, and, as we watched the disaster capitalists seeking [...]