This morning, the Wisconsin Supreme Court issued its ruling in Madison Teachers, Inc. v. Walker, in which the Court’s conservative majority overturned Judge Juan Colas’s 2012 decision that found most of Act 10 unconstitutional for municipal employees.  The decision did not affect our state employee and UW System unions, which have been operating under Act 10 since 2011.  As expected, a majority of the Court upheld the law, which is no surprise—the conservative ideologues that make up the Court’s majority have reliably sided with Scott Walker and big-money special interests in nearly every major case over the past few years. This decision is aptly summarized by Justice Ann Walsh Bradley, joined by Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson, in her dissent, which states that "the majority's failure to address the actual issues presented in this case allows it to reach results that countenance the needless diminution of multiple constitutional rights." While I (and our legal counsel) strongly disagree with the Court’s opinion, today’s decision closes the books on the major legal challenges to Act 10.

Madison, WI: As legislators and other committee members met on Thursday, July 24, to discuss drastic centralization of power in the Wisconsin Technical College System (WTCS), members of AFT-Wisconsin called on the committee to keep WTCS decision-making power in Wisconsin’s communities.  AFT-Wisconsin President Kim Kohlhaas, a teacher in the Superior School District, urged the committee to protect a system that gives each technical college the ability to respond to local needs and provide high-quality practical education.

Like many of you, I have been anxiously awaiting the United States Supreme Court’s decision in Harris v. Quinn, a case which threatened to eliminate fundamental workers’ rights across the entire public sector. In this case, an extreme right-wing anti-union organization, the Right to Work Legal Foundation, used a dispute over a recently formed union for home health care workers in Illinois to attempt to outlaw fair share fees and even the right to exclusive union representation in the entire public sector of the United States. While the Court’s conservative majority sided with right-wing special interests in their decision, dealing a substantial blow to our sister and brother home health care workers in Illinois and elsewhere, the decision did not, as feared, impact the right to exclusive union representation in the public sector or the ability to require all public employees to pay their fair share of the cost of their representation. This, at least, is something to be grateful for.

I’m writing to let you know about an important development in the proposed merger of AFT-Wisconsin and the Wisconsin Education Association Council (WEAC). As you know, a vote on merger was originally scheduled to take place in April at both the WEAC and AFT-Wisconsin conventions. Last Saturday, WEAC’s Board of Directors voted to postpone a full merger vote.

AFT-Maryland President Marietta English released the following statement after a Missouri grand jury failed to indict Officer Darren Wilson in the killing of Michael Brown:

"It saddens me that the grand jury decided not to indict Darren Wilson in the shooting death of unarmed teenager Michael Brown. I urge all who protest to engage in civil disobedience...  Read

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Until you consider the alternative, growing old does not seem like it is all that much fun! Most of us talk about aches and pains and operations the way we compared recipes, classes or our children's milestones. As we age we adjust to many changes albeit not as quickly as in the past.

The Family League of Baltimore, the Coalition for Community Schools, and the Maryland Equity Project are presenting the Institute on School-Community Partnerships: Sustaining High-Impact School-Community Partnerships on Thursday, Nov. 20th at the University of Maryland School of Social Work.

Marietta English (President, AFT-Maryland and Baltimore Teachers Union) spoke before the Education Sub-Committee of the Baltimore Delegation Saturday, November 15, 2014. She addressed topics such as a hybrid school board (elected & appointed), funding for Baltimore City schools, and the proliferation of Community Schools across the city.