Australian budget further squeezes university funding
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s government particularly targeted the universities and their staff and students in last week’s budget.
Mike Head•
Educators Rank-and-File Committee
The Educators Rank-and-File Committee is an international network of educators, students, parents, and workers fighting for workers power in the schools, to stop the capitalist destruction of public education and eliminate COVID-19.
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With contracts for over 250,000 Ontario education workers set to expire in August: Unions prepare another betrayal of teachers and support staff
In 2022, the unions saved the government from a direct political confrontation with the working class and are determined to do so again under conditions of a much deeper social and economic crisis, and greater popular hostility to the ruling class’ agenda of austerity and war.
Sterling Oliver•
2026 San Francisco International Film Festival—Part 3
First They Came for My College: Right-wing “human dust” mount takeover of New College of Florida
Bresnan’s film sets out the sordid details of this far-right maneuver in all its repulsive transparency.
David Walsh, Joanne Laurier•
Australian budget further cuts public school funding
Behind the headlines, last week’s federal budget slashes social spending, including on public schools.
Mike Head•
Nakai Beltran•
Mike Head•
Sue Phillips•
Evelyn Rios•
Alex Brown•
Attend Sunday’s meeting to vote for an immediate Nexteer strike!
After workers voted down a second UAW-backed contract by 73 percent, local union officials called a membership meeting for Sunday. The following is a statement by the Nexteer Workers Rank-and-File Committee.
Nexteer Workers Rank-and-File Committee•
Worker with 35 years at Canadian Coca-Cola distributor terminated following job injury
Days after making a splash in the local Calgary media by unveiling a new $75 million state-of-the-art warehouse facility, Coca-Cola Canada Bottling Limited unceremoniously axed an injured worker with 35 years at the company—essentially crying poor.
Steve Hill•
Nexteer worker on sellout tentative agreement: “Everybody wants a strike because right now we’re in control”
A “no” vote on the new TA and strike by the 1,300 Nexteer workers could spark a mass movement of auto parts workers and galvanize production workers at the Big Three factories.
Barry Grey•
Springfield, Massachusetts postal workers describe asbestos, Legionnaires’ disease and complicit union officials at major distribution center
Workers at the facility last month founded a rank-and-file committee affiliated with the national USPS Workers Rank-and-File Committee, citing the failure of the American Postal Workers Union to enforce contractual rights or respond to safety hazards.
David Harrison•
National Steel Car Rank-and-File Committee•
Postal Workers Rank-and-File Committee (UK)•
Postal Workers Rank-and-File Committee•
Springfield NDC Workers Rank-and-File Committee•
Committee for Public Education•
Frequently Asked Questions
What does the term “rank-and-file” mean and where does it come from?
“Rank-and-file” is originally a military term. It refers to the lower “ranks” of soldiers, who literally stand in lines or “files”. These soldiers have a different set of interests in preserving their lives than the officers or “brass” who prosecute the wars on behalf of the ruling elite.
Rank-and-file committees are of, by and for the rank-and-file workers, who have a different set of interests in preserving their lives than management, the bosses, the politicians, and the trade union apparatus, who send workers to die while defending the profits of the ruling elite.
Is it legal to build rank-and-file committees of educators and other workers to stop the spread of COVID-19?
Yes. The formation of rank-and-file committees is 100% completely legal under the First Amendment to the US Constitution.
The right to freedom of speech means you can say whatever you like about what you agree or disagree with. Freedom of association, also covered under the first amendment, means you have the right to associate with others who share your views, for political ends. You also have the right to petition the government for redress, to make demands on the government and tell them what you want them to do.
Does HIPAA law prevent schools or workplaces from disclosing information about the spread of COVID-19?
No. HIPAA has an exception for disclosures to prevent and control the spread of disease, but the state is deliberately not invoking this exception in order to conceal information from workers, so that they can pretend that what they are doing is safe when it’s not.
Rank-and-file educators have the right to know who’s gotten sick, where, when, and what happened. Rank-and-file committees have to demand this information, and have to share it with other workers as a matter of collective self defense.