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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.

Chicago teachers march in 2019
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Fill out this form to join the rank-and-file committee nearest you. If there is not already a committee in your area, we will help you get one started.

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East Coast dockworkers: Unite with Boeing workers to build a movement of the working class! Build rank-and-file committees to take control out of the hands of ILA bureaucrats!

Dockworkers have immense power, but the question is how to use it. Establishing lines of communication with workers in other strategic industries, they must build their struggle into a broad counteroffensive by the working class against worsening conditions and automation-driven layoffs.

International Workers Alliance of Rank-and-File Committees
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.