Current Actions

• Tell Mayor Rahm Emanuel to fix, not close, Chicago’s public schools.

  The Chicago Teachers Union is holding a historic three-day march for education justice called “Our City. Our Schools. Our Voice.” The march is in response to the district’s plan to close 54 schools in Chicago—a reckless scheme that will hurt children and destabilize neighborhoods.

  The reckless policy of mass closings, mass firings, mass testing, mass privatization and mass budget cuts is destroying our public schools and hurting our children. These policies have failed to improve teaching and learning, and disregard what teachers, students and parents want for their schools.
   
  Stand with them. Tell Mayor Rahm Emanuel to fix, not close, Chicago's public schools.

• Take Action for Comprehensive Immigration Reform!

  We have a historic opportunity to address and fix our nation’s immigration laws. The time has come for commonsense, comprehensive and compassionate immigration reform that lives up to our values as a nation of immigrants. Congress must respond to the need for action.

  Urge your senators to support fair and comprehensive immigration reform now.

• Take Action for Safe Communities - Write Your Member!

  More than 155 representatives have signed on to co-sponsor the Public Safety and Second Amendment Rights Protection Act of 2013. Enter your zip-code below to make sure yours is one of them.

• Common Core: Do What it Takes Before High Stakes

  We have the ability to transform the very DNA of teaching and learning, to move away from rote memorization and endless test taking, and toward problem solving, critical thinking and teamwork—things I know we have been advocating for years. It’s kind of amazing that we have to call on states and districts to implement the Common Core State Standards before making the new assessments count. But that’s what we’re doing.
  
  Send a message to Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and your state education commissioner: When states and districts get the alignment right—which will require moving from standards to curriculum to field testing to revising—success will follow. But, until then, a moratorium on the stakes is the only sensible course.

  Enter your zip-code below to be matched with Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and your state education commissioner. Feel free to add your own personal stories to the letter before sending.

• Common Core: Do What it Takes Before High Stakes

  We have the ability to transform the very DNA of teaching and learning, to move away from rote memorization and endless test taking, and toward problem solving, critical thinking and teamwork—things I know we have been advocating for years. It’s kind of amazing that we have to call on states and districts to implement the Common Core State Standards before making the new assessments count. But that’s what we’re doing.
  
  Send a message to Secretary of Education Arne Duncan: When states and districts get the alignment right—which will require moving from standards to curriculum to field testing to revising—success will follow. But, until then, a moratorium on the stakes is the only sensible course.

  Stand in solidarity with educators from across the country. Enter your zip-code below to send a message to Secretary Arne Duncan.

• Common Core: Do What it Takes Before High Stakes

  We have the ability to transform the very DNA of teaching and learning, to move away from rote memorization and endless test taking, and toward problem solving, critical thinking and teamwork—things I know we have been advocating for years. It’s kind of amazing that we have to call on states and districts to implement the Common Core State Standards before making the new assessments count. But that’s what we’re doing.
  
  Send a message to Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and your state education commissioner: When states and districts get the alignment right—which will require moving from standards to curriculum to field testing to revising—success will follow. But, until then, a moratorium on the stakes is the only sensible course.

  Enter your zip-code below to be matched with Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and your state education commissioner. Feel free to add your own personal stories to the letter before sending.

• Ask Congress to Support Nurse Staffing Standards

  Legislation is pending before Congress that would require the establishment of nurse-patient ratios to improve the quality of healthcare in our nation's hospitals. The Senate bill was introduced by Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) as S. 739, the National Nursing Shortage Reform and Patient Advocacy Act, and companion legislation will be introduced in the House by Rep. Janice Schakowsky (D-Ill.), the Nurse Staffing Standards for Patient Safety and Quality Act. The bills would require hospitals to implement staffing plans with specific nurse-patient ratios in certain units. The bills also would require the Secretary of Health and Human Services to develop a national acuity tool to establish nurse staffing requirements above minimum ratios. Both bills include provisions that authorize a nurse to refuse to accept an assignment if it would violate minimum ratios established under the legislation or if the nurse is not prepared by education, training or experience to fulfill the assignment without compromising the safety of any patient or jeopardizing the license of the nurse. Included is language that prohibits a hospital from: (1) taking specified actions against a nurse based on the nurse's refusal to accept an assignment for such a reason; or (2) discriminating against any patient, employee or other individual for good-faith complaints or grievances relating to the care, services or conditions of the hospital, or of any affiliated or related facilities.
  

• Tell Congress to Support Marketplace Fairness

  Urge your senators and representative to support the Marketplace Fairness Act of 2013—S. 336, co-sponsored in the Senate by Sens. Michael Enzi (R-Wyo.) and Richard Durbin (D-Ill.), and H.R. 684, co-sponsored in the House of Representatives by Rep. Steve Womack (R-Ark.).

  These bills require out-of-state sellers that sell their products over the Internet, by telephone, or through the mail to collect sales tax for the state where the purchaser resides. Since 45 states already require the collection of state taxes on out-of-state sales, these bills will simply fix a tax-avoidance problem and increase state tax receipts by more than $20 billon annually. The bill levels the playing field for local businesses and exempts small businesses with less than $1 million in out-of-state sales from the requirement to collect the tax.

• How Did Your Senators Vote?

  Thank your senators who supported the Toomey-Manchin amendment on universal background checks yesterday, and express your disappointment in those who didn't.

• Contact Congress!

  Urge your senators to vote YES on three important amendments to S. 649, the Safe Communities, Safe Schools Act of 2013. These proposals will strengthen the capacity of S. 649 to adequately address the violence that faces many of our schools, students, educators and communities.

• Write Your Senators!

  The Safe Communities, Safe Schools Act of 2013 supports criminal and mental health background checks, as well as security infrastructure in schools (lights, locks, security plans), and cracks down on gun trafficking. More still needs to be done—especially banning assault weapons and high-capacity magazines—but this package is an important first step and deserves a vote.

• All In for Citizenship

  Over the coming weeks, our elected officials will see heightened action on Capitol Hill around the issue of meaningful immigration reform. With the Senate expected to introduce an expansive bill in the next few days, and the House expected to follow suit, now is the time to join our brothers and sisters and make our voices heard.

  Make your voice heard. Write your senators today.

• Safe Communities, Safe Schools

  The Safe Communities, Safe Schools Act of 2013 supports criminal and mental health background checks, security infrastructure in schools (lights, locks, security plans) and cracks down on gun trafficking. More still needs to be done—especially banning assault weapons and high-capacity magazines—but this package is an important first step.

  Urge your senators to support the Safe Communities, Safe Schools Act of 2013 by sending them message below.

• Write Your Senators!

  Write your senators in support of a budget that continues to grow our economy and makes smart investments in programs aimed at providing hardworking Americans a ladder to the middle class, while reducing the deficit in a fair and balanced way.

• Are You Feeling the Cuts Yet?

  Under the sequester, an estimated 750,000 jobs will be lost this year, and programs our communities depend on—education, healthcare, transportation and infrastructure—will see 5 to 8 percent cuts.

  Congress must protect vital programs working Americans need, and it’s all possible by closing tax loopholes for corporations and the wealthiest Americans. 

• Tell Mayor Nutter to fix, not close, Philadelphia’s public schools.

  Philadelphia has become ground zero in the debate over school closings versus investment in neighborhood public schools. Local teachers, parents and community members are standing together to demand a moratorium on harmful school closures.
   
  Stand with them. Tell Mayor Nutter to fix, not close, Philadelphia’s public schools.

• Write Your Senators

  The Senate Judiciary Committee is considering a series of commonsense proposals to reduce gun violence and make our nation safer. This is the first step toward making gun safety a reality, and we need all senators to support these bills.

• The Time is Now

  Show your support for commonsense immigration reform by signing your name below.
  

• Stand for safe schools and communities across America.

  America’s duty is to provide safe and secure schools and communities for everyone. The tragic events in Tucson, Ariz., Aurora, Colo., and Newtown, Conn., and the countless acts of gun violence that occur every day in our communities, must serve as a clarion call to action. It’s time to act to keep our communities safe from violence and ensure Americans everywhere have the resources to keep their communities safe.
  
  Creating safe, vibrant communities and safe sanctuaries for our children to learn and grow will require a balanced approach. From measures to prevent gun violence to increased mental health services and investments in our schools, we all have a role to play in creating safe communities. Join the movement.

• Urge Congress to Pass Reasonable Gun Violence-Prevention Legislation

  America's duty is to provide safe and secure public schools for every child, and the reasonable gun violence-prevention legislation introduced by Reps. Carolyn McCarthy and Diana DeGette will go a long way to make that a reality. Urge Congress to pass this legislation. Every parent, every educator and every child should feel that schools are safe, secure environments.

• Solution-Driven Unionism

  Throughout the country, individuals, AFT state and local affiliates and the national union are leading efforts to confront challenges Americans are facing today, and are seeing promising results. Our union is meeting this moment with a new vision of unionism: solution-driven unionism. It’s an approach that is relevant and appropriate to the 21st century. An approach that is creative and visionary. An approach that advances solutions that unite the people we represent and those we serve—our students, our families and our communities. We must bring people together around agendas that serve all kids, all workers and all communities—to restore the middle class, strengthen our public schools, and invest in, not destabilize, communities.
  
  Solution-driven unionism takes many forms. At its core it ensures that we don’t merely survive, but that we succeed. Our success also rests upon electing leaders who support this concept, which is based on collaboration as opposed to conflict and on problem-solving as opposed to finger-pointing. The tempest swirling around us has far from subsided, and the November elections can shape whether it continues to rage or gives way to a climate of seeking solutions for the common good.