Eighteen charter school educators from across the country met at AFT headquarters in Washington, DC for the first meeting of the AFT Charter School Educator Advisory Group. With representatives from Boston to Los Angeles and other locations in between, the group came together to network, help shape charter school organizing strategy, and learn more about AFT resources, professional development and local media strategies.

AECI Educators Seek Formal Voice in School Policy & More Collaborative Work Environment

Teachers and staff at the NYC Charter High School for Architecture, Engineering and Construction Industries (AECI) in the Bronx today announced their intention to join the United Federation of Teachers as a new collective bargaining unit.

Nearly two years ago, Spanish teacher Emily Mueller was dismayed to learn that her charter high school, Northtown Academy in Chicago, was asking teachers to teach six classes instead of five.

There was no real discussion between teachers and administrators about alternative solutions, according to Mueller. There was no pay increase attached to the increased workload, either. The unilateral, unpaid workload increase “just didn’t seem sustainable,” she says.

The battle began in Chicago, continued in Springfield and wound up in Washington. Now, it has come to a close.

About a year after they began a unionizing effort, teachers at the Chicago International Charter School finally have a contract with administrators.

They were the first charter-school teachers to form a union in the city, and their labor group, the Chicago Alliance of Charter Teachers and Staff, or A.C.T.S., represents a growing battleground for labor activists around the United States.