AFA Supports West Virginia Teachers
March 4, 2018
Christine Campbell, President AFT-West Virginia
Dale Lee, President WV Education Association
Linda Thompson, President WV School Service Personnel Association
Dear Sisters and Brother:
The 50,000 members of the Association of Flight Attendants – CWA, AFL-CIO, stand in solidarity with you as you fight for a fair contract. Your strike is our strike! In response to a communication to our members on your struggle, one Flight Attendant said, “they are bravely supporting the pay and working conditions of workers across America!”
The awesome solidarity of West Virginia educators – with schools shut down in all 55 counties – has inspired the entire Labor Movement. After you reached a hard-won agreement with the Governor only to see Republican leaders in the state senate torpedo the deal, it became clear for all to see what the stakes are in West Virginia. In Washington, in West Virginia and across the nation, paid-for politicians seek to destroy public education in order to justify privatizing it for the benefit of profiteers. It’s an insidious part of their larger plan to cripple government in order to dismantle it. We stand shoulder to shoulder with you to make sure that does not happen.
I grew up in public schools and my teachers had a huge and positive influence on me. Like me, most Americans have a story about their own favorite teachers, people who made an important difference in their life. We have seen how the erosion of pay, pensions, and working conditions is creating teacher shortages and driving good teachers from the profession or away from the states and counties with the worst conditions. If we care about our children, it’s time we start paying teachers in recognition of just how important their role is for all those whose lives they touch.
We are communicating with Flight Attendants about your struggle, urging them to take a public stand with the united movement of West Virginia educators, and to speak out for a fair contract. We stand in solidarity with you. Please let us know if there is anything our union can do to help.
In Solidarity,
Sara Nelson
International President
CC:
Randi Weingarten
Lily Eskelsen Garcia
