Australia: What has happened to the enterprise agreement at Western Sydney University?
Two months on, no copy of an agreement has been provided to NTEU members, let alone voted on.
A Western Sydney University Rank-and-File Committee member•
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.
Get involved!
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.
Connect with us
Subscribe to our email newsletter to get the latest news, analysis, and political perspective for educators, in your inbox.
Australia: More Victorian teachers and supporters call for better wages, conditions at mass strike
“The conditions in schools are terrible. We did so much heavy lifting along with all the health services during COVID, and this is how we got repaid. It's just appalling.”
Our reporters•
Staff at Sheffield Hallam University balloting again to strike over job losses and attack on pensions
The UCU’s refusal to coordinate strike action even across Sheffield’s three ongoing HE disputes, well as its repeated suspension of strikes, are central to the impasse workers face, not just in that city but nationally.
Simon Whelan•
Australian teachers speak out against assault on wages, conditions at mass strike in Victoria
“We’ve got mould in our ceiling. We’ve got leaking roofs. The place is nearly falling around us in some instances, but we’re not being given the funding to be able to have that fixed.”
Our reporters•
Our correspondents•
Noah Prince, Nancy Hanover•
John Conrad, Tim Avery•
International Workers Alliance of Rank-and-File Committees•
Our correspondents•
Colorado healthcare workers issue statement supporting striking JBS meatpackers
“The same economic pressures that lead to dangerous line speeds, inadequate safety protections, and a lack of proper PPE and equipment in the past are mirrored in our own workplaces through chronic understaffing and cuts to essential services.”
Greeley Health Care Workers•
More Canadian workers support Will Lehman’s campaign for UAW presidency
The WSWS continues to receive statements of support from workers across Canada for Will Lehman’s campaign for the presidency of the UAW in the United States. Lehman is running as a socialist on a program to abolish the union bureaucracy and place power back in the hands of workers on the shop floor.
Our reporters•
Australian educators call for opposition to the war on Iran
The meeting called on educators, students and workers to move similar resolutions denouncing the US-Israeli assault on Iran and the Albanese Labor government’s participation in it.
Our correspondents•
Reject the BP Whiting contract! Organize rank-and-file committees to prepare a national struggle!
Every refinery worker has a direct stake in defeating BP’s demands, which would pave the way for oil companies to dismantle national bargaining altogether.
International Workers Alliance of Rank-and-File Committees•
Postal Workers Rank-and-File Committee•
Our correspondent•
Ford Rouge Workers Rank-and-File Committee•
New York Healthcare Workers Rank-and-File Committee•
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.