Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/27719
other conditions of employ- ment have been eliminated. Wisconsin teachers have joined the campaign to recall eight state Senate Republicans in an effort to overturn the legisla- tion under the leadership of the Wisconsin Education Associa- tion Council and the National Education Association. NEA President Dennis Van Roekel said: “This is an affront to teachers, nurses, students, firefighters, construction work- ers and other everyday people who stood up, spoke out, and learned how much their voice mattered to their elected lead- ers. The response will be unified and the collective voice of mil- lions of working Americans from all across this nation will only grow louder.” Although the erosion of col- lective bargaining in California is not imminent, bills have also been introduced here as well. Speaking to the crowd at the Capitol in Sacramento, CTA President David A. San- chez invoked the words of President Dwight D. Eisen- hower: “The labor movement did not diminish the strength of the nation but enlarged it.” Sanchez continued: “It en- larged it by raising the stan- dard of living for millions of workers and working families. Every one of us here today, our children, and our communi- ties have benefi ted from unions and their collective bargaining rights. “I can tell you that collective bargaining has not only im- proved working conditions of educators, it has improved the learning conditions of students. Through collective bargaining we have achieved smaller class sizes for our students, improved safety in our schools, better pro- fessional development pro- Social media revitalize labor organizing On Feb. 11, CTA posted an article to its Facebook page about Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker calling on the Na- tional Guard be- cause he was about to put forward a bill to remove collec- tive bargaining rights from all pub- lic employees un- der the guise of “balancing the budget.” CTA’s Facebook community was outraged. And as this story unfolded, largely over the Internet, hundreds of thousands across the coun- try became outraged too. No one can deny that so- cial media played a major role in fueling the Wisconsin protests. Largely ignored by mainstream media, Twitter and Facebook have been a treasure trove of latest news and developments, person- al stories and in-depth anal- yses by bloggers. Thou- sands of viewers watched live streams of the protests from directly inside the Wis- consin State Capitol. NEA affiliates across the grams, and more productive collaboration with parents.” Other CTA members at the candlelight vigil drove in from Modesto, San Leandro, San Francisco, Redwood City and El Dorado County to demon- strate their outrage. “Collective bargaining is the way we achieve some sense of fairness in what we do for a liv- ing,” said Dane Oliveira, a sixth- grade teacher and member of the Modesto Teachers Associa- tion. “We deserve to have a voice in how we are treated.” country stood strong with their Wisconsin colleagues and aggressively advocated on Twitter using the #WeAreWI hashtag, which became a “Trending Topic” (among the top 10 tweets worldwide at that moment). #WeAreWI connected classroom teach- ers with protesters, elected representatives, news out- lets, and a growing commu- nity of people standing in solidarity. Participation and sharing among CTA’s Face- book fans spiked dramatical- ly, and CTA gained nearly 900 new fans in three weeks. In the face of these at- tacks on workers’ rights, many who had never done so before found a way to speak out and defend their San Lorenzo Education As- sociation member Mike Jones, a U.S. government and eco- nomics teacher, had created a PowerPoint presentation he had shown for his students re- garding the role of unions in building our nation. “Fifty years ago, Wisconsin was the first state to get collec- tive bargaining. Seventy-five years ago, AFSCME began in Wisconsin. Unions have fought for too many things beyond our own self-interest. We must de- fend the rights and livelihood of profession. Social media provide a voice and a venue for change with a much broader reach than tradi- tional organizing and at a lightning pace. CTA is em- bracing this, and welcomes all members to join on Facebook and discuss the issues that are important to them. As recent events have shown, the support and en- couragement CTA’s mem- bers provide for one another is astounding. CTA’s Face- book page Wall is testament to that. TIFFANY HASKER WWW Join CTA on • Facebook at www. facebook.com/ californiateachersassociation • Twitter @CATeachersAssoc • YouTube: www.youtube. com/californiateachers • Flickr: www.flickr.com/ photos/californiateachers working and middle-class peo- ple in this country,” he said. Although the situation in Wisconsin is getting the most attention, there is a growing list of states where collective bargaining is under attack, in- cluding Idaho, Indiana, Ohio, Florida and Tennessee. DINA MARTIN To stay informed about attacks on the rights of educators around the country and what you can do to help, visit www.nea.org and www.educationvotes.org. MARCH 2011 | www.cta.org 31