Can the teachers' unions come back?
Are the leaders of the national teachers unions finally learning the lessons of the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) strike of 2012?
Nearly two years afterward, the CTU strike remains the outstanding example of resistance to the corporate school reform agenda that aims to turn public education into a marketplace and render teachers' unions powerless.
In the wake of the strike, it was inevitable that the leaders of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) and National Education Association (NEA) would take a more combative tone at their union conventions this month, speaking more frankly than ever before about the relentless attacks on teacher organizations.
But the question remains as to whether top union officials at the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) and National Education Association (NEA) will break from a failed--and increasingly disastrous--strategy of making concessions to preserve partnership with increasingly anti-union politicians and school officials.
More at http://socialistworker.org/2014/07/10/can-teachers-unions-rebound .
Cross-posted in the Education Group.
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and AFT more plugged in politically. Might be a regional thing, as obviously CTU has its eye on the ball. San Francisco has merged AFT/NEA into United Educators. I think the article kind of exaggerates the differences between the two unions. (Note: I'm a minor junior AFT officer in my local, so I'm a bit biased. 
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I think a lot of people will be watching the upcoming AFT convention with interest.
