Radical Teachers Rise Up in Baltimore
Today I had the opportunity to write about my former beloved city, Baltimore, with a story in The Nation about the Baltimore Movement of Rank-and-File Educators (BMORE). This new caucus of social justice-oriented teachers has been organizing for power since 2015, and one of its members just won their election to be president of the Baltimore Teachers Union. In winning, they defeated the longtime BTU president, Marietta English, who was seeking her ninth term in office. English, though, has not yet agreed to concede.
I wrote about this disputed election, where this new caucus came from, and what they hope to accomplish. Baltimore, it should be understood, is not a city where teachers are really out protesting low wages. Baltimore educators actually earn some of the highest teacher salaries in the state and in the nation. But members of the BMORE caucus believe their union could be doing more to act as a vehicle for broad social change — to push for things beyond pay, health care, and professional development opportunities.
BMORE joins a host of similar social justice caucuses that have emerged in teacher unions across the United States — including the Caucus of Rank and File Educators in Chicago (CORE), the Movement of Rank and File Educators in New York City (MORE), the Social Equity Educators in Seattle (SEE) and the Caucus of Working Educators in Philly (WE).
Below is a picture of the three co-founders of the BMORE caucus, Natalia Bacchus, Corey Gaber, and Cristina Duncan Evans. You can read more about them, and hear from them directly in the story.
Thanks for reading, and have a good weekend!