AFT ACTS is a community of charter school employees organized by the American Federation of Teachers. The alliance works to mobilize charter school employees around issues of common concern, such as strengthening our profession, expanding professional development, improving the conditions of teaching and learning, and bolstering our voice in school-level decision making. As a community of educators, we also share best practices and professional resources and speak out on public policy issues that affect public education.
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AFT Alliance of Charter Teachers & Staff
Charter News
- With jobs on line, charter teachers unionize
The head of Imagine Me Leadership Charter School on April 5 sent a letter to all faculty and staff informing them that they would be terminated as of June 26, the last day of school, and would have to reapply for jobs.
“I’m really not pleased at the way teachers here have been treated — it is downright disrespectful,” said parent Ronald Lang, who serves on the school’s leadership team. “A lot of the students here have emotional issues. The teachers at the school refuse to give up on them and will not let the students give up on themselves.”
Educators reached out to the UFT in response to the letter and on May 1 they announced their decision to join the union.
Read More - Bronx Community Charter School teachers join UFT
The educators at Bronx Community Charter School have become the latest group to announce that they have joined the UFT, citing the need for a collective voice at their school.
Educators at the school in the west Bronx announced their decision to the administration in a January letter outlining their desire for recognition of all the teaching and professional staff as respected partners in the school community to ensure the highest standard of learning for their students.
Read More - UNO Teachers, Staff, Overwhelmingly Vote to Join Chicago ACTS
CHICAGO—Teachers and staff in the one of city’s largest charter school networks overwhelmingly have chosen the Chicago Alliance of Charter School Teachers and Staff (Chicago ACTS), an affiliate of the 1.5 million-member American Federation of Teachers and the Illinois Federation of Teachers, as their bargaining agent.
The decision involves more than 400 teachers and staff in 13 schools operated by the United Neighborhood Organization. In March, UNO and the AFT reached a neutrality agreement under which UNO agreed not to take a position on whether its teachers and staff organized. Some 87 percent of the 415 workers who voted approved Chicago ACTS as their bargaining agent.
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The decision by UNO employees to join Chicago ACTS means that more than 20 percent of Chicago’s charter school teachers and staff are now unionized—the highest union density where charter school employees do not automatically have a union.
