This week in the war on workers: Black Lives Matter and the NAACP say no to more charter schools

Daily Kos Staff

Saturday August 20, 2016 · 3:56 PM PDT

2016/08/20 · 15:56

Here’s some important pushback on the efforts of the corporate education policy world to brand its privatization agenda as a civil rights issue:

A few weeks ago, the Movement for Black Lives, the network that also includes Black Lives Matter organizers, released its first-ever policy agenda. Among the organization's six demands and dozens of policy recommendations was a bold education-related stance: a moratorium on both charter schools and public school closures. Charters, the agenda argues, represent a shift of public funds and control over to private entities. Along with "an end to the privatization of education," the Movement for Black Lives organizers are demanding increased investments in traditional community schools and the health and social services they provide.

The statement came several weeks after another civil rights titan, the NAACP, also passed a resolution, calling for a freeze on the growth of charter schools. The NAACP had equated charters with privatization in previous resolutions, but this year's statement—which will not become policy until the National Board meeting in the fall—represents the strongest anti-charter language to date, according to Julian Vasquez Heilig, a professor of education leadership and education chair of the NAACP's California State Conference. "The NAACP is really concerned about unregulated growth of charter schools, and says it's time to pause and take stock," says Vasquez Heilig, who posted a copy of the resolution on his blog.

The move toward unchecked charter school expansion is draining resources from public schools and allowing some very shady people and groups to run schools with public money, while many charters exclude students with disabilities and other kids who might provide challenges in the relentless drive for higher test scores above all else.

● The Belabored podcast talks about co-host Sarah Jaffe’s exciting new book, Necessary Trouble.

● Too old for hard labor, but still on the job:

Blue-collar jobs are hard work. Eventually, most blue-collar workers find the wear and tear on their bodies too draining to continue. Moreover, many industrial companies are reluctant to hire or keep older workers as the number of such jobs shrinks. Yet many blue-collar workers, like their white-collar counterparts, can’t afford or don’t want to retire (often a combination of the two).

● Are your company expense policies hurting women? A super interesting look at the ways the most basic company policies can make it harder for women in the workforce.

● Boston’s Bon Me is the latest restaurant chain to raise wages, with a starting wage of $13 and a plan to get up to $15 in the next two years.

● Why Las Vegas is a great place for working-class women. (Unions. Because of unions.)

● Ugh. Massachusetts is giving Amazon a sweet deal that isn't so sweet for workers.

● Disgusting, dangerous stuff at Tyson Foods:

A gruesome employee injury led federal workplace safety inspectors to discover the nation’s largest meat and poultry processor endangered workers by exposing them to amputation hazards, high levels of carbon dioxide and peracetic acid without providing personal protective equipment.

Responding to a report of a finger amputation at the Tyson Foods Inc. chicken processing facility in Center, Texas, U.S. Department of Labor Occupational Safety and Health Administration inspectors identified two repeated and 15 serious violations. The company faces $263,498 in proposed fines.

The investigation determined the employee suffered an amputation when his finger became stuck in an unguarded conveyor belt as he worked in the debone area and tried to remove chicken parts jammed in the belt.

OSHA inspectors also found more than a dozen serious violations including failing to ensure proper safety guards on moving machine parts, allowing carbon dioxide levels above the permissible exposure limit, failing to provide personal protective equipment and not training employees on hazards associated with peracetic acid. Used as a disinfectant, the acid can cause burns and respiratory illness if not handled safely.

● On-site childcare can pay for itself, Patagonia’s CEO explains.

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This week in the war on workers: Black Lives Matter and the NAACP say no to more charter schools

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