by Joan Deem
Flying home from NOLA today after attending the 2015 AFT conference on Racial Justice and Immigration. While I had an incredible time with old and new friends in the snippets of downtime in this crazy, amazing city, I leave NOLA with the understanding that our work as unionists is not in vain. Our hard fought for rights and benefits that are constantly under attack, are necessary to the foundation of basic human rights in our communities, our regions, our states, country and in our world. We must provide quality public education where teachers are respected as professionals and treated as such. We must stand up for the Fight for $15, as all workers deserve fair and decent wages to live lives of dignity and enable them to care for their families. We need to understand the struggles of our immigrant students and their families living in sub-human conditions and in constant fear. We must confront our own biases and prejudices and acknowledge the racial injustice that exists in our communities and how it affects our students, our colleagues and our friends. Our fight for these human rights is synonymous with our fight for workers' rights. I am a unionist and I will never apologize for the work that I do each and every day to make the lives of my members, my community, my state, my country and my world a better place in which to live. #Justice2015
