The Offical Website of the PJSTA

Posted on November 14, 2015 by thepjsta

Unity’s Attack on Dimino & Reducing VOTE-COPE

A few days ago, New York State’s Unity Caucus, the controlling caucus of NYSUT and the statewide extension of the UFT’s Unity Caucus, published a piece on their blog attacking PJSTA President Beth Dimino. In the post Dimino is accused of working for her own political gain while attempting to “squelch the voice of educators, SRPs, those working in higher education and health care professionals.” The post goes on to label her “anti-union” and accuses her of siding with the Koch brothers and “other right winged-politicians” with the goal of killing the union.

The comically misguided post is clearly an attempt to discredit a respected labor leader with a well earned track record of being outspoken in her defense of public education and unionized teachers. From trying to paint her as being on the side of the Koch brothers to the use of the word histrionics, whose use is rooted in misogyny, the Unity henchman was clearly trying to paint Dimino as a voice who should be ignored. The reason surely being that Ms. Dimino’s ability to speak truthfully about the leadership of our parent unions, NYSUT, the AFT, and the NEA, has caused an increasingly large number of members to reduce their contributions to NYSUT’s political action fund, VOTE-COPE.

Ms. Dimino’s track record as an advocate is fairly well known. She has been a vocal and visible proponent of the opt-out movement. She is a conscientious objector, refusing to administer New York State tests. This video of her lambasting former NYSED Commissioner John King has made her fairly well known in public education circles. She has spoken all over the state as an advocate for teachers, students, parents, and communities. I am sure Long Island Opt-Out founder Jeanette Deutermann or our friends at NYSAPE would vouch for Ms. Dimino as somebody who works tirelessly for teachers, students, and public education in general. If you don’t believe me you are welcome to ask them. None of these things tend to be characteristic of the circles that the Koch brothers travel in. None of them are synonymous with anti-union activity.

Let’s now contrast Ms. Dimino’s record with that of the Unity Caucus. Unity Caucus, for nearly the entire existence of NYSUT, has benefited from being the only party in a one party-system. The caucus has always chosen the presidents and each of the other officers. When they decided you were out, then you were out, as they have always been able to use the 800 UFT-Unity delegates as a voting block to elect who ever they have wanted to or to enact any changes within NYSUT that they have decided to. You may be wondering why 800 people always have to vote the same way? Well that would be because the 800 Unity-UFT delegates have signed an oath pledging to vote as they are told to. Currently, every NYSUT officer and every member of the UFT’s executive board are members of the Unity Caucus. Let’s take a look at some of their greatest hits from just the past few years…

Most recently, Unity Caucus has been using their twitter account to advocate for #TeachStrong, the newly formed group of ed deformers that our national unions have inexplicably partnered with, including Teach for America and Educators4Excellence. These are the same groups that have helped to finance legislative changes that have done tremendous harm to teachers over the past several years. Unity Caucus members will make the argument that “the tide has turned” and that these groups now want to work with us. They should try telling that to the teachers in Buffalo in receivership schools who just had their contracts thrown in the trash in the name of “reform.” If you are wondering what that sharp feeling is in your back, it’s the knife that the Unity slugs are pushing into it. Here is Marla Kilfoyle of the BadAss Teachers take on #TeachStrong. Here is Peter Greene’s take on the Curmudgucation blog. Here was the renowned Michelle Gunderson, a leader in the Chicago Teachers Union, with her reaction…

Chgo teachers are on verge of a mass layoff and prolonged strike while nat union leader cavorts w/ our enemies. #TeachStrong @DianeRavitch

— Michelle Gunderson (@MSGunderson) November 11, 2015

John Flanagan, the senate majority leader in the New York State Senate, and the former education chairperson in the senate has been another friend of Unity Caucus. Yes, the same John Flanagan who has declared opt-out parents a problem, claimed that charter school parents are the best parents there are, and whose highest campaign contributor is an ed deform group. While NYSUT did not vote to endorse Flanagan when he last ran in 2014, that didn’t stop Unity Caucus’ Andy Pallotta from giving Flanagan money anyway. Flanagan, who has received over $40,000 in VOTE COPE dollars over the years, received $7,750 in 2014.
Just this past spring Unity Caucus used their might to defeat a measure at the NYSUT RA that would have allowed all NYSUT locals to participate in NYSUT elections, as opposed to the 30% who did in the last one. Unity Caucus doesn’t want any of that pesky stuff called democracy interfering in their ability to guide the union in the direction they want to guide it in.
In 2014, at the AFT Convention, the Unity Caucus’ Michael Mulgrew gave his passionate defense of the Common Core when he stated “I’m gonna punch you in the face and push you in the dirt,” if you took away the Common Core. At the same convention fellow Unity Caucus members Karen Magee and Leroy Barr also stood up at the microphone in defense of the Common Core. You can watch it here…

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Later in 2014 the Unity Caucus’ Michael Mulgrew marched in the New York City Labor Day Parade with Andrew Cuomo amongst “Labor for Cuomo” signs.

I could go on, but I am not really sure that’s necessary. There is a clear divide between the top down, business unionism model that is represented by Unity Caucus and the grassroots, member driven unionism espoused by Ms. Dimino and the Stronger Together Caucus of which she is the chairperson. Still the blog post on the Unity website was written because of the fact that Ms. Dimino has openly advocated for the idea of NYSUT members reducing their VOTE-COPE contributions. The blog post implies that every PJSTA member did that simply because they were told to. I am here to tell you that is not the case.

I have been a PJSTA member in good standing for 14 years. I tend to think of myself as being fairly independent minded. I don’t do things because my president tells me to. I generally do things because I believe them to be the right things to do. Members of our executive board can vouch for the fact that there are many times I disagree with Ms. Dimino and I am not shy about it. Like Ms. Dimino, I am not a right winger and anyone who knows me would assure you that I am not anti-union. Throughout the first 12 years of my career I gave faithfully to VOTE-COPE. As much as $10 a paycheck for a few years. Last fall, fresh off NYSUT’s decision not to endorse Zephyr Teachout, a clear advocate for public education, in the Democratic Primary I decided to reduce my VOTE-COPE contribution to $0. I did so because I no longer had any trust that a Unity Caucus controlled union would represent me or the interests of my fellow classroom teachers very well. In addition to giving money to candidates who hurt us and falling on the wrong side of so many of the important issues facing public school teachers, I got sick of seeing NYSUT’s legislative action wing be so woefully ineffective. Whether it be the creation of Tier 6, the creation of test based teacher evaluations, the inability to get allies of public education elected, or the inability to prevent such a disastrous and harmful state budget from passing last year, I simply have no confidence in a legislative wing controlled by Unity Caucus’ Andy Pallotta. Instead I donated my money to Zephyr Teachout, purchased NYSAPE Opt-Out signs, and used some money in ways that directly benefited students. I was in control of the money and was, therefore, confident it was going to causes that I believed in.

So if you are on the side of Randi Weingarten (who came up through the Unity ranks), Mike Mulgrew, Andy Pallotta, #TeachStrong, Common Core, and test based teacher evaluations, then support Unity Caucus (you can’t join, it is invite only) and keep funneling your hard earned money into VOTE-COPE. But if you are like me and you are tired of your profession being trampled while your union “leaders” compromise and collaborate with coroporate privatizers who seek to destroy public education, then go ahead and reduce your VOTE-COPE and join STCaucus (open to any NYSUT members). It literally is about the only say you have in your parent unions.

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Posted on November 12, 2015 by thepjsta

Receivership, #TeachStrong, and STCaucus

Some interesting news stories involving education and, by extension, teacher unions have broken recently. After a lot of contemplation a few things regarding our unions have really come to the forefront of my thoughts. Let’s get to the issues at hand first.

First, we recently learned that NYSED Commissioner MaryEllen Elia was using Governor Cuomo’s new receivership law, enacted by the legislature last spring, to essentially toss aside the collective bargaining agreement between the Buffalo School District and the Buffalo Teachers Federation. Changes to the working conditions of the teachers in the receivership schools can be drastically altered simply in the name of “improving our schools” even if there is no real evidence that such changes would improve the school. Ultimately the receivership process can lead to a receiver being appointed by the state. As described by Jessica Bakeman in Politico New York this past spring, such receiver could…

“replace teachers and administrators’ and ‘abolish the positions of all members of the teaching and administrative and supervisory staff assigned to the failing or persistently failing school and terminate the employment of any building principal assigned to such a school, and require such staff members to reapply for their positions in the school if they so choose.”

Naturally schools that fall into receivership are evaluated by rigged standardized test scores. This action proves how farcical Cuomo’s Common Core Task Force is as the state is pushing forward with the destruction of public education all while pretending to listen to the concerns of citizens.

Shortly after hearing about the Buffalo receivership debacle, I began reading about #TeachStrong. As described by Peter Greene on his Curmudgucation blog…

The Program

Sigh. Well, let’s start with the assumption that teaching is in trouble. Teachers, apparently, need to “modernized and elevated.” And we are also fans of having an excellent teacher in each classroom. And we have nine-step program for getting it done.

(1) Recruit more diverse candidates for (2) more strenuous preparation. (3) Make it harder to get a license, but (4) pay more and (5) provide support in residency programs. (6) Keep tenure, but make it a meaningful signal of professional accomplishment (i.e. harder to get). (7) Give teachers more time and tools (so, what? a twenty-five hour day and an extra hand?) (8) Better PD (please, now you’re just making shit up). (9) Career pathways.

So, mostly the same old stuff. Make life harder for teachers in concrete ways (licensure, tenure) but try to offset it in vague ways (more time, and tools, and PD). And as always– absolutely nothing about giving teachers a strong voice in the direction of their profession.

No, the promise here is that we will ask more of you and do more to you.

And yet there are some odd features here. For instance, much of this is not exactly in tune with the TFA five-weeks, no-real-license plan. But in her WaPo piece, Lyndsey Layton reports that TFA basically has no intention of changing what they do, they just thought this seemed like a cool initiative to join. Really? Why would they sign on to this if they didn’t support the stated goals? Hmmm…

The Purpose

So what’s really going on here? I have a thought, and I’ll go ahead and type it out now. If I’m wrong, we can all make fun of me later.

Let’s look at the clues.

The initiative is led by CAP, a thinky tank that has also served as a holding pen for Clinton staffers since Bill stepped out of the White House. Carmel Martin, who has so far been the point person on this for CAP, has served in both Clinton and Obama administrations.

The list has many reformster groups– but not all. Who’s missing? Well, Campbell Brown, the Fordham Foundation, Jeb Bush’s FEE folks. You know– the conservative/GOP wing.

What does the group say it’s up to? Per Layton:

Martin, of the Center for American Progress, said the campaign will include events in early presidential primary states and important swing states, as well as Twitter town halls, online events and social media outreach. The think tank expects to spend $1 million, she said.

#TeachStrong says it wants to influence policy discussions through the primary and election season. I hereby predict that one candidate is going to be heavily influenced by this initiative and is going to stand up for this important teacher-supporting thing. I hereby predict that #TeachStrong is an organization created to help guard and support Hillary Clinton’s education flank in the run-up to 2016.

I think we’re looking at the eventual education plank of HRC’s platform.

Unsurprisingly, two of the forty organizations involved with this destruction of our profession are our national unions, the AFT and the NEA. That’s correct, I am no longer surprised when they stick the knife in the back of their dues paying members by partnering with the reformy groups who have sought to create the narrative of a public education crisis that they can sell you the answer to. They have a long track record of this.

So we have two major issues here, seemingly not connected, yet still rooted in a common problem, the lack of real union organizing from our parent unions. Let’s look at the issue in Buffalo first. A strong collective bargaining agreement, featuring victories won by generations of members over decades of work, is the document that provides a living for professional educators, along with the working conditions members value that also enhance student learning. To have the commissioner trample all over that agreement to instill whatever the reformists want is a blow the heart of the union and one that calls for an immediate and forceful response. That’s certainly the type of thing unions should be good at, right? However the Buffalo Teachers Federation President Phil Rumore simply responded that the BTF might sue. NYSUT President Karen Magee’s response was that they’d look at different options. Tepid responses at best.

The problem with the situation in Buffalo, regarding the lack of decisive union action, is the same problem that leads to our national unions supporting #TeachStrong in partnership with those who seek to destroy us. That problem is that the difficult and time consuming work of organizing that needs to have been done over a long period of time in order to effectively carry out such actions that will lead to victory has not been done. It certainly hasn’t been done by NYSUT and if Rumore’s only idea is to sue, it likely hasn’t been done there either. It has become common place in recent years for me to see teachers on social media calling for a statewide strike over the ed reform issues that have been foisted upon us. While I appreciate the sentiment and would go along with such militant action if possible, it really isn’t feasible. There simply has not been any organizing at the rank and file level to pull of any sort of statewide teacher movements. It’s not just the Revive NYSUT officers who currently inhabit the statewide officer positions either. As long as I have been a NYSUT member (14 years), through three presidents, there has been no organizing done by the statewide union. Certainly not to the level of being able to pull off mass labor actions across the state. Any organizing that has been done has taken place at the local union level or by parents. The real organizing I am mentioning is tough work. It involves lots of real back and forth conversation with members and with community members. It involves reflective practice in how we operate as unionists, and it calls for a true democratic governance within our unions that allows the members of an informed and engaged rank and file to truly drive the agenda of the union’s leadership. That work is never done by our parent unions.

While a failure to organize rank and file members should be a huge red flag that your union is failing you, the reason why it is likely happening within NYSUT, the AFT, and the NEA is even more galling. In my opinion the lack of organizing is by design. The simple fact of the matter is that an organized, informed, and engaged rank and file is a threat to our leadership. As long as membership is oblivious to the fact that leadership is collaborating with those seeking to harm us, such as the AFT and NEA’s decision to support #TeachStrong, they will never do the work that needs to be done to replace leadership. Without a revolt from the rank and file our “leaders” can sit safely inside their offices, far removed from the trenches that is the inside of a classroom, and collect their half a million dollar compensation packages and accrue their double pensions.

In many ways the large unions are like virtually any other organizational structure where those in power simply want to keep the power to themselves. An informed electorate is always a threat to them. It’s why the UFT leadership never concerns themselves with the fact that less than 20% of it’s members vote in union elections. It’s why Unity Caucus, at the state level, shut down a constitutional amendment at last spring’s NYSUT RA that would have allowed regional voting so that more than 30% of locals could actually cast their votes in NYSUT elections.

To those in power, whether they be in our parent unions, our government, or elsewhere, democracy is nothing but a buzzword. It sounds good to talk about, but in actual practice they risk too much power to want it employed among those they hold power over. The leaders of the AFT, the NEA, and NYSUT simply don’t care about classroom teachers. They want the cozy gigs they have now, the big salaries that come with it, and the continued ability to be able to rub elbows with “important people” like Andrew Cuomo and Hillary Clinton. That’s why we, when we are in desperate need of mass labor action, are stuck being encouraged to make Nae Nae videos instead.

Having said all that, the structure for change does in fact exist. The blueprint for such change can be seen in Chicago and Seattle where rank and file movements have pushed leadership into drastic labor actions that have given them hard won victories. The Chicago Teachers Union recently held a mock strike vote in preparation for what may prove to be a lengthy strike this winter. 95% of their membership participated in that vote and 97% of those voting voted that they would authorize a strike. A similarly high turnout approved the Seattle Educators Association’s strike in September. You simply don’t get all members on the same page with votes to authorize a strike unless you have undertaken lengthy, in depth organizing campaigns that have both informed membership and then brought their voice to the forefront. Those are simply astounding numbers. The key to the organizing within both locals has been the presence of a rank and file lead, social justice unionism caucus. In Chicago that would be CORE (Caucus of Rank and file Educators) and in Seattle that would be the SEE Caucus (Social Equality Educators). Both caucuses were in existence for several years, lead by rank and file membership and hyper focused on organizing before they went about the task of organizing a drastic action such as a strike.

While the MORE Caucus brings a similar brand of unionism within the UFT, such an organization has not really ever existed within NYSUT. The one hope for change lies with the Stronger Together Caucus which, at the very least, provides an existing structure to work within. STCaucus, which formed last year, certainly is willing to oppose NYSUT leadership in an effort to represent what they believe is the voice of the classroom teacher, as they have shown throughout the past few months. While that is encouraging in and of itself, the caucus has yet to do much organizing of the general membership. There likely are a variety of factors behind that. What remains to be seen is whether or not they intend to do the organizing necessary to facilitate a rank and file driven movement and whether or not they are receptive to the being steered by the voice of the membership.

There are scheduled to be some membership meetings and conferences of the caucus in the next few months. I highly recommend teachers across New York State reach out to the caucus to see when those will be held and then make sure you are in attendance. The direction the caucus leadership takes from there should be pretty telling. Hopefully they are up to the task because the clock is ticking and our profession is approaching the edge of the cliff.

MaryEllen Elia Launches Attack on Buffalo Teachers

Via the Buffalo News…

In one of her most significant actions as state education commissioner, MaryEllen Elia has granted Buffalo Superintendent Kriner Cash unprecedented power to make changes at the district’s most struggling schools, bypassing the teachers union contract.

Those changes could include a longer school day and year, required teacher training and more control over staffing – all things Cash says are essential to improve student performance.

“Students at these persistently struggling schools need help right now,” Elia wrote in a statement. “The receivership law gives the superintendent enhanced authority in order to maintain local control while facilitating rapid improvement in student outcomes. This receivership collective bargaining agreement will, among other things, enable Dr. Cash to more effectively utilize and deploy effective teachers and make changes to programs and teaching assignments – all of which will ensure that students in these struggling schools are provided with Teachers can be increased educational opportunities.”

This is very clear evidence for where corporate ed reformers are seeking to drive their agenda. Use rigged standardized test scores to declare schools to be “struggling,” those schools are placed in receivership. The state then steps in and bypasses the teachers’ contract. Teachers can be replaced on a whim, their working conditions arbitrarily changed even though there is no evidence such changes improve student learning.

I am hoping the events in Buffalo are the impetus for mass organizing by NYSUT or, at the very least, STCaucus. Without the rank and file organizing at the general membership level New York’s teachers will continue to be unprepared to take the collective action necessary to defeat an agenda such as the one we face now. A commenter on the Perdido Street School Blog’s post on this story had this accurate comment regarding potential statewide action (emphasis is mine)…

Harris L.November 10, 2015 at 8:20 AM

A ten day strike in 2006 nearly destroyed the Transit Workers Union in NYC–dues checkoff pulled for two years (yes, I know, Friedrichs might take care of that for us on its own), members fined two days pay for each day on strike (though this was mitigated by the judge) and Roger Toussaint in jail for three days (yes, we all might like to see Mighty Mike in an orange jumpsuit). Huge public backlash against the Transit Workers.

I’m retired so have no position about a strike, personally. But there needs to be a great deal of prep work done with rank-and-file if anyone expects that a strike resolution would pass in any local. Calling for a strike may be useful talk resulting in positive action–or not–but it’s not a matter to be thrown out there as casual conversation without a deep understand for the consequences.

We have members who don’t vote in union elections. We have an executive board controlled by the Unity Politboro. We have a public that might not be inclined to support a teachers strike and public support, or at least acquiescence, is important if we were to violate the Taylor Law.

All I’m asking is that folks talk about a “strike” intelligently, knowing just how difficult it would be to organize, explain to members, maintain and what the probable consequences would be.

Only then, pick up the pickets signs and walk out the door….

Click here to read the PJSTA’s resolution in opposition to receivership that the executive board passed last month.

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Posted on November 7, 2015 by thepjsta

PJSTA Members Speak Out at Common Core Task Force Hearing

Three PJSTA members spoke at today’s hearing with the Common Core Task Force at Stony Brook University.

Melissa McMullan can be seen speaking here.

Beth Dimino follows Jeanette Deutermann here.

Brian St. Pierre can be seen in the video embedded below. Thank you for the many PJSTA members who were in attendance in support of our schools, our students, our teachers, and our community!

Deep Organizing v. Shallow Mobilizing… Be the Union!

What looks good on a button would look better put into action.

Editor’s Note: I originally had a version of this story was originally published in the Fall 2015 issue of The Portal, the PJSTA’s newsletter.

Within union circles it is often popular to hear the union leaders encourage membership mobilization with the phrase “You are the union!” The idea, of course is that the general membership is the engine that drives the union, informing leadership of the directions it should be taking and that everyone plays a crucial role in their union. Theoretically there is certainly nothing wrong with this idea. It’s actually the way a union really should run. Unfortunately, to the leadership of our parent unions this often seems more like a gimmicky phrase than a guiding philosophy. It looks good on a button but when it comes to how NYSUT, the AFT, and the NEA operate the philosophy is quite clearly one where the leadership send out top down mandates for the membership to carry out.

At the crux of this issue is what should be the most important task of any union worth it’s salt, the task of organizing. Organizing should be one of the pillars of all union work. However what we more typically see are unions mobilizing around issues by simply directing membership towards carrying out a task, often one that is mindless in nature. Sending a fax or email by simply clicking a button for example. Or calling an elected representative and reading a scripted message. It requires almost no engagement from membership, simply a few moments out of their busy lives to carry out a directive. This is a strategy that has failed us greatly as we find the entire institution of public education in great peril. The issue of deep organizing vs. shallow mobilizing is one that unions at every level need to examine with a reflective eye towards how they operate.

Kelley Collings, a member of the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers and an active member of the Caucus of Working Educators within the PFT, recently wrote an article on the Caucus of WE’s website titled, “What Deep Organizing Looks Like: The Real Work-to-Rule Campaign”. The article, which was a critique of the PFT’s fairly weak efforts to mobilize its members, had a great description about deep organizing vs. shallow mobilizing tucked into it. Let’s be clear on the difference between deep organizing and shallow mobilizing. Deep organizing makes us stronger as a union. Deep organizing demands that we have solid relationships with each other as PFT members. Deep organizing requires that we develop authentic power-sharing partnerships with parents and community members as we fight for the resources our students and school deserve. The Caucus of Working Educators is committed to deep organizing that leads to effective direct actions. Anything less than that does a disservice to our students and our schools.

Collings suggestion boils down to a few key points. Union members should be developing trusting relationships with each other, with the parents of their students, and with their school communities to plan direct actions that aid in our fight for the schools our students deserve.

The deep organizing mentioned here is hard, time consuming work. Often times the direct actions planned take weeks, if not months to organize and put into action. Most of all it requires leadership to trust their members and relent some of their much valued control over the activist work that it’s membership is doing. Having said all that, it is literally the only way that we will be saved from the path of destruction that public educators have been marched down for several years now.

All of the phone calls, emails, and visits to state legislators have mostly fallen upon deaf ears. The enormous amounts of VOTE-COPE money that NYSUT has collected and doled out to elected officials has had little to any positive impact on teachers as politicians have taken the money with one hand and voted for harmful education reforms with the other. So the easy mobilizing solutions of clicking a button to send a fax, sending money to VOTE-COPE, or reading scripted messages have proven to be fruitless. So let’s talk about what deep organizing looks like at the local level.

Deep organizing begins with the irreplaceable task of being informed on the issues that face our profession and impact our lives and the lives of our students every day. This is a vast ocean of information and certainly not one in which anybody can claim to know everything about. Some issues are as general as poverty and some as nuanced as democratic structures (or lack thereof) within our unions. While it is unrealistic to expect every teacher to run out and become highly informed on all of these issues at once, it is very realistic to expect that every teacher is willing to devote some time every day to becoming informed on some of these issues. This is, after all, our livelihood.

There are several ways to become informed. One of the simplest ways is to pick a respected blog and begin checking it daily. Many good blogs are updated at least five times a week. The average one of these blog posts likely takes an adult less than five minutes to read. Read one over your first sips of coffee in the morning each day and your level of knowledge of the issues will expand greatly in no time. Another way of getting and staying informed is via Facebook and Twitter where you can follow a steady stream of information pertaining to the important issues. Use these mediums simply as a stream of information or jump in and become part of the discussion, using the social media to banter, debate, and question the issues with other participants. If you are a more traditional reader who enjoys reading books, there are a plethora of options out there. Reign of Error by Diane Ravitch, This is Not a Test by Jose Luis Vilson, and Strike for America by Micah Uetricht are just a few titles that deal with the issues that are prevalent in our profession. Read one on your own or create a book club with friends or colleagues. Finally, interact with your colleagues. Discuss these issues with teachers in the faculty rooms at lunch, happy hours after work, or in a walk out to the parking lot. Share opinions and ask questions. Help educate and inform each other on our mutual struggle.
Being informed is the all important first step to take. In my experience, an informed teacher is naturally driven to begin the deep organizing that is required of us. You won’t need a list of talking points to interact with parents about the abusive reforms being foisted upon their children and you won’t need union leaders requesting you to “take action” as your professional conscience will be driving you in that direction already. Teachers are a smart, passionate, creative, and resourceful bunch. We have everything we need to combat the assaults on public education within our ranks. Decide how you will go about the task of deep organizing. Consider what actions you will take to become a part of the solution. You are the union.

Listed below is an incomplete list of some of my favorite blogs that I read regularly…