Working people across the United States have stepped up to help out our friends, neighbors and communities during these trying times. In our Service & Solidarity Spotlight series, we’ll showcase one of these stories every day. Here’s today’s story.
Fairfax County Public School workers voted to unionize, creating a wall-to-wall union of 27,500 teachers, custodians, teaching assistants, bus drivers, and more. The new bargaining unit, Fairfax Education Unions, is one of the largest K-12 unions on the East Coast, and is affiliated with both the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) and the National Education Association (NEA). Approximately 80% of the operational workers and 96% of the instructional workers voted for the union.
“On-the-ground organizing got us there,” says Fran Lewandoski, a school social worker with 20 years in. “Person-to-person organizing, recruiting interested people, getting leaders in buildings, providing them with guidance.”