School on Strike

For over fifty years, American public schools have been under aattack led by executives, lawyers, politicians, philanthropists, parents, even students. The only people who can save public schools are teachers. And they can only do it by going on strike.

Education strikes have seen a surge in recent years as more and more teachers reject the broken education system across the country and demand something better - better for teachers, better for students, better for everyone. In Republican Party controlled states the "Red for Ed" strike wave reversed decades of attacks on public schools. In Democratic Party controlled states like Illinois and California, however, it took a little more convincing to get teachers to strike. Teachers in Chicago and Los Angeles wanted something better for their schools, but how would they achieve it when their opponents were supposed to be their political allies?

School on Strike is a documentary film that embeds with the leaders, organizers, and members of two of the most dynamic and militant teachers unions in the country - Chicago Teachers Union and United Teachers Los Angeles. Produced over a 7 year period, the film covers the hard-won victories of their respective strikes in 2019, the impact of COVID-19 on public education, and the uncertain future at the beginning of a second Trump administration.

A who's who of labor activists appear in the film including Alex Caputo-Pearl, Cecily Myart Cruz, Arlene Inouye, Jesse Sharkey, Stacey Davis Gates, and my mentor, the late Jane McAlevey. The film goes deep into the biggest challenges facing teachers unions today and poses a critical challenge for the future of not only public schools, but the entire labor movement: the need to mount a nationwide general strike led by teachers.