Teacher Organizing in Arizona Amid COVID-19: Limits and Radical Possibilities

• In Event: Teaching and Organizing During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

This qualitative study examined teacher organizing in Arizona amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. The resurgence of teacher activism in Arizona during the 2018 Red for Ed teacher mobilizations and throughout the pandemic has been particularly notable given Arizona’s hostile labor context. I interviewed six teacher organizers from January 2020 through May 2020 to investigate how teacher activists navigated these constraints. Organizers described four categories of organizing approaches: creative disruptive actions, institutional pressure, electoral organizing, and principled resignation. Findings further suggest that the grassroots mobilization of teachers from the 2018 strike has applied pressure on reluctant union leaders to adopt more militant strategies amidst COVID-19.

Author

• Riley Collins, University of California - Santa Cruz