“Building a Social Justice Movement, City by City”: United Caucuses of Rank-and-File Educators (UCORE) and the Movement for Social Justice Unionism

• In Event: Saturday Roundtable Session 11:25 am
  In Roundtable Session: The Work of Teachers, Teacher Organizations, and Unions (Table 12)

Abstract

In this paper, I trace the history of organizing in the United Caucuses of Rank-and-File Educators (UCORE), a national network of social justice caucuses within teachers unions. This study draws on the methodology of movement ethnography to explore the history of the movement for social justice unionism within and through teachers unions in the United States. Through its analysis of interviews, participant observation, and document analysis, this chapter argues that teacher organizers in the UCORE network are advancing several educator movements, including a movement for social justice unionism. In this way, this paper contributes to conversations around educator labor organizing for racial and social justice, as well as research on educational studies, educator social movements, and social justice unionism.

Author

• Lauren Ware Stark, Université de Sherbrooke