From the time the first buses left the West Coast on Sept. 20 until they arrived in New York City on Oct. 4 for a huge rally, AFT members turned out to support the almost 1,000 immigrants who took part in the Immigrant Workers Freedom Ride. The ride, which passed through more than 1,000 cities and towns over two weeks, was intended to draw attention to the need for immigration reform to help workers and their families. “We strongly support the right of all workers to decent wages, benefits and working conditions,” said AFT president Sandra Feldman. “The Freedom Ride will shine a spotlight on immigrant families and advocate sound and compassionate policies for them.”

This year’s event—spearheaded by the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees union and supported by many other unions and groups—took its inspiration from the 1961 Freedom Rides during the civil rights movement. Forty years ago, students from across the country rode buses to the Deep South to challenge segregation. Even with tens of thousands of people on hand for the New York rally, the New York Times tracked down an AFT paraprofessional in the crowd. Long-time United Federation of Teachers activist Marian Thom told the reporter she was at the rally because “we need to do more to reunify families. And we need better jobs because immigrants have the lowest-paying jobs.”

More information about the ride and immigrant workers is available at www.iwfr.org/.

Three-day strike brings good contract for Illinois local

A three-day strike in Illinois ended Aug. 28 when members of the AFT-affiliated Rockford Harlem Support Staff Council overwhelmingly approved a new tentative agreement that meets all of the union’s major bargaining goals. Members of the union, which represents about 375 custodians, maintenance workers, secretaries, clerks and paraprofessionals, went on strike Aug. 26, closing the 11 schools in the district.

At the heart of the dispute was the refusal by district negotiators to include language that would guarantee these employees wouldn’t be left out in the cold should raises be offered to nonunion employees. The affiliate had agreed to accept a salary freeze as long as this “me too” provision was included in the final agreement. The new contract also contains major union victories in the benefits arena. Union negotiators were successful in ending district efforts to increase medical insurance costs for members, and the union also negotiated new family coverage for paraprofessionals.

Alabama association affiliates with AFT

A third formerly independent statewide association of classified employees, this one in Alabama, has joined the AFT. The executive board of the Alabama Association of Classified School Employees voted unanimously earlier this year to affiliate. The group follows similar statewide associations in Nevada and Colorado that have joined the AFT in the past year or so.

Most of the Alabama association’s 200 members work in the Mobile school system, but the union has the potential to organize hundreds more employees in the city and around the state. The addition of the PSRP group brings to four the number of AFT affiliates in Alabama. The group’s president, Joe Brantley, received a formal AFT affiliation document from president Sandra Feldman in October.