In June, educators at seven Citizens of the World Charter schools in Los Angeles voted over 90% YES to unionize with UTLA. This major win comes out of a strategic organizing effort and a burning desire among Citizens of the World (CWC) educators to unionize.

Eighth-grade teacher Marin Hodges says Citizens of the World Charter management does not always center the voices of educators.

“While teachers have attempted to advocate for themselves in the past, we’ve seen little meaningful change because of the top-down structure of our organization,” Hodges told Jacobin in June. “Having a union will give teachers more input in decisions that are affecting them directly.”

Hodges said that when the opportunity to form a union with UTLA arose in April, buzz around unionizing CWC campuses really ramped up — and they quickly got organized. They formed an organizing committee and assigned a point person at each campus to have intentional conversations about unionizing with UTLA. They worked to reach every educator but had to keep their one-on-one conversations discreet. Once they had confirmed a supermajority of support, they submitted their official petition to the state Public Employment Relations Board (PERB) to hold a vote. 

Once PERB rubber stamps the final vote count and verifies majority support, Citizens of the World charter management must recognize the union of educators and come to the table, or file an appeal to PERB.

Third-grade teacher Jen Gist says CWC educators are “excited to join forces with UTLA educators to continue to improve our schools and make our profession more sustainable at the school, city, and state levels.” 

Whether they’re at the bargaining table or fighting an appeal this fall, CWC Educators United are fired up to use their union power to improve learning conditions for their students.