Ohio voters reject effort to take away workers' rights
The citizens of Ohio took back their state with a historic vote on Nov. 8 to repeal Senate Bill 5. The vote, which marks the first time that the collective bargaining rights of public employees have been upheld on a statewide ballot, sends a clear signal that union members and their allies will not sit idly by while politicians scapegoat hard-working public employees for an economic crisis they did not create.
Read the full story and watch a video on AFT.org
Retired local union president elected to Missouri legislature
On Nov. 8, voters in Kansas City, Mo., elected former Kansas City Federation of Teachers president Judy Morgan to the Missouri House of Representatives. Morgan spent nearly three decades as a teacher and guidance counselor in the Kansas City schools. Morgan, who retired as KCFT president in 2009, has vowed to work for adequate school funding and jobs "that pay a livable wage."
Read more about Morgan in the Kansas City Star
Debt supercommittee—both sides digging in
As the congressional supercommittee prepares to wrap up its work by Nov. 23, Republicans and Democrats are digging in and getting ready for a fight. The plans each party submitted to the supercommittee include reforms to Social Security and Medicare, but the way each party wants to go about that reform is very different. At this point, bipartisanship seems unlikely.
The AFT is calling for a more balanced approach. Click here to learn more about where we stand and what we’d like to see from the supercommittee.
It’s baaack! The return of the Social Security COLA
The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities reports on the return of the Social Security cost-of-living allowance in its Off the Charts blog. Recipients of Social Security (as well as Supplemental Security Income and certain other programs) will get a 3.6 percent COLA in January 2012.
You can take action to protect Social Security by signing a petition from the coalition Strengthen Social Security telling the congressional supercommitee not to touch Social Security.
Retirees rush in to help flood victims
After hearing about the devastating floods in many upstate New York communities caused by Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee, retiree Carol Kurto had one thought: How can I help? Kurto was one of many New York State United Teachers retiree members who came to the aid of people in the ravaged areas.
Get the full story from New York Teacher
AFT Voices
Do you know an AFT member who has made a lasting difference in his or her workplace? Someone who has had a profound and positive impact on the community? Someone whose extraordinary contribution in his or her field of work, or to the lives of others, has been heroic? 
Ohio voters reject effort to take away workers' rights
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