Teacher unions in Ontario and in Chicago are currently engaged in intense struggles to defend public education and labour rights in their jursidictions. One of the tactics they have adopted in school and on the picket lines is to wear red as a symbol of unity and resistance, using the hashtag “RedForEd”. The VSTA encourages teachers to wear red on Fridays to show our solidarity and remind people about our concerns about underfunding and low salaries. The employer was successful in an arbitration restricting teachers from wearing black armbands in a protest of the FSAx due to the fact a teacher had engaged a student in discussions on the issue. As a result, please do not discuss why you are wearing red with your students. For those of you that engage in Social Media, you can use the hashtag #RedforBCEd. Please do not post photos of your students on Social Media.
