Hundreds of protesters lined the sidewalk in front of Colorado Springs City Hall this Labor Day as part of the Workers over Billionaires rally organized by 50501 Colorado Springs, Indivisible Colorado Springs, and El Paso County Progressive Vets. Among the speakers were local members of labor unions, including teachers who referenced an upcoming strike in Colorado Springs School District 11.
“D11 teachers are going on strike this fall because our Board of Education is full of anti-union, anti-teacher and anti-student members,” said educator and Colorado Springs Education Association (CSEA) member Sam Farnham. “They ended the contract with our union and we need your support to flip the board this election season.”
Last year, D11’s board voted 6-1 to end the only master agreement with a teachers union in El Paso County, which had been in place for over 50 years. In recent years the D11 board has been dominated by a conservative majority. Following the 2023 election, five of the six sitting board members are part of a conservative slate that has been supported by prominent Colorado Republicans, activists, and consultants who consider teachers unions their opposition…