Stand with Hoosier Teachers

The following essay is a call to action by Hoosier educator Jeremiah Cook:

My name is Jeremiah Cook, and I am a proud member of the Pike Classroom Teachers Association, an affiliate of the Indiana State Teachers Association, and, by extension, the National Education Association. I am writing to you today to ask for your organization’s support to stand with the Indiana State Teachers Association and the National Education Association on the most recent assault on organized labor in our country.

Legislation in the United States House of Representatives has been filed to revoke NEA’s national charter. While this may seem a small, insignificant detail, conservative efforts by way of the Freedom Foundation call for nothing short of union busting on behalf of the federal government. Hoosiers have seen the depths of the current state administration’s implementation of Project 2025. Municipal budgets are being slashed, federal dollars of support are being withheld, and the state and federal administrations seem hell-bent on cutting spending for almost every program and level of government in the state and beyond.

There are seventeen different items that the Freedom Foundation identifies as action items to dismantle the NEA and strip us of our political power. The first is the most profound, in that they wish to remove our ability to engage in electoral politics and lobbying. The action items also include things like requiring our officers to be U.S. citizens, requiring our governance structure to be representative of our membership, forcing a national prohibition on dues check-off for our members, and limiting our ability to strike.

NEA educators are being painted as extremist, left-wing zealots, indoctrinating our students, and causing the threads of American democracy to be slashed at their core. In all actuality, we care about social justice, democracy, and patriotism. We care about the diversity, equity, and inclusion of all. Our Representative Assembly is the country’s largest democratically elected parliamentary body of over 5,000 delegates and comprises people of all races, creeds, sexual orientations, gender identity, and national origin. It is hard to paint the NEA as an anti-democratic organization. I have been on the floor of the Republican state convention before, and it does not even compare to the democracy seen on the floor of the Representative Assembly.

While this is not an official NEA or ISTA position, this is a continuing coordinated attack on organized labor in this country, and if our esteemed legislators are able to make this happen, it would have chilling effects for our colleagues in the trades. That is why I am asking for your help in resisting this move, and for you to stand with us, unionized Hoosier educators, in solidarity to protect union power and strength for generations to come.

My personal ask if you are a member of an organization is to sign on to this letter and stand with us to resist the latest attack on union power in Indiana and the United States.

Stronger together, and in solidarity,

-- Jeremiah Cook

Pike High School Association Representative

Pike Classroom Teachers Association Member-at-Large

Marion County Public Education Coalition

Indiana State Teachers Association Member

International Society of Fire Service Instructors