10,000 March during Historic Virginia Teachers’ Walkout

Virginia Teachers' marching on the Capitol in a historic day of action (Richmond Times-Dispatch)

Writing for Guardian, Payday Senior Labor Reporter Mike Elk filed a dispatch from Richmond on a historic day for educators in the Commonwealth State:

“I am ecstatic about today’s turnout especially because sometimes, we as teachers don’t always come out, we don’t always speak out, we don’t always let our voices be heard, so I am excited that we are out here today doing just that,” said Milondra Coleman, who teaches at John Marshall High in Richmond.

Although the walkout lasted for only one day and many school districts in Virginia did not participate, Coleman said that the action gave teachers a new sense of confidence and power.

“I think this will definitely take us to a different level,” said Coleman. “I think one of the things that teachers often fear is that there will be some type of repercussions for speaking out. So I think today shows that, you know what, we can do it and there aren’t going to be any repercussions, and instead there can be positive things that can happen for taking the time to speak out.”

Go to the Guardian to read the full the story.

About the Author

Mike Elk
Mike Elk is an Emmy-nominated labor reporter who covered everything from Lula & the Brazilian labor movement to major league baseball. He spent years covering union organizing in the South for The Guardian and was labeled by the New York Times as an "abrasive gadfly" for exposing within the labor movement. Raised in a UE union family in Pittsburgh, Elk was illegally for union organizing at Politico in 2015 and used his NLRB settlement to start the crowd-funded Payday Report. He lives in his hometown of Pittsburgh and is fluent in both Pittsburghese and Portuguese, which he learned when attending journalism school at PUC-Rio de Janerio. Email: [email protected]

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