Dr. Jesse Chanin describes how the United Teachers of New Orleans (UTNO) gained power and influence in a region hostile to unions from the mid-1960s to the mid-2000s by building trust in the community with transparent and democratic decision-making and a focus on racial and economic justice to improve the lives of the New Orleans community. In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, however, politicians and charter school advocates fired 7,500 educators in New Orleans, dismantling the city’s public education system and decimating the union.

Dr. Chanin is a postdoctoral researcher at the Coalition for Compassionate Schools and the author of Building Power, Breaking Power: The United Teachers of New Orleans, 1965-2008.

Related Resources:

Building Power, Breaking Power: The United Teachers of New Orleans, 1965-2008

Related Collections:

AFT Inventory Part II Records

AFT Organizing Department Records

AFT Office of the President Records

AFT President’s Office: Albert Shanker Records

AFT Secretary-Treasurer’s Office Records

AFT Southern Regional Office Records

Episode Credits

Interviewee: Jesse Chanin

Producers: Dan Golodner and Troy Eller English

Music: Bart Bealmear