National Educators United is a grassroots group of educators and allied stakeholders organized to achieve its vision through a variety of actions.

We seek to:

Unite across states in unions, caucuses, and other grassroots networks as a collective group of educators to build a national movement

Build capacity for collective action in our different states and local contexts to meet our demands

Assist each other in learning how to more effectively organize

Push education to the forefront of the national conversation before and after the 2020 presidential election

Replace charter schools, education reform, standardized testing, scripted curriculum, and the corporatization of education with fully-funded, democratically operated neighborhood community schools with that center racial equity and social justice

Fight for the rights and respect of all education workers

Create a society that highly values the education and care of all children, including undocumented ones, for the future that we all want for our families and communities

National Educators United - Vision, Mission and Demands (Downloadable flyer)

National Educators United - Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) 

Who is NEU?

NEU was started by a group of educator leaders of statewide activist groups in AZ, CA, IN, KY, NJ, OK, OR, VA, WA, WV, and other states. After launching on December 14th, 2019, we now have thousands of members and our nationwide network is growing fast. 

Why do we need NEU when there are national educator unions, AFT and NEA?

NEU is pro-union and we ultimately want to strengthen our unions through further democratizing them from both the inside and the outside, including parents, communities, and millions of non-union educators. AFT and NEA are top-down, “business unions,” historically in partnership with corporate political parties, while NEU envisions reforming our unions to be bottom-up, “class struggle” organizations. More than just having high membership numbers, we need democratic, fighting unions to win our vision of public schools.

How does NEU differ from BATs, UCORE, NPE, and other education activist groups?

NEU stands in solidarity with caucuses and other education grassroots groups and we have a strategy of building toward mass mobilizations using an open organizational approach. NEU sets itself apart from other groups with our strategy of building toward mass mobilizations. We will bring attention to our three pillars of demands through coordinated nationwide actions.

How did NEU develop its demands?

During the formation of NEU, leaders from various Educators United and other education activists and community groups gave their input as representatives of their organizations. The demands encompass the various local struggles and were combined into a national set of demands. 

How will NEU achieve its demands?

NEU will ultimately need to build a strong, bottom-up, nationwide movement to meet these demands. This will require a mixture of old and new methods: deep organizing at school sites and other workplaces, in unions and community organizations, across multiple and diverse sectors, in coalition to take unified collective action of increasing size and intensity, combined with the rapid spreading of information through online means. 

What is NEU’s leadership structure?

NEU was founded by a small group of teacher union activists throughout the country who connected through various channels and volunteered to start this project together. We make decisions mostly by consensus. As our membership grows in size, we will hold open meetings to discuss the direction and structure of NEU’s leadership.  

What does the heart-fist in the logo symbolize?

NEU believes that educators and schools are the heart of every community. As educators, we love our students, teaching and learning, and our profession as a whole. The fist represents that we must fight for public education because it is under attack from under-funding, privatization, and anti-union forces.