Episode 27:Union Busting: A Conversation About What’s Happening at Brooklyn Friends School

On today's episode I speak to Margaret Trissel, Fadwa Abbas, and  Eliza van Rootselaar all teachers from Brooklyn Friends School,  a private Quaker school in Brooklyn New York.The colleagues of Brooklyn Friends School moved to unionize last year with an overwhelming majority of employees (faculty and staff together) voting in favor of unionization. The  new head of school did not want to work in a unionized school. After significant layoffs and role reductions that had been negotiated with the union, the head of school and the board announced that they are taking advantage of new Trump administration NLRB policies that allow religious institutions to decertify unions. "Why is it the workers of Brooklyn Friends are being asked to give up the chance to organize and collectively bargain while taking tremendous risks to self care for ourselves and our students?"

Fadwa Abbas is an English teacher in the upper school at Brooklyn Friends School. She teaches adults as weak and has taught in both public and private schools in NYC

Eliza van Rotselaar is a 2nd grade teacher at Brooklyn Friends School. This will be her 7th year teaching as well as being an alum of BFS.

Margaret Trissel is a 5th grade Humanities teacher at BFS. She is a former faculty trustee.