YorSchools Film Screening, with the National Education Union
‘When We Fight’
by Yael Bridge and Yoni Golijov (2022)
Tuesday 24th June.
Doors 18:30, Film Screening 19:00
Tickets are free but space is limited, please RSVP here to guarantee entry.

Doors 6.30pm; screening at 7pm sharp, followed by a Q&A with panellists and some short film clips for future planned screenings. Participants can make a cash or card donation on the door if they wish.

*This is a seated event with all seating unreserved*

The screening is in support of staff from All Saints and St George’s schools – Nicholas Postgate Catholic Academy Trust – who are fighting for the rights of their pupils, and for democracy in education

This film will inspire anyone interested in state education, unions or social justice

In the second largest school district in the United States, 98% of teachers voted to strike. When We Fight goes behind the picket lines, documenting how and why teachers strike and the transformative power of their strikes. The film shadows Los Angeles educators as they campaign and organise, providing a unique first-hand account of collective democracy and labour action, and shedding light on a nationwide teacher strike upswell. The film highlights the stories and leadership of the women at the forefront of those strikes.

Despite the great geographical and political distance, the struggle portrayed in When We Fight greatly resonates with our stories in York. There are remarkable parallels in the loss of accountability and democracy in state school management: Multi Academy Trusts in England being modelled on ‘Charter Schools’ in the US. Privatised management of schools in both countries has resulted in spiralling of central services spending and executive salaries alongside erosion of classroom funding and loss of accountability, transparency and democracy.