LATEST NEWS

Local 943 President Elaine Bernal, along with the Local's Vice President of PAC, Yazen Affaneh and Secretary, Catrina Niven attended the Labor Education Center's annual Strength in Solidarity fundraiser in Chicago on June 7, 2026. The event brought together union leaders, labor activists, and community partners to celebrate worker advocacy, leadership development, and collective action. Local 943 was proud to support an event dedicated to strengthening the labor movement an

Springfield, IL – HB 4416 , the Unemployment Equity Act sponsored by Assistant Majority Leader Marcus C. Evans Jr. (D-33), passed the House Labor Committee. This is a critical step forward in ensuring frontline, public education workers are eligible to receive unemployment when school is not in session. Read entire article HERE .

SPRINGFIELD, IL - Educators and state workers from the 105,000-member Illinois Federation of Teachers (IFT) rallied and lobbied at the Capitol on Tuesday to demand Gov. JB Pritzker and the Illinois General Assembly prioritize delivering funds that have been promised but not provided to Illinois’ students and to counter devastating Trump administration cuts by finally fixing Illinois’ upside tax code and making the ultra-rich pay their fair share. Read full story HERE

In late January, I had the privilege of co-presenting at two different events. The first was a session on Using AI tools to Support Special Needs Education at NYC's CSI Leadership Institute 2026: Harnessing AI to Empower Educators and Enrich Learning. I co-presented with Lia, a sped teacher from Yonders, NY, Thomas Miller, staff developer from the Nation Academy for AI Instruction and Seth and Erica from Microsoft. Our session was on using AI for lesson planning, instruction