“I am striking because all workers have the right to have a dignified voice in decisions that impact their ability to work to their fullest potential. I am striking so that I and my co-workers, and my students and their families, do not feel fear when immersed in the life of our school. I am striking because BFS deserves that we practice what we preach.” —Fadwa Ali Abbas

“I am going on strike because for too long we have lost too many amazing colleagues—disproportionately women of color—without accountability or transparency. Seeing how the School approached layoff negotiations shows me what little would be offered to those affected without a union. Seeing how administration has ignored myriad health and safety concerns shows me how dangerous our environment for workers and children would be without a union.” —Matt Presto

“I am striking because hard-working and respected professionals should not have to be in a work environment where they walk in fear of losing their job without some form of job protection and representation.” —Oluyai Haynes

“I am striking because I want to talk the talk and walk the walk for equity and justice. I want to stand with my colleagues and students and school for today and for future teachers and students.” —Sarah Adelman

“I am striking because I want to protect our school's long legacy of fairness, compassion, equity, and honesty.” —Mark Buenzle

"I am striking because we cannot best care for or educate young people without respecting the rights of the workers who clean their school, feed, teach and support them. Attempting to dismantle our union by petitioning to the anti-worker appointees of racist, sexist, and fascist president, and furthermore to seek a religious exemption—an exemption broadly used to discriminate against LGBTQ people and women—is a shocking hypocrisy that undermines all we try to teach children about justice, truth, and love." —Jesse Philips-Fein

“I strike because I believe in the values I teach and I believe in the values my children learned from my colleagues. I cannot stand by and watch the powerful principles of love, respect and solidarity that have defined Brooklyn Friends be undermined.” —Zoe Goldberg-Stewart

“I am striking because I believe workers should be treated with dignity and respect. We should be paid fairly, have job security and our health and safety not be put at risk. Without a union, there will be no one to hold them accountable. A union is the only way our collective voices will be heard.” —Tanya Pinto

“I am striking because I believe in justice, fairness, and equality. I believe we should be good role models for our students, and stand up for our rights. A strong union ensures honest and fair working conditions, which accrues to the benefit of all of BFS, from the colleagues and staff to the students and families.” —anonymous

“Being a teacher is my vocation; there are few things I love more than watching a child light up as they learn something new. Being a teacher is also my job. My colleagues and I deserve to feel protected and respected at our workplace. That is why I am striking.” —Kate Minear

“I support the BFS workers’ strike on Monday because it is time for us to be treated with respect and dignity. We deserve to have our voices count, especially when it affects the children we so much care about, and the profession that we love.” —anonymous

“I am striking because I believe in the universal right of workers to organize. We want the union, and we voted for it. My school preaches social justice but chose to move to disband the union. What better form of social justice than a workers’ union?” —Laura Murtula Montanya

“I strike because my students look up to me as a role model. If I don’t show them how I stand up when I feel unheard, how will I show them their own strength?” —Eliza van Rootselaar

“I am striking to be heard and because I believe in justice and having a voice at the negotiating table. I believe in modeling behavior for my students in a way that depicts solidarity and strength in the face of bias and a lack of equity. I believe every worker should have the right to unionize.” —anonymous

“I am going on strike because I want to practice what I teach! I believe that workers have the right to organize and negotiate collectively, and I believe Brooklyn Friends School should stand for the rights of workers. We teach social justice to our students, so we should not deny justice to our workers.” —Rachel Mazor

“I am going on strike because I cannot continue to pretend that everything is fine while our rights as workers are dismantled and our collective voice is silenced. I am going on strike because this is what we teach our students every day: to stand up for one another, to speak truth to power, to believe that injustices and inequalities can be righted.” —Sarah Gordon

“I am striking because I believe process and protocol should not depend on administrators’ personalities, but should be established, objective, published, and contracted, so that all employees can trust that they will be treated equitably.” —Sue Aaronson

“I am striking because a special loved one once said… it is easy to walk away from things that become hard, but you must stay and fight for things you love—fight to move it towards becoming a better version of itself; he said, ... you may not reap the benefits or sweet rewards of your toil, because your victories are not for you, rather for those who follow you; he then ended with, ... recognize your purpose in life—purpose crosses disciplines and is an essential element of you. It is the reason you are here at this moment in time. These words have become my compass in life. #CBoseman” —Denise Parks

“I am striking because I believe in the rights of our BFS colleagues as well as the importance of our voices to be heard, particularly when risking ourselves and our families while working through a global pandemic.” —anonymous

“I am striking because when I hear students talk about their support for the teachers and the union, I know my students might be deeply troubled, and possibly feel betrayed if I crossed the picket line. What better way is there to teach them about fighting for social justice and for standing up for workers' rights than to strike with our own union? I want to model being brave for my students, and this is much more of a lesson in walking the walk than anything I can say in class.” —Gili Warsett

“I am striking because in my time here I have seen the administration ride on the school’s stated mission and reputation for equity and social justice all the while eroding, dismissing, and preventing the mechanisms and action for justice within the school’s walls. I am striking because I believe in workers’ rights and ethical leadership. I’m striking because I don’t believe any institution should be able to deny workers their right to collectively bargain in the name of religion.” —Jules Skloot

“I am striking to remind our administration that it is possible to be better. It is possible to choose humanity in the workplace and extend fair and safe labor practices to the very people who make our school special. We let our life speak; now it's your turn!” —Vanessa Ehler

“I am striking because being unionized is nothing to be ashamed of! Our Union of wall-to-wall school employees helps the administration and Board recognize and rectify their blind spots on working conditions, job security, wage equity, and adequate benefits. Our Union makes us a stronger, more sustainable school that practices what we teach—that everyone holds talents and gifts to share and everyone deserves dignity and a voice at the table.” —Jonathan Edmonds

“I am striking because I want to model for our students what we are so proud to teach them—to fight for justice in our world, on every level, including in our own community.” —Liz Heck

“I am striking because collective bargaining is the best way to fix systemic issues that are present in our school. For example, we emphasize the Quaker value of equality, but we have very clear wage gaps. Men make more money than women. People who teach older students make more money than people who teach younger students. We cannot live up to our Quaker principles without the transparency that collective bargaining will bring.” —Beth Duffy

“I am striking because all workers at Brooklyn Friends need a union to protect each of us against unfair and unequal treatment and to ensure that the learning environment we create is secure and nurturing for all workers.” —anonymous

“I am striking because the Board has lined up with Trump and his right-wing supporters to use a religious exemption to deny us our civil liberties, and if the Board succeeds in this maneuver it threatens workers at every religiously affiliated organization from schools and hospitals to nursing homes and shelters. This is not just about fighting for our right to bargain as a collective, it’s about fighting back against Trump and his allies efforts to undermine our democratic institutions.” —Kevin Cooney

“I am striking because of the inefficiency of our administration and its seeming lack of humanity. I have seen how due process has not been provided to some of our fellow workers and am disturbed by the use of fear tactics to ensure obedience.” —Vlad Malukoff

“I am striking because I believe in a clear and objective process and protocol. We should keep administration accountable for their actions. Everybody in our school should be treated with respect and dignity.” —anonymous

“I am striking because I believe that all of us—maintenance and cafeteria staff, office workers, teachers—deserve to be treated with dignity and respect as human beings. This means having the right to bargain for fair and transparent working conditions.” —Brandon Roth

“I am striking for the voiceless, for those who cry at work, for my colleagues who’ve had the worst working year ever, for those who live in constant fear of verbal abuse and retaliation. Treating your workers this way or looking the other way, when you know this is happening, is the most anti-Quaker thing to do.” —Myriam Juarbe

“I am striking because I believe in every worker’s universal human right to unionize. I am also striking because I do not believe in any institution that uses religion to destroy their employees’ rights.” —Gorka Hernandez-Ortiz

“I am striking because I have always been proud of the Brooklyn Friends School community where students are taught about change-makers and standing up for what is right. How can we teach about change-makers with conviction if we don't stand up for our own rights?” —Susan Greenstein

“I am striking to honor my parents, who were life-long union members. They taught me that respect and decency for my fellow sister and brother professional teachers, as well as my students, was worth fighting for. I am striking because we matter too! I am striking because the union defended me and will fight for each of us. We stand ‘Union Proud.’” —Dan Ajerman

“I am striking for the simple right to have a voice in determining the quality of our work environment. It’s all about equity.” —anonymous

“I am striking because I support my fellow colleagues’ rights to join together, speak up, and act in unity. I am striking because I believe that the right to fair labor practices isn’t just for some workplaces, it is for all workplaces. I am striking because, in order to provide the best education for our children, school workers’ rights need to be protected, not contested.” —Eric Fingerman

“I am striking because I am honoring the rights our ancestors achieved after years of social and labor struggles. I refuse to allow those rights to be lost without opposition.” —Teresa Cano

“I am striking because I have witnessed colleagues lose their jobs without due process, the lack of transparency, and the arbitrary way contracts are awarded. Above all, I am striking because of the absence of equity, equality, and integrity which are the pedestal of Quaker values.” —anonymous