diff --git a/schema_salad/makedoc.py b/schema_salad/makedoc.py
index a9ae01160..c0e7c8a56 100644
--- a/schema_salad/makedoc.py
+++ b/schema_salad/makedoc.py
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@
 _logger = logging.getLogger("salad")
 
 
-def has_types(items):  # type: (Any) -> List[basestring]
+def has_types(items):  # type: (Any) -> List[Text]
     r = []  # type: List
     if isinstance(items, dict):
         if items["type"] == "https://w3id.org/cwl/salad#record":
diff --git a/schema_salad/tests/test_errors.py b/schema_salad/tests/test_errors.py
index 2943681e5..590984aa0 100644
--- a/schema_salad/tests/test_errors.py
+++ b/schema_salad/tests/test_errors.py
@@ -2,7 +2,6 @@
 from __future__ import print_function
 from .util import get_data
 import unittest
-from typing import cast
 from schema_salad.schema import load_schema, load_and_validate
 from schema_salad.validate import ValidationException
 from avro.schema import Names
@@ -12,7 +11,6 @@ class TestErrors(unittest.TestCase):
     def test_errors(self):
         document_loader, avsc_names, schema_metadata, metaschema_loader = load_schema(
             get_data(u"tests/test_schema/CommonWorkflowLanguage.yml"))
-        avsc_names = cast(Names, avsc_names)
 
         for t in ("test_schema/test1.cwl",
                   "test_schema/test2.cwl",
diff --git a/schema_salad/tests/test_fetch.py b/schema_salad/tests/test_fetch.py
index 09cb385da..6f36951a0 100644
--- a/schema_salad/tests/test_fetch.py
+++ b/schema_salad/tests/test_fetch.py
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@
 import ruamel.yaml as yaml
 import json
 import os
-
+from typing import Text
 from six.moves import urllib
 
 class TestFetcher(unittest.TestCase):
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ class TestFetcher(schema_salad.ref_resolver.Fetcher):
             def __init__(self, a, b):
                 pass
 
-            def fetch_text(self, url):    # type: (unicode) -> unicode
+            def fetch_text(self, url):    # type: (Text) -> Text
                 if url == "keep:abc+123/foo.txt":
                     return "hello: keepfoo"
                 if url.endswith("foo.txt"):
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ def fetch_text(self, url):    # type: (unicode) -> unicode
                 else:
                     raise RuntimeError("Not foo.txt")
 
-            def check_exists(self, url):  # type: (unicode) -> bool
+            def check_exists(self, url):  # type: (Text) -> bool
                 if url.endswith("foo.txt"):
                     return True
                 else: