Kevin Prosen from MORE sent tbis out.
Teachers in Kentucky shut down school districts Friday with a sickout:
Teachers in Oklahoma are going on strike despite getting a 16,000 dollar raise, because the state is still not meeting their demands on school funding:
http://time.com/5220561/oklahoma-teacher-strike-pay-raise-bill/
Teachers in Arizona are prepared to strike:
What will it take for teacher militancy to spread to NYC?
I can tell you one thing: it will need to come from the teachers. Don't expect UFT leadership to lead a militant labor fight.
15 comments:
I’m not sure New Yorker’s have it in them. With few exceptions, NY is a fend for yourself kind of place. The states in which the strikes occurred have cultures in which there is a heathy respect for the common person. Bloody battles were faught in WV for working people during the Mine Wars. Stories of these battles were passed down to the current residents.
When your great-grandfather tells you (as mine did) what it was like to go to work in a coal mine as a fourth grader, chest deep in water, well, no amount of horseshit media will ever convince you that capitaism has anything better in mind for you than constant exploitation at the bottom of a pit. My great grandfather saved me from that fate by fighting with the union.
New York does *not* have that sense of history. The New Yorkers who faught bravely for workers have long since been replaced by newcomers who are absolutely convinced they can go it alone. If these new New Yorkers ever get the sense that something is holding them back, to them it is only some kind of racism or -phobia. They never entertain the notion that they live under the boot of powerful economic forces. 1+1 does not equal 2 for these folks. Unfathomable student loans mean nothing to them because they have read “the Secret” and believe that “mindfulness” and yoga will attract wealth. Excessive rent in deregulated apartments is okay because, um, “intersectionality,” and, oh yeah, “the Secret”
If these folks ever fight collectively, it is only to fight injustices to a racial or gender identity. That type of “resistance” is approved by those that sanction their boogie aspirations. Their heads are filled with hashtags and buzzwords. Yes, they have college degrees. But, as Margaret Haley once said, “they must have gotten sheep’s brains with those sheepskins” (go ahead and look up Margaret Haley if you want a real feminist hero. She’d have blown a real raspberry at the boogie lean-in, Hillary Clinton and Sheryl Sandburg type feminists).
I’m a little sour on my colleague’s ability to wage the kind of battle we need to fight. The last time I saw any hope was during Occupy Wall Street. But, even that was started by the Ad Busters editor on Canada. Some more of that is what is required. But, Obama squashed that movement like a bug. Now, it’s pretty much hashtags and pink hats, which will never bother the powers that be. Hell, they’ll pay for your protest permit and even give you the bongos and kazoos.
*bougie. Sorry. Autocorrect.
What are the issues in NYC that would spark the kind of militancy going on in the red states? Yes people hate the eval system. But strike over it? Abusive principals? Those in these school try to get out and if they can't they are too scared to do something.
So many untenured. Not them.
Old timers are pissed but they are making too much money.
What will it take? It will take honest leadership, not the corrupt fatcats that are running the UFT.
Teachers I talk to are angrier over the UFT not standing up for their concerns than they are with their overall concerns. If other non-Unity members want to make a real difference then it has to be with a separate high school union. I won't be paying dues to the UFT, but would to a separate high school Union. I don't know if that's possible based on the low numbers that have signed the petition. There no way NYC teachers will ever strike - massive strokes are much more likely - the Danielson Syndrome and ATR angioplasty.
Old timer who is pissed off here. I am not angry at my salary, my pension, or my medical benefits. However, I AM ANGRY at my own union for selling me out on on my evaluation system. I would strike over it in a minute but that is not necessary. Pretty much every other school district in NYS has a sane evaluation system with 2 observations and no Danieelson bullshit. My beef is with the UFT, not the DOE. Instead of striking, I will simply stop paying dues until we get a decent evaluation system. You hear me UFT? Good, real good. -Old Timer
Our eyes are opened by the strikes. When NYers realize that they are worthy of respect, then they will strike. Don't forget, at least in WV and OK the community is supporting the teachers. Anon 6:41, racial and gender inequality may not fire you up to stick up for yourself, but those issues are important in our communities. We need a big tent to include all who want a government that is responsive to people.
All these issues are caused due to socio-economic issues that exist and let's face it, students do NOT study at HOME.
Anon 6:41 here. Your passive-aggresive post makes me doubt the NY teachers will ever succeed and fight the way WV teachers do. But, despite your best efforts, I am not giving up hope.
Do you think the West Virginia teachers woke up one day after a heathy dose of identity politics and decided to fight?! Please. Those ladies breathe fire because they are working class and they aren’t the least bit ashamed of it.
The UFT has turned their back on experienced teachers by tolerating age discrimination, and harassment by administrators.
Our Union by not negotiating in good faith has impacted that a group of teachers called ATRs are treated in a different way under rules that were not voted, and are denied a fair chance to find permanent jobs because they are in disvantage with respect to new teachers. The ATR pool was never created to be a dumping ground for the most experienced teachers. Therefore we require a new agreement with the input, and vote of ATRs in compliance with the Roberts Laws. We also require a new agreement that prevents any targeting, harassment, or abuse from any type of supervisor with the sole purpose of terminating ATRs. Observations should not be used in a arbitrary, and capricious way to penalize or to terminate an ATR.
Reading some of the comments on this piece as well as seeing the state government's preemptive shot against Janus makes me just a little more pessimistic about labor militancy coming to NY.
On the other hand, militancy does not have to be exclusively about pay. Chicago teachers are not low paid and they went on strike in 2012. LA teachers are engaged in militancy today yet they are not in poverty.
Getting our professional self respect back is not going to be easy. We need everyone involved.
Is NYC the last place that will catch the militant fever? I hope some of the comments here are wrong.
Militancy will come back. But, it won’t be led by MORE and it’s zany brand of identity politics. That is a dead end. What is needed is a diverse group of people committed to a full-throated demand for respect.
Also, I agree with you about Chicago. That rebellion is led by, *gasp*, a black woman! It’s as if appealing to members on bread-and-butter was actually *more* effective at empowering people of color than entreaties based on pie in the sky promises by a group of white Liberal Arts grads to end mocroagressions and police shootings.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-04-02/teacher-strikes-are-spreading-across-america?utm_campaign=socialflow-organic&utm_content=politics&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&cmpid%3D=socialflow-twitter-politics
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