Meanwhile, in Chicago

Our leadership has had a lot of exciting adventures lately. There was the election, of course. When someone finally reached out to me to explain they were making calls to keep the Senate under Democratic control I contributed some time. I was not moved by their first organizing effort, the notice as to which days there was Chinese food and which there was deli.

I alluded the other day to NYSUT's rationale for the bath we took. According to Randi Weingarten's hand-picked leaders it's the fault of the members who didn't vote, and local presidents who didn't push them to vote. On the other hand, a lot of us loved brilliant Zephyr Teachout, and our leadership made sure she didn't carry the Working Families Party nomination, thus depriving us of someone who could've really brought out the vote. Also, when WFP supported Cuomo, it rendered them farcical. Who actually believes Cuomo supports working families?

Revive NYSUT ran on a platform saying they equated Cuomo with Scott Walker, and opposed him. But they couldn't manage to support Teachout's bid for the Democratic nomination, and they sat on their hands in the general. Perish forbid they should support Howie Hawkins, the only non-millionaire in the race. I voted, but I certainly understand the disgust of my brother and sister union members.

While we get Happy Thanksgiving messages from UFT, NYC just found 2.6 billion dollars under the sofa cushions. Maybe we shouldn't have taken the city's word (or Mulgrew's) that the "cupboard was bare." Maybe we shouldn't have told members if you don't take this piece of crap contract you get behind 151 other unions and may get nothing. Maybe we shouldn't actually indulge in appeals to fear, because maybe it encourages members to be fearful. UFT leadership repeatedly uses arguments that ought to come from management.

Today in Chicago, their leadership is urging members to stand up to corporate rule. They're protesting at a Walmart grocery store, demanding that working people be paid a fairer wage. While we were tacitly supporting Andrew Cuomo, their leader was running for mayor until health issues stopped her. I went to Chicago with members of the activist PJSTA and met her.  The room was electric with inspiration the likes of which I hadn't seen in a long time. And unlike the monthly get-togethers at 52 Broadway, none of us were patronage recipients.

By making sure there was no viable opposition for Andrew Cuomo, we supported everything Walmart stands for. To thank us, he stood up in front of God and everybody and swore to break the "public school monopoly." What does UFT fight for? Two-tier due process and pay raises a decade after everyone gets them. One party rule in which teacher interests are blatantly ignored. Charter schools, mayoral control, junk science ratings, and depriving members who resigned or advanced of money they earned.

When we stand up to their nonsense, they spout nonsense like we oppose teacher empowerment, and actively frighten members to cow them into compliance. They criticize the statewide vote but fail to note that the UFT, the largest local in the United States, can't even must 20% of working members to vote for union leadership. Although I vote every chance I get, that's even more understandable. More than half of UFT votes came from retirees who have absolutely no skin in the game when it comes to contract negotiations.

Our Chicago brothers and sisters have chosen another path. Things had to get worse in Chicago than they are here before they rose up. Of course, in Chicago, only working members vote for leadership. In NYC the deck is stacked against democracy in multiple ways.

We simply cannot afford to lie down and allow our leadership to continue collaborating with our reformy enemies. It has gotten us nowhere. I'm thankful for our brothers and sisters in Chicago, and hopeful that we will wake up and follow their example.

Now seems like a good time. Unless you think we should wait until our leadership sends us memos why it's a good idea to break the "public school monopoly."

There's absolutely no reason to assume that's not what comes next.

Thanks to Mike Schirtzer

TFA Becomes Scab for America

I've read a lot of criticism of Teach for America over the last few years. For one thing, they provide a scant five weeks of training, and that's clearly insufficient preparation to teach in urban schools. This is particularly true when you compare it to student teaching, which is basically a full year shadowing and experienced teacher.

But when there are teacher shortages, TFA is the tip of the iceberg. I myself was recruited via a subway ad, with no experience at all. And I watched for years as the DOE conducted intergalactic searches, taking anyone in the universe who could occupy a wooden chair in front of kids.

I don't fault non-career teachers who wish to give back to the community, or even pad their resumes en route to doing something else. If there is a need, and they are filling it, they are helping, even if they have to learn on the job.

But when faux Democrat/ Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel fires thousands of teachers and hires TFA grads to teach kids, that's something else altogether. In fact, TFA is now enabling the unemployment of working people. They are making their likely idealistic young college grads into scab labor. Their insane defense, that the jobs were eliminated and they are taking newly created jobs, is nothing more than a semantic game, unworthy of anyone capable of serious discourse.

The more nonsense I read from reformy types like those who have the audacity to muster such an argument, the more I think that objectivity is overrated. In fact, it's reasonable to present both sides of an argument. But like many other things reformy, this is indefensible. The argument is so weak it's ridiculous, and does not merit consideration.

If we're really going to help our kids, we have to raise them to differentiate not only between, say, fiction and non-fiction, but also between logic and BS. Because they're going to need that skill more than ever in the brave new world where people can scab and claim it's "for America."

Chicago--Now With 4% Fewer Teachers!

Reformy Rahm Emanuel has made education a priority in Chicago. That's a pretty good idea, since Arne Duncan's Renaissance 2010 has proven an abject failure. Now, were I mayor of Chicago, looking at all the reformy things that didn't work for Arne, I'd take a different approach. Regrettably, Rahm has decided to double up on reforminess.

To that end, he's fired another 2000 school employees, 1000 of them teachers. This, of course, follows his vitally important program to extend the school day, which was followed by firing another few thousand school employees. So, the secret sauce, according to Rahm, is more time with less help. After all, once kids reach the ages of 5 or 6, it's time they fended for themselves a little more.

And there's another good reason Rahm can do this--his kids don't actually attend public schools, so why the hell should he care what goes on in them? After all, he's already moved to close dozens of them, and so what if the kids are in huge classes in overcrowded schools? Who cares if schools, the hearts of communities, are closed? Rahm doesn't actually live in those communities anyway.

Because Rahm is such a classy guy, he's distributed a script for principals to read when they fire teachers. When Xian Barrett (who I met in DC last year) got fired, his principal called his mom. After all, when you're in a hurry to fire people, who has time to waste looking up their phone numbers? And since you're reading some script rather than actually giving a sincere message, what's the dif anyway?

But Rahm doesn't simply fire teachers. Instead, he's concurrently hiring a bunch of new, shiny TFA folks. After all, when you're as reformy as Rahm, five weeks of training is certainly better than decades of experience. Best of all, the TFA folks get a beginner's salary, and will likely not hang around long enough to get pensions. So what if they have no experience dealing with urban youth and are just passing through? So what if they're essentially scabs taking the food from the mouths of people who've dedicated their lives to Chicago's children?

Bottom line for Reformy Rahm is money. And when it comes time to cutting funds, you'd better believe it's Children First, Always.

Because that's the reformy way. And that's the Chicago way.

People Forget

It's easy to condemn the Chicago teachers for walking out. All the papers are doing it. If they cared about the kids, they'd go to work. They'd settle. They'd be happy they had jobs. It's certainly true that plenty of people do not.

Not only that, but teachers are role models. What sort of example do they set when they don't go to work?

But no one seems to ask--why did Rahm Emanuel unilaterally renege on a collectively bargained 4% pay increase? Does anyone think there would be a strike if he hadn't done that?

And why did Mayor Emanuel think the teachers would agree to a 20% longer day for a 2% increase? Did he think teachers would agree to unspecified raises for the three following years for only those he deemed worthy? Should they have trusted in his good intentions after he broke an agreement they bargained in good faith?

Does he think teachers are stupid enough to fall for that?

Chicago teachers are facing day 5 on the picket line. They deserve our full support. Please contribute to their solidarity fund. I have, and if they're still out next week, I'll do so again.