Rally for Wisconsin Today at Union Square and Questions About Role (or lack of) UFT/AFT is Playing

President Mulgrew: 

I was very happy to see that the union is moving forward with a city-wide day of action in solidarity with Wisconsin on the 22nd, and I understand that we need a long term strategy for effective solidarity in defense of the attacks on collective bargaining across the Midwest.  However, given the events of the last 48 hours, it seems there is an urgency for an immediate and vigorous response to the latest actions of the Republicans in Madison.   

A mention of action tomorrow (details below) in Union Square on the UFT website and in the Chapter Leader's Update tonight would help to build the momentum for the long term struggle. 

Please consider taking these steps, and I look forward to working with you on future solidarity actions.

In Solidarity- Peter Lamphere

Come out today for a mobilization in solidarity with workers standing up against the latest attack in Wisconsin. We need immediate and national mobilization to avoid a repeat of PATCO for our generation - today is a first step. - Peter

***Please Forward Widely***

WEAR RED! and spread the word..........

Rally Saturday to Stand with Wisconsin!!!

                                by New York Collective of Radical Educators (NYCoRE) 

Saturday 1 PM      Union Square

Stand in solidarity with hundreds of thousands protesting in Madison, WI!

Wisconsin Republicans have rammed through the elimination of collective bargaining rights for Wisconsin's public sector workers through slick, undemocratic legislative maneuvering.  They lacked the required quorum to pass the entire so-called "budget repair bill" so they split off the parts dealing with collective bargaining rights and illegally passed the bill through committee with almost no public notice.

 

But the fight in Wisconsin is FAR FROM OVER!!  As soon as word of the Republicans maneuver leaked, Wisconsin's state capitol was besieged with protesters--with thousands forcing their way through windows and past police into the capitol building.  The bill only passed when police forcibly and illegally dragged protesters out of the Assembly hearing room.  Wisconsinites predict the biggest rally yet this Saturday and the bill itself sits on shaky legal ground and faces a likely challenge.  Many rank-and-file unionists clamor for a general strikeand some union leaders, including Joe Conway, president of Madison Fire Fighters Local 311.  The struggle in Wisconsin is ongoing and needs our support!

Meanwhile, budget cuts and anti-union legislation is spreading like a virus from Wisconsin to Michigan to Puerto Rico.  But our side is fighting back.  We in NYC have a duty to stand with the workers of Wisconsin and elsewhere as they continue their struggle

What:  Rally in support of Wisconsin workers

When:  Saturday, March 12 1 p.m

Who:  Workers, students, teachers, parents of New York

Where: South Side of Union Square

http://www.facebook.com/notes/new-york-collective-of-radical-educators-nycore/rally-saturday-to-stand-with-wisconsin/193318340709013

Comment from ICE/GEM's Lisa North on UFT/AFT action/inaction.

Interesting that a teacher in Kansas City is told to wait, it is not a good time by the AFT. In St. Louis, it was the Missouri National Teachers Assoc, which is the NEA, not the AFT local, that helped organize the rally (except the retired local of AFT). Here in NYC, the UFT (a local of the AFT) has NOT participated in any rallies so far. They have announced,buried in their weekly update to chapter leaders, a rally on March 15th at Union Square.

They have at least put the NYCORE rally for today and the March 15 Rally on their web site. Of course announcing rallies and ORGANIZING A BIG TURN out are TWO DIFFERENT things!. We are supposed to wear red on March 22 though!

The question is why has the UFT NOT organized to have a big turn-out in support of Wisconsin? For some reason they think teachers will only turn out in big numbers for ONE event per season. I guess they are thinking that we have to save up the "organizing " for a big rally against the lay-offs later in the spring. They are still in the "old" mind set of one big rally and lots of emails to legislators and then the UFT leadership can negotiate backroom deals to save a few teachers. The days of saving a "few" teachers or a few programs is OVER. The corporate interests are trying to go all the way...whether it is the privatization of the education system or doing away with union bargaining rights. The UFT's usually way of doing things will only get us a few crumbs left over. When will they be willing to fight for WHAT is NEEDED to educate our students instead of taking the least bad of the corporate agenda for education? When will they HELP organize here in NYC with ALL the unions to fight the corporate agenda against unions? NYC teachers ARE ready! 

From St. Louis

A crowd between 4-5000 people filled Kiener Plaza in downtown St.Louis this afternoon in solidarity with labor against the attacks in Wisconsin and the new attempts to impose the 'RIGHT TO WORK(for less)" law on Missouri. The group included not only the construction trades but Teamsters, SEIU, UAW and the Missouri National Teachers Association, retired members of AFT Local 420 , Laborers Locals as well as community groups such as MORE, JWJ, and Planned Parenthood.As was the case at the recent Move On rally in Jefferson City, many working class people from union families came even though they might not be in a union now. One women from Mount Olive , Illinois came in memory of her coal miner brothers who are buried in the cemetery there next to the grave and statue of Mother Jones. see attached KSDK TV video report link below.
http://www.ksdk.com/news/article/248938/3/Organized-labor-rally-at-Kiener-Plaza

From Kansas City:
Awesome! I am disgusted by the failure of the labor community in Kansas City to do anything. IBEW is having a picnic tomorrow at their union hall. A picnic! They need to be in the streets like they were in St Louis today.  I tried to organize a rally sponsored by AFT here. Believe it or not, I was told to wait, it wasn't a good time. I'm about to just go ahead and put a rally together without my union's help.

TODAY at 5PM in NYC - At Fox News - Rally for Wisconsin Unions

I know this is short notice. I was heading into the city to see the Jamaica HS student play about closing schools at 4PM and will head over to 6th Ave after the discussion. I will try to get some footage.

Dear MoveOn member,

Have you seen what's happening in Wisconsin? 

Teachers, nurses, students and firefighters have occupied the state capitol building for the past week. On Saturday, 70,000 Wisconsinites took to the streets of Madison to protest their tea party governor's radical attack on public workers.  

Wisconsin has become the national rallying point in the fight that will decide whether our economy works for all Americans, or just the super-rich. Republicans are using budget deficits as an excuse to attack workers, cut funding for crucial public services, and threaten successful programs like Social Security.

With the groundswell in Madison, we have our best opportunity yet to stand up to the radical Republicans who think we can cut our way to prosperity. Dozens of progressive organizations are organizing solidarity rallies this week in cities across the country, including one today in New York.

Can you come out today to make clear that we'll fight back as a national movement, not just state by state? The rally is at the Fox News Building, at 1211 6th Ave, in New York. It starts at 5:00 PM today.

Sign up to attend the rally

11 other states are considering similar bills. And in nearly every state, politicians are using budget shortfalls—caused by a Wall Street-driven recession—as a justification for cutting necessary public services.

So let's get out there today and show our solidarity. Can you join us at 5:00 PM in New York?

Thanks for all you do.

–Daniel, Tim, Joan, Eli, and the rest of the team

See Diane Ravitch today on:

17103

I Stand With the Teachers of Wisconsin

Dear Deborah,

As I write, thousands of teachers are staging a protest in the state capitol in Wisconsin. Others stand with them, including the Green Bay Packers, other public-sector workers, and even public-sector workers who are not affected by the proposed legislation, namely, firefighters and police. The teachers and other public-sector employees are speaking out against Gov. Scott Walker's effort to destroy their collective-bargaining rights. Gov. Walker demanded that the teachers pay more for their health benefits and their pension benefits, and they have agreed to do so. But that's not all he wants. He wants to destroy the union.

I wrote an article about this contretemps for CNN.com, not realizing that the teachers had already conceded the governor's demands on money issues. The confrontation now is solely about whether public employees have the right to bargain collectively and to have a collective voice. Monday's New York Times made clear, both in a column by Paul Krugman and in its news coverage, that the union is fighting for its survival, not benefits.

It's time to ask: Why should teachers have unions?

MORE: I Stand With the Teachers of Wisconsin

On Wisconsin, NY Testing Con - and Rochester Teachers: 94% No-Confidence in Kleinite Brizard

UPDATE: Forgot to clue you in to this story in Rochester where former NYC Kleinite and grad from Eli Broad Academy of Ed Deform Jean Claude-Brizard had a 94% no-confidence vote by the teachers:

http://failingschools.wordpress.com/2011/02/20/94-6-no-confidence-and-the-following-storm/

 

So much going on I am tied into knots just trying to figure out what to put up. I could do 10 posts a day but I'm wearing you out already, so I'll try to combine them.

I'll try to get to it later but make sure to read Jeff Kaufman's excellent take-down of E4E bullshit misleading manifesto at the ICEUFT Blog

“White Paper” on a Roll: How Ed Deformers Distort the Record on Seniority Layoffs

I'll try to do more in depth on Jeff's story - make sure to find his report on his attendance at an E4E meeting - Jeff's school is a hotbed of E4Eers.


On Wisconsin: There's no point in my adding to some of the superb posts out there by other bloggers and commentators. I loved the Ed Show Friday night live from Madison where he called out the right wingers - note how they exempted police and fire but they were turning out anyway to support the teachers. Loads of stuff out there:

Ravitch on Why America's teachers are enraged

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Diane Ravitch: Teachers are rallying against Wisconsin plan to cut their benefits, union rights
• She says teachers have been singled out for blame on America's education problems
• Ravitch: How can we improve schools while cutting funding and demoralizing teachers?

"Walker then used the deficit he'd created as the justification for assaulting his state's public employees." 12 Things You Need to Know About the Uprising in Wisconsin | AlterNet 

Paul Krugman has a great piece in the Times today: Wisconsin Power Play "
"What’s happening in Madison isn’t about the state budget"

RBE at Perdido St. School
Many Pro-Union Demonstrators Outnumber Anti-Union Demonstrators

The wingers brought in Joe the Plumber and Andrew Breitbart to rally the corporatist forces in favor of the Walker plan to bust the unions - but they were outnumbered four-to-one:


And NYC Educator: How Far Is Wisconsin? I left this comment:

In GEM's new film responding to Waiting for Superman a parent says, "First they came for the auto workers." Paul Krugman points out how they went after the private sector unions first.
We have to look at Wisconsin as part of "The Plan" to undermine and destroy teacher unions not only in this nation but around the world. Lois Weiner has been doing workshops on this issue for a long time and has a book out about it, all dovetailing with the work of Naomi Klein's Shock Doctrine. Teachers are the focus because when they are organized they theoretically have the ability to reach into the homes of every parent with children in this nation. As a political force the right wing considers teachers especially dangerous as a force to battle their ideology. Of course they don't take into account the Randi Weingartens of this world - you make an excellent point - the unions have already given in to so many of the demands the right smells blood. Negotiations start right there instead of from a point where we will compromise on how much to give. Any fiscal crisis can be manufactured for political and ideological reasons and I believe we have a similar situation here in NY. Note how Bloomberg is manufacturing the layoff crisis to end LIFO.
It will be interesting to see how the union reacts here when things get stickier - look for the same - "we give" on many issues other than the ones that might weaken their control over the members - as a yearly election or end to dues checkoff would do. I've heard some anti-Unity Caucus people say "good." Sure it might open up the union to other groups - but if they were to replace Unity there would not be much of a union left. How ironic would it be if it ever came to the Wisconsin law here - we would all be forced to stand with Unity to help keep them in power, well, forever.

NY Post on the NY Testing Con
From the NY Post, no less - but it places most blame on former State Ed comm Richard Mills - come on, Meryl Tisch and the other Regents are off the hook? There was some great commentary on the NYCEdNews listserve. I extracted some of it and posted on Norms Notes.

New York's school testing con: Commentary on Sue Adelman NY Post

Check out Norms Notes for a variety of articles of interest: http://normsnotes2.blogspot.com/. And make sure to check out the side panel on right for news bits.