ATR Report from the Front Lines of the Delegate Assembly

With momentum building and over 100 schools signing petitions supporting ATRs, Unity tried its usual tricks at Tuesday night's Exec Bd meeting by removing provisions from the ad hoc committee tying the ATR issue to class size and calling for a UFT rally at Tweed supporting ATRs.

The large number of ATRs that consisted of experienced teachers and first year Teaching Fellows had an impact. With the usual one hour plus Weingarten filibuster squeezing a massive agenda into a short period of time, the ATR debate finally came up around 6PM. HS VP Leo Casey started the ball rolling with one of the phoniest speeches in the history of the DA. Full of false emotion about how an injury to one was an injury to all. Tina Fey will be doing Casey pretty soon.

Then John Powers, Chapter Leader of Liberation HS who has burst upon the scene in the last year with his push to stop the GHI/HIP merger, made one of the great speeches I've heard at a DA. In amending the Unity motion he called for the provisions they took out the night before –the rally and the tie to class size reduction.

John knew how to throw some praise the union leadership's way to keep the Unity dogs from chewing at his leg as he spoke. John was so effective that just as he was cataloging the 2 previous motions on ATRs passed by Unity over the last year which have had no impact, Randi jumped in to interrupt him - her usual tactic designed to throw effective people off their game. (In fact she has no right to do that unless you are way over the time limit.) But John handled even this well and finished up his speech with a great summary. It was one of those times I wish I had a recording. (Maybe Elizabeth Green's supposed "spy" has a copy - see previous post.)

Randi then tried another maneuver. At first she ruled it was a friendly amendment that could be included with the Unity motion to be voted on as one. But a little bird whispered in her ear and she then tried to separate it from the rest because of the way John had motivated it which had implied criticisms of the leadership.

James Eterno and others called out they were voting on the amendment and the motion, not the method of motivation. I actually was looking forward to having Randi signal the troops to vote against John's call to reduce class size by assigning ATRs. But she thought better of it, knowing full well she could hold the usual UFT rally like she did the rubber room rally last year to mollify people and then forget the issue. I mean there was a real threat the ATRs would hold a rally without the UFT and that is just too dangerous for Unity.

So when the vote was taken, a number of people in the Unity crowd weren't sure what to do. Did Randi signal up or down? Obviously they were prepared to vote the amendment down of she had separated it. Randi is certainly good at sensing the political wind and she made it clear this was a "go." It passed overwhelmingly, a victory - sort of. Now the ad hoc committee needs to get people from those 100 plus schools while getting more schools to sign the petition and bring people from these schools out to the rally since the UFT Leadership will only bring out the usual 1000 people.

Marjorie Stamberg the key organizer of the ad hoc ATR teachers sent the following report on the DA and the ATR's.


We Got the Rally
by Marjorie Stamberg

We got the rally! They changed gears over night from the e-board. Now the hard work begins to build it in the schools and bring out everyone to make a strong statement that the whole union stands with the ATRs, and we will not allow our colleagues to be victimized.

Due to the hard and dedicated work of so many people, we were successful tonight at the Delegate Assembly. We had a great presence outside the meeting, of ATRs, RTRs (the teaching fellows who face termination) and quite a few of us union activists who have been working on the issue. I think this really had an effect, and made clear to the leadership how teachers across this city are outraged over the disgraceful way the ATRs have been treated.

We handed out hundreds of copies of our motion calling for a mass rally, the fact sheet entitled "The Real Facts About ATRs" and a reprint of the dramatic scene at Canarsie HS when teachers were excessed en masse. I reported yesterday about how the UFT exec board had come up with a counter motion that paralleled ours, but omitted the key issues of smaller class size, and the city wide rally. After the e-board last night, we had decided that we would present an amendment to put these two points back in, because that way we could get a discussion on the floor. So that's what we did

John Powers spoke passionately to motivate the amendment. He talked about the 2005 contract which gave up seniority. He made the point that there have been two previous motions passed on ATRS that didn't have any teeth to them and kind of faded away while....the ATRs multiplied. Even before he started talking, Randi Weingarten said she considered the amendment to be "friendly" and "within the four corners of the original motion" -- quite a change from the reception we got last night. So obviously, the leadership decided that they better get out in front of this, rather than just opposing it. Good!

So now we have to continue and double the hard work we began. We can't count on the leadership building this. For it to be effective, we have to continue the grassroots work we've begun. We have reached more than 103 schools, and gotten hundreds of signatures. Now we need to get back to the people who signed and tell them that they're support had an effect. Now we need to reach others in the schools and build the rally.

One important thing that happened was getting to talk to so many teachers, in the big high schools, but also the "small schools," and the elementary and middle schools. We are also working with the teaching fellows, who are actually in more peril at the moment than anyone. So we showed we won't be divided.

I think we're going to want to have a meeting to start organizing this, and it will be important to get as many different schools represented as possible. I'd like to canvas people as to when might be a good time. Sometime next week? Tuesdays or Thursdays are out, unfortunately. On the weekend?

We have to talk with the leadership about setting a date for the rally. The place we want is in front of Tweed courthouse-. I think in those schools that have been hard hit, like Lafayette, Tilden, Canarsie, etc, it would be great to really bring out those schools, including students and parents. And we'll want some sizable groups from some of the other big high schools.

So let's brainstorm ideas and come up with a plan, Sam. Doggone it, we're gonna do it. You betcha. (sorry, couldn't resist)

Also, please talk to the ATRs in your school-- this is everyone's fight!

--Marjorie


Thanks to all who worked hard the last few weeks to bring the ATR issue to fore. There are many unsung persons who stepped forward to voice their opinions and galvanize support, and let's give special credit to the Ad Hoc Committee to Let the ATRs Teach and to Marjorie for initiating and coordinating the campaign.

We should not underestimate the significance of our success in getting the rally nor the difficulty of the task to make it a successful demonstration. I believe this campaign can bring out the latent energy of hundreds of teachers to fight in their interests and the interests of their union. One example: When I got to the DA today, a Lafayette teacher (not an ATR) who had decided to come to the DA for the first time was already out in front passing out the ATR motion.

Robert