PEP POPS II

Things are still buzzing over last night's PEP. What people on our side miss when they call rubber stamp PEP meetings a waste of time and money is that these meetings are opportunities to bring and solidify the forces of opposition to BloomBloodSucker. The ed deformers in their open flouting of morals, ethics, law are the creators of a movement that will one day bring them down. So we lose every vote, but we gain strength in those losses.

Make sure to check out my earlier PEP Pops I which takes the UFT leadership to task for poor turnout at the pre-PEP rally and zero turnout at the PEP itself. But luckily there were powerful voices from the UFT rank and file to pick up the load.

----------------
"When will this administration put children first?"
Julie Cavanagh express R and F solidarity with Verizon strikers and expresses hope they will be back at future PEP meetings before lambasting WalSlick and crew for wasting enormous sums of money. Video by my new top notch assistant Pat Dobosz.

And what do you think of Julie's new hairdoo?



 Here is a link to Pat's video of the final vote.

Julie and Verizon new superstar Verizon striker and parent Amy Muldoon, who galvanized the PEP, will be at a rally for Verizon workers. (See below for details.) Here is a letter from Amy.

--------------------
My video with Leonie and Peter and Mulgrew speeches
Here is my 18 minute video (using my shaky flip-like camera) of the Verizon workers coming off the Brooklyn Bridge and marching en masse over to Pearl Street where the rest of the mass was waiting for them. GEM/ICE people were stationed on the route to hand them signs relating to the PEP which they were grabbing like crazy. Thanks to David and Pat Dobosz for all their hard work in making them up and to Joan Seedorf, Yelea Siwinski, Lisa North and Vera Pavone for handing them out along with Pat and David.

UFT rank and file teachers join with Verizon strikers for a rally before the PEP planned to vote in favor of a $120 million Verizon contract which has come under attack for fraudulent past practices. The Brooklyn contingent marched over the Brooklyn Bridge and met up with the Manhattan strand and marched over to hear the speeches across the street from Verizon HQ and the school the PEP was meeting at. Symbolic? This video is the rally part only with a few of the speeches by Class Size Matters Leonie Haimson, GEM's Peter Lamphere, the UFT's Michael Mulgrew and a few others.

Tomorrow I'll put up some of the footage from inside the PEP - like Walcott in a hysterical sex ed rant - tell people of color to wear condoms.
------------------

Karen Sprowal,whose son, Matthew, was kicked out of Harlem Success charter school in Kindergarten, speaks for Class Size Matters about the devastating school budget cuts and the harsh effect on class size at last night's Panel for Educational Policy meeting.

Below this video is another of the audience shouting "Shame" after the Panel vote to approve the $120 million contract with Verizon.

 http://nycpublicschoolparents.blogspot.com/2011/08/karen-sprowal-talks-about-school-budget.html

 
------------------
Here is a video from GEM's Gustavo Mejias

Verizon and PEP mtg [HQ]

Rally at PEP meeting of the DOE in support of Verizon Workers and Against the DOE dealing with Verizon Executives http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=2238887968149

-----------------

SOLIDARITY WITH VERIZON STRIKERS!
A Fight For Us All!

Saturday, August 20
4:00 PM
Musicians local 802322 W. 48th St

JOIN a PANEL DISCUSSION with:

• Amy Muldoon, Communication Workers of America (CWA) Local 1106
• Vincent Galvin, CWA Local 1101 Rebuilders
• Ron Spaulding, CWA Local 1101 Rebuilders
  
• Julie Cavanagh, Grassroots Education Movement (GEM)
• Member of the Transportation Workers Union (TWU)

*organizations listed for identification purposes only

SOME 45,000 workers at Verizon are on strike across the Northeast, in one of the largest labor actions in years. If they lose, employers across the country will be emboldened to sharpen their attacks. But if they win, they could galvanize working people to pick up where the struggle in Wisconsin left off.

RSVP: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=256645951021736
More info/to endorse: 646-421-2035; To request free childcare: julerro@gmail.comEndorsed by: The International Socialist Organization, Grassroots Education Movement

================
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.