Weingarten Negotiates Another Sell-Out in Newark, NEW Caucus Says "VOTE NO"

From David Bellel c. 2009 - Obviously needs updating

If Randi were involved as she would have been with the old CTU leadership she would have them jump at the money and never mention class size again. Only one city was smart enough to keep Randi away from contract negotiations: Chicago. Did you notice how the Chicago teachers TURNED DOWN the offered bribe of more pay without setting conditions? --Ed Notes

Keep them voting till they get it right. Where Weingarten treads, catastrophe follows. ---Michael Fiorillo comment on Newark Contract at Perdido Street School

It's true - she's done more damage to public school education and teachers than a lot of ed deformers. Mayoral control, merit pay, the TDR's, "fair funding" for schools that gives incentives for administrators to get rid of veteran teachers, buying into the "Bad Teacher" frame - the list goes on, but those are some of the major catastrophes brought about by Weingarten and her merry minions. Newark teachers would be wise to reject this contract, not only for their own good, but for the good of all teachers in NJ. ---reality-based educator reply to Fiorillo

I hope you got to read my post on Saturday: Weingarten Praises Newark Merit Pay Scheme: NEW Caucus Calls for NO Vote.
And if you're a photoshop person and want to take a shot at updating the poster, go ahead. (Obviously Chicago should be removed. )

Only one city was smart enough to keep Randi away from contract negotiations: Chicago. Did you notice how they TURNED DOWN the offered bribe of more pay without setting conditions? If Randi were involved as she would have been with the old CTU leadership she would have them jump at the money and never mention class size again.

Randi uses the old bait and switch
Bribe teachers with enough money to get them to give it all away. Randi perfected this in NYC in the 2005 contract so Bloomberg could brag about the enormous raises he gave teachers right as Randi was giving him the tools to go after teachers making the most money. She followed this act in Washington DC with Michelle Rhee, then Baltimore and Detroit. There's a whole list of dominoes.

The great blogger, Jersey Jazzman commented in this post (It's NOT Just Newark's Contract)

When Christie went on TV a while ago, bad-mouthing teachers and their unions, no representative of NJEA was invited to give a response. The only teachers union representative present was Randi Weingarten of AFT. Again, I have nothing but respect for Randi, who I think does a fine job representing teacher concerns in the media. But let's be honest: Chris Christie has a different relationship with AFT than he does with NJEA. To all my friends and readers in AFT, understand this is not a criticism of you; it's simply a truth.

Reality-Based Educator and others commented that Christie WANTED Weingarten involved and he got what he wanted. 

RBE at Perdido has a great post today touching on the Weingarten history of nation-wide sell-outs following her act here in New York.

Randi Weingarten - the reform-friendly labor leader beloved by Michael Bloomberg, Michelle Rhee and DFER Joe Williams - is the union leader who helped negotiate both versions of the Baltimore contract and worked very hard to get that second one passed. Where is Randi standing up for the 60% of Baltimore teachers getting "u-rated" and put on the list to be fired? I'll tell you where she is - she's nowhere to be found in Baltimore and is rather lurking around in New Jersey where she's doing the reformers' work on this Newark contract.

Read his entire piece here.

NYC Educator also hit the nail on the head

Teacher Union Prez Auditions for NY Post Editorial Board

Here is an excerpt:

Joseph Del Grosso, head of the Newark Teachers Union, is endorsing a new contract that entails merit pay, value-added measures, and which is "secretive about financial details," though we know it hinges on $100 mill in Facebook bucks, which we don't know to be renewable.

Del Grosso is portrayed in the article as someone who's moved from a young firebrand to someone with a completely different position-- heroic by the writer's highly uninformed point of view, but questionable at best by mine. More disturbing, perhaps, is this quote:

“The teachers who come in early and stay late, and take the job seriously, are offended by the teachers who don’t,” he says. “They are the silent majority, and I think they will overwhelmingly vote for a contract that involves them in their own destiny.”

Can you imagine the things these offended teachers must be saying?

That damn Ms. Smith, always going home to look after her baby!

I hate Mr. White. Who the hell does he think he is, running to his second job at the carwash at 2:30 every day?

A member of NEW Caucus (sister to MORE and CORE) came to our Chicago Lessons session on Saturday and asked for help in publicizing their fight against this contract. They spent a whole day taking apart the contract. I posted it at Norm's Notes: What Newark Teachers Can Expect From Their New Contract.

Here is the latest email they sent out with some links I added:

The fight in Newark has just gotten sharper as the Newark Teachers Union and Newark Public Schools finally agreed on how best to sell out teachers and students.  Between the local leadership and national AFT leadership (Weingarten has been negotiating "for us" for a year now), years of hard fought gains are being taken away.  The Newark Education Workers Caucus (NEW Caucus) has been working hard over the last few days organizing angry teachers to vote no and begin organizing against this attack.  So has the AFT - calling teachers over the weekend and scaring them into voting for the contract.  While many are infuriated at this contract and are now aware that the local and national union leadership doesn't represent their interests, what we do between now and October 29th (the vote) will determine whether or not we create a fighting caucus that could give political leadership and move many teachers to the left to fight back or allow teachers to become cynical and accept this horrible deal.  

Attached:

1. Current contract proposal (just use your reader to rotate it)- email normsco@gmail.com

2. The NEW Caucus evaluation of it (we locked ourselves in a room for 7 1/2 hours yesterday putting this together - still a work in progress)

[I posted this at Norms Notes: Newark: What This PROPOSED Contract Means For Education Workers and Students].

3. Our October issue of NEW VIEWS - [SEE MY POST FROM SATURDAY- Weingarten Praises Newark Merit Pay Scheme: NEW Caucus Calls for NO Vote]

and here is our old contract 2009-2010 http://www.ntuaft.com/2009-2010_Teacher-Clerk_Contract.pdf

This tuesday, the union will have a general membership meeting where they will "highlight" the contract and try to talk members into voting for it.  If anyone is in the New York/New Jersey region this Tuesday and would like to help us distribute literature to the membership, please join us at New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC) at 3pm (starts at 4).  If anyone needs directions, you can email me at almoussab@gmail.com or newarkeducationworkerscaucus@gmail.com.  I will try to provide updates as this struggle continues.