I was on the picket line for three strikes in my first 8 years as a teachers. There have been no NYC teacher strikes since 1975.
Let me say that I firmly believe there can be no major gains without a credible strike threat. But I don't believe we will see that here in NYC unless there are catastrophic cuts -- like a severe depression and attempts to cut current salaries.
I bring this 1975 strike story up because there are people in the UFT today who are saying the leadership should get the membership strike ready because the West Virginia and other red state strike are an example that UFT members might be ready to follow. The Taylor Law penalties is one reason why that won't happen here until NYC teachers are eating dog food like teachers in the red states.
I found this document as a remnant of the Sandy storm. It was addressed directly to me by then Chancellor Irving Anker on December 1, 1975. I forgot about the loss of tenure for a year.
There were also severe penalties on the UFT with fines and loss of dues checkoff for a period of time, which force the union to send many of its staffers back to schools. In the current age of Janus this would possibly eliminate the UFT and leave us without a union at all.
The thing about the 1975 strike was that it was wasted, with a union leadership not committed to the strike. Al Shanker led us over the Brooklyn Bridge in a massive march with the theme "we won't go back 'till we all go back." NOT. 15,000 didn't go back.
Shanker, who went to jail in a big show, helped bail out the city using our pensions and that created a climate of less penalties on the leadership which then accepted the layoffs of 15,000 people, the loss of preps, higher class sizes and the cutting of the school day twice a week. More cuts came the next year. Randi once told the DA that Shanker considered this strike his biggest mistake. But he never wanted to strike. I could tell at the big Del Ass where we took a strike vote. There was such militancy coming out of the schools he had to strike to maintain credibility but he had a plan to make sure there would never be such militancy again to over ride what the leadership really wanted -- which was to capitulate.
The UFT/Unity leadership had to teach us a lesson -- to never strike again. That was why when Randi held a strike vote at one point, we all laughed ourselves silly -- as did the city.
The lesson to me was to never trust the Unity Caucus leadership to talk about a strike.
The old Teachers for a Just Contract (TJC) - or as we called them - Teachers for Just a Contract -- used to call on the leadership to prepare people for a strike. I pushed back against that idea because the only way to bring up a strike was AFTER you replace Unity, not before -- witness our pals in Los Angeles who took over the union BEFORE talking strike. Same in Chicago.
I bring up because I hear calls for the current union leadership to create more militancy and strike prep out of the MORE caucus, which has come under the influence of the very same people who ran TJC.
Deja Vu all over again.
That MORE has also chosen to run alone in the upcoming UFT elections is a sign of giving up the battle to challenge Unity in a serious manner for the foreseeable future. I'll have more to say about the state of the opposition in future posts.
Word on the street from UFT, a rep went went into BK international high school, where he received the same spiel from a couple of MORE members. "we need to be more militant, we need to threaten strike" to which the UFT rep said"You got to opt-out of tests, you were on the first prose schools, you have an admin you like, and we worked together to fix the water fountain situation, what would you like to be militant about?" needless to say he was met with silence. When I asked one of the lead voices against the contract, someone who is busy trying to throw MORE a life preserver they wont even take, "Lets say I agree that this contract and Unity are terrible and it's time for me to leave NYC, please tell me which local I should join where I can make nearly 6 figures a year, have healthcare for my family not come out of my pay check, and overtime at 50 bucks an hour" Im still awaiting that answer
ReplyDeleteBest,
mike
I just learned TONS. Thanks for the post.
ReplyDeleteOne other quick thougt; I think Unity mat have already changed ...not implying it's been changed to the extent anyone had discussed .. but that isn't the same Unity of 2009 and 2010 and the work that was done by us is a major cause for that change. Just some food for thought.
As for MORE, sheesh.
If you "loose" tenure for a year for striking that means you can be fired at any time for any reason during that year. Sounds pretty scary to me.
ReplyDeleteI fail to see the parallels between red state teachers and NYC teachers.
ReplyDeleteThere don't seem to be many, if any. Most important is that they don't have a Unity like machine to impede them.
ReplyDeleteAh, memories...we never actually received individual letters in my district, where we had only two preps per week. No one lost tenure in the end. My principal was a supporter of the strike and did not harass anyone after the strike. I had no tenure to lose at that point anyway. Was laid off the following year anyway, came back on payroll five weeks later, as the committee in my specialty area had raised hell with leadership when we were all let go in violation of NYSED rules. Went back to work, in a new location and turned down a job in eastern Maryland. Often wonder how life would have turned out on the other fork in the road.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, staff in my building saw some dollars in the till and voted yes. Some can barely read/write standard English and they sure proved it on the contract vote. I am sick of "colleagues" who fail to listen to a very able chapter leader, then sidle into the administrator's back door and make a slimy deal. They gut their own contract daily, and they will pay for it down the road. I will be happily enjoying my retirement by then.