Video @AFT Special - Solidarity Resolution - Mulgrew, Lewis, Johnson Rock the House

You come after one of us, you deal with all of us ---- Michael Mulgrew.

Karen Lewis led it off and Mulgrew finished it, with Detroit's Keith Johnson and someone from Colorado whose name I didn't get in between. We get a sense that we are all in this together and if we don't fight this together no one can win.

Listen to the Colorado union rep if I remember correctly 2 years ago there was so much excitement about the "collaboration" in Colorado which she says has now been thrown out. Yes, are people learning that even when you try to give them much of the loaf and keep a piece for yourself, they don't even want you to have that piece.

And Detroit Fed Teacher head Keith Johnson who seemed so smug in Seattle got up and made a rousing speech about the overwhelming attack going on in Detroit and other cities. Lisa and Gloria were sitting with a Detroit teacher who told them her salary this year was $8000 less than last and she will finish her career making less than what she started with.



http://youtu.be/nFczwUFc6Nk

I know many of you guys are saying it's all bullshit. But I was in Seattle in 2010 the Gates fiasco and the climate here has turned. Will they act on it or are these just words? I truly believe the UFT and the AFT will back Chicago all the way. There is no choice. I told Randi the other day that Chicago was bringing us all together. While I will continue to hammer them when needed I am also looking for areas where we can agree.

I was impressed and shook Mulgrew's hand afterward. When they do the right thing we should say, "Right on" and the message Mulgrew sent and the way he delivered it was Right On!

Read Biden speech, NYC Educator style:

Good Day AFT
--------
Previous @AFT Ed Notes Reports (in reverse chronological order)

• Video @AFT Special - Solidarity Resolution - Mulgr...
• @AFT - Chicago Teachers Protest RTTT During/After ...
• @AFT - Chicago Teachers Show Displeasure at Uncond...
• Breaking @AFT - Before Biden Speech: STOP RACE TO ...
• RAVITCH ROCKS @AFTConv12
• @AFT Share My Lesson = No Speeches
• @AFT: NYC/Chicago Showdown Over Moratorium on Cha...
• @AFT: Stephen Sawchuck on Unity Caucus and Leo Cas...
• @AFT 11PM Friday UPDATE - A Walk and Talk With Ran...
• @AFT - Friday July 27 11:30AM - Solution Driven Un...
• @AFT - Friday July 27 10AM Report
• @AFT Convention: Thursday July 26

=================
The opinions expressed on EdNotesOnline are solely those of Norm Scott and are not to be taken as official positions (though Unity Caucus/New Action slugs will try to paint them that way) of any of the groups or organizations Norm works with: ICE, GEM, MORE, Change the Stakes, NYCORE, FIRST Lego League NYC, Rockaway Theatre Co., Active Aging, The Wave, Aliens on Earth, etc.

Ravitch on Chicago

Sorry, Jonah. You don't know what mass action means. You have no idea what happens when working people organize and mobilize and stand together against the powerful financiers and politicians that you now represent. Karen Lewis showed that the teachers of Chicago stand together against mayoral authoritarianism.

Karen Lewis and the CTU are the new leaders of the labor movement. Time for us to follow in their footsteps, rather than more pointless and counter-productive engagement with “reformers” and their absurd notions. 

--- Arthur Goldstein, NYC teacher comment on Ravitch Blog 

Today at the Delegate Assembly (look for some of my notes in the morning posting) Mulgrew talked about Chicago and bragged about what good friends he was with Karen Lewis in Chicago. I also heard from people in Chicago that Karen and Mulgrew seem to get along. We'll see how that all plays out in Detroit this July at the AFT convention. In Seattle two years ago the Chicago CORE crew didn't always mesh with the UFT/Unity gang -- I heard more than a few "they're a-holes" as Chicago watched in disbelief how Unity people used the same manipulative tactics --- that I saw at today's DA.

But anyway, Mulgrew talked about the game the deformers have tried to play in limiting the union's ability to strike by requiring a 75% vote. So they got 90%. Mulgrew was careful to point out that there is no Taylor law making strikes illegal. Interesting that Mulgrew compared Rahm Emanuel and Bloomberg and said he'd rather have Bloomberg while also pointing to the fact Emanuel is a Democrat. Maybe Karen Lewis having chats with Mike is having an impact.

But I'll let Diane Ravitch pick up the story on her new blog, which has become so prolific. Too bad she doesn't go into how the UFT/Unity Caucus/AFT leaders match up with the Chicago people in terms of accountabilty to the members, deomocratic procedures. how far the union has gone to throw monkey wrenches into the works of the ed deformers.


Ravitch on Chicago

A few days ago, the Chicago Teachers Union voted overwhelmingly to strike.

This wasn't supposed to happen. Just a year ago, Jonah Edelman of Stand for Children boasted at the Aspen Ideas Festival how he had outsmarted the teachers' union. He described how he had shaped legislation not only to cut back teachers' job protections but to prevent the Chicago union from ever striking. He told the nation's elite, 'if it could happen in Illinois, it could happen anywhere." Stand for Children was once a grassroots group but has now become one of the active leaders in the corporate reform campaign to advance privatization and bring teachers to heel.

Speaking to a gathering of the nation's elite at Aspen, Edelman offered a template to beat back public employees in other states. Armed with millions of dollars supplied by wealthy financiers, he hired  the top lobbyists in Illinois and won favor with the top politicians. He shaped legislation to use test scores for evaluating teachers, to strip due process rights from teachers, and to assure that teachers lost whatever job protections they had. In his clever and quiet campaign behind the scenes, he even managed to split the state teachers' unions.

More of the Ravitch piece here.

UPDATE: Mike Klonsky nails Rahm

Rahm's anti-union spin machine is spinning in reverse. Even though his pals now own the Sun-Times and even with a big-bucks propaganda campaign bankrolled by corporate "reformers", nothing seems to be spinning the mayor's way.

S-T political reporter Fran Spielman, can't quite hide her disdain for Rahm's assault on the CTU.

Emanuel pushed for a change in state law that raised the strike authorization threshold to 75 percent, a benchmark so high, at least one education advocate [SFC's Jonah Edelman--mk] with ties to the mayor predicted that it could never be met. Instead, the Chicago Teachers Union roared passed that benchmark, fueled by their anger against a mayor who stripped them of a previously-negotiated, four percent pay raise and tried to muscle through a longer school day.

"Stripped" and "muscled" is a long way from the usual Civic Committee-style rhetoric of "union thugs" and "greedy teachers." Spielman then asks the mayor, "whether the showdown with teachers threatens to turn Chicago into 'another Wisconsin?'” It's a question no Democrat dare ask and one that answers itself.

S-T columnist Carol Marin, writing a day earlier couldn't make the case any better or clearer.

If I had been a Chicago public school teacher last week, I would have done as 90 percent of them did — and voted “yes” for a strike authorization...Teachers in this town have been demonized, demoralized, and disrespected. No profession is beyond criticism and no public school system is without significant problems. But taking a sledgehammer approach to CPS teachers and their union has backfired on the Emanuel administration and his schools CEO, Jean-Claude Brizard.

And all the radio ads and robo calls funded by out of town, union-busting billionaires doesn’t alter that fact.

===========

The opinions expressed on EdNotesOnline are solely those of Norm Scott and are not to be taken as official positions (though Unity Caucus/New Action slugs will try to paint them that way) of any of the groups or organizations Norm works with: ICE, GEM, MORE, Change the Stakes, NYCORE, FIRST Lego League NYC, Rockaway Theatre Co., Active Aging, The Wave, Aliens on Earth, etc.

Chicago Strike Threat Causing Panic: Brizard Call for Internal Union Info

“They are fishing, and we don’t participate in fishing expeditions,” said Lewis. She and other union officials made high-profile appearances at their former schools to cast their ballots.  

CEO Jean- Claude Brizard’s team asked the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board to issue an emergency order to have the union secure election material and provide the IELRB and the district access to them. The district wants 20 different pieces of material from a copy of the ballot to the “educational flyer provided to each member explaining the reasons for the strike authorization vote” to information on the messenger services retained to deliver ballot boxes.

This report below from the Catalyst gives the scoop. It shows just how effective the Chicago Teachers Union has been in a campaign that is so unusual for any union to be conducting, especially in a state next to Wisconsin. I remember when the UFT conducted some kind of strike vote over a decade ago -- I think under Giuliani -- remember him and the days when the union leadership was holding a countdown until the day he leaves? -- everyone knew it was bullshit and the DOE didn't even bother to pay attention.

Brizard was principal of Westinghouse HS in Brooklyn and then went to the Broad Academy and rose up the chain of incompetence to HS district superintendent in Brooklyn and then on to ruin the Rochester schools where he received an overwhelming vote from teachers of "no confidence" which made him highly qualified to be hired by Rahmbo Emanuel to run (down) the Chicago schools even more than Paul Vallas or Arne Duncan did.

Here is the full report from the Catalyst --go to the link to read Brizard's letter to teachers.

As teachers cast votes, CPS wants access to ballots

By: Rebecca Harris and Sarah Karp / June 06, 2012

Tags: Chicago Teachers Union

 

As Wednesday’s strike authorization vote began, a battle began brewing between the district and the Chicago Teachers Union over the voting process itself.

CEO Jean- Claude Brizard’s team asked the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board to issue an emergency order to have the union secure election material and provide the IELRB and the district access to them. The district wants 20 different pieces of material from a copy of the ballot to the “educational flyer provided to each member explaining the reasons for the strike authorization vote” to information on the messenger services retained to deliver ballot boxes.

In a letter to the IELRB, district lawyers argue that because Senate Bill 7 sets out a process for how a strike should occur, the labor relations board has the power to monitor it.
“We want to make sure there is integrity in the process,” Brizard said.

CTU President Karen Lewis countered that CPS has no right to the material. Union officials already said they planned to have local clergy observe the vote-counting and will preserve the ballots.

“They are fishing, and we don’t participate in fishing expeditions,” said Lewis. She and other union officials made high-profile appearances at their former schools to cast their ballots.

A spokeswoman for the labor board said both the Chicago Teachers Union and CPS had filed documents with the board in recent days, but she declined to make them available without a Freedom of Information Act request. Law firms for the parties involved did not respond to requests to release additional documents.

The conflict underscores the importance of the strike authorization vote and the high stakes of the outcome. Brizard walked a fine line on Wednesday, saying that on one hand, regardless of the results, CPS and CTU will continue negotiating toward the goal of reaching an agreement before school starts in the fall.

But Brizard also emphatically argued that teachers should delay the vote and allow an independent fact-finder to issue a report on July 16.

“Teachers are being asked to vote on inaccurate information,” he said. “This is a serious process.”

He added that teachers only get one vote. Once teachers authorize to strike, they can’t reverse that decision, added spokeswoman Becky Carroll. (The vote, however, does not require the union to call a strike.)

Lewis and other union officials countered that the new process for calling a strike and requiring 75 percent approval makes it critical that the vote take place before school lets out for the summer. Once teachers disperse for the vacation, it would be difficult to get enough members to participate, union officials said.

Lewis said Wednesday morning she was confident that she can get enough members to authorize the strike. Showing the union can reach that threshold and that a strike threat is real will speed up the negotiation process, not thwart it as Brizard has maintained, she said.
“We want to get there [and reach a contract settlement] before August 27. We don’t want to wait till then,” she said.

Out in schools
Early Wednesday morning, Lewis went to King High School to cast her ballot. Lewis, who taught at King before taking the helm of the CTU, was greeted with hugs from students, teachers and even the police officer stationed at the school.
Throughout the morning, King’s teachers unceremoniously picked up their ballots in the main office, filled them out, stuffed them in envelopes and went back to their classes. Students were taking finals on Wednesday.

Many of the teachers wore red shirts to show their support for the union. Social studies teacher Andrew Lambert had donned a blue shirt, but said he did vote to authorize a strike. “I am young and didn’t do the laundry,” he said. “I think that this vote is more important for young teachers because we have to live with the consequences for our entire career.”
Still, it was unclear whether King would get 100 percent participation or approval this first day. David Robbins, one of the union delegates, said that 59 of 70 members of the staff participated in a survey last month that was meant to be a dry run for the vote: 56 of 59 responded that they thought the union should reject the existing CPS contract offer.
Robbins said there’s a mix of reasons why people might sit out a vote, which essentially will mean they are casting a “No” vote.

But at other schools, delegates expected 100 percent of union members to vote in favor of the strike. CTU Vice President Jesse Sharkey appeared at Senn High School at 7:30 a.m. to cast his vote and talk with teachers. “People said, ‘What are you doing here? This building’s 100 percent (in favor). Go somewhere they need your help,’ ” he said.

At Ray School in Hyde Park, teachers were eager to cast their ballots. By 8:30, all but 15 of 60 teachers had already done so. Teachers also contributed to a pot-luck breakfast, and a table nearby was heavy with donuts, coffee and other treats.

Union delegate John Cusiack said he expects everyone will authorize the strike.
Like other teachers interviewed on Wednesday, he said that the overall direction of CPS, and education reform generally, is what teachers are voting against. He said he is against efforts such as firing tenured teachers and replacing them with new staff, which happens in turnaround schools.

“In some schools they have done that several times and it is still no different,” he said.
Therese Wasik, who is retiring from Ray this year, said she was glad she got a chance to vote.  Her first year in the district, she worked one day and then went on strike. She said she remembers being nervous that her job wasn’t safe. Because she’s retiring, she has no such concerns.

“I have been in the union for more than 30 years and I know what I would want if I were here,” she said.

At Gale Elementary in Rogers Park, Head Start teacher Maxine Gladney – who has been with the district since 1968 – said that CPS’ treatment of veteran teachers had persuaded her to vote for the strike authorization.

“It’s something we should be doing, or we’re going to end up like Wisconsin, like a lot of other places, and we’re going to have nobody to protect us,” Gladney said. “We are blamed for things we are not responsible for, decisions [CPS] makes that are not up to us.”
Joseph Hill, a special education teacher, said that he supports the vote as well. “We are the only city employees that are asked to work longer for free,” he said.

 He is not optimistic that a vote will pressure CPS to cave in to the union’s demands. “They’re not going to give us a pay raise. We’re just going to need to go on strike,” he added.

But parent volunteer Tameka Leonard, who has three children at Gale, said she was unhappy about the vote. “I think it’s too early to be talking about a strike. It’s summer break. You’ve still got time to negotiate,” she said.

And, she noted, she’s pleased with Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s initiative to extend the school day because of the number of kids she sees running around the neighborhood with nothing to do after school.

Chicago: Puny Humans Strike Back Against Rhambo Terminators

Following on my post an hour ago (Tweed Terminates, Grady HS Resists):

Jesse Jackson joins union in protest of school closing policies as Dems chastise Mayor Rhambo as pointed out in this section from this Mike Klonsky report: Is Rahm falling from White House grace?

Following up on my post from Saturday, I'm told that Nancy Pelosi had a come-to-Jesus talk with Rahm Emanuel following her Saturday appearance at Jesse Jackson's Rainbow PUSH. It looks from here like Rahm, the autocrat, has been taken down a peg by the party bigwigs and told in no uncertain terms to heal his rift with Jackson. .

It was only a little more than a week ago that Rev. Jackson openly sided against Rahm and with the CTU and community activists, who had packed a CPS board meeting to protest the board's decision to close more neighborhood schools and hand them over to a politically connected, private turnaround company, AUSL.

Jackson and CTU President Karen Lewis openly denounced  the policies of Rahm's hand-picked board as "education apartheid," a move which immediately re-framed the whole reform discussion and put Rahm and his cronies on the defensive. A day later, Rahm made his schools boss, J.C. Brizard get up in front of the media and deny that he was running an apartheid system.

Let me repeat this again:

A day later, Rahm made his schools boss, J.C. Brizard get up in front of the media and deny that he was running an apartheid system.

How great is that? Phony Brizard who spent some time doing ed deform here in NYC and in Rochester having to deny he is running an apartheid system? Notice by the way how the ed deformers are using black machines like Brizard and Walcott to to do their selling.

Now none of this happens with a politically savvy union. People ask me how is the Chicago Teachers Union different than the UFT given that they have not been able to stop Mayor Rhambo from closing schools or any of the other charter co-loco crap. For a group in power for a little over a year and a half and consisting of leadership that were classroom teachers right up to taking over, they shown a level of fightback against a vicious mayor we have not seen here.

When Rhambo tried to force feed a longer day down their throats a year earlier by trying to bribe individual schools to abandon the union's position of actually asking to be paid a normal wage for the time, the union managed to stop the bleeding by organizing teacher and community resistance.

That's because fundamentally, even though they have made some mistakes, they are adamantly and philosophically opposed to just about every aspect of ed deform and function within that context. Not to say they don't have to compromise at some points, but they are fighting a protracted war as the tiny band of resisters. Here in NYC -- and nationally with the AFT --- we are never sure exactly which side our union is on after making one deal after another that strengthens ed deform.

Here is the rest of Klonsky's very important and incisive report:

Pelosi then flew in to Chicago, stood side-by-side with Rev. Jackson at PUSH and then endorsed Jesse Jackson, Jr. in his congressional  re-election bid. The timing and place of the endorsement was an obvious slap at the mayor who then was forced to to come out himself and openly endorse Triple J.

The party leadership is obviously worried about Rahm's rift with Jackson as well as the growing resistance to Rahm's attack on public schools, especially in the black community. There's the risk that the growing school protests will spill over into upcoming Occupy protests scheduled here for May and possibly lasting up until election time.

Teacher unions are are a badly-needed ally of Democrats in the November elections. But Rahm's war on the unions, reminiscent of the anti-union assault by T-Party guvs like  Wisconsin Gov. Walker, is obviously becoming a concern of the White House. Yesterday, Brizard stunned many of his own supporters when he came out in favor of using federal education funds to be used to send CPS kids to private schools.

Chicago Reader pic

To make matters even worse for Rahm, the White House announced yesterday that it was pulling the G8 Summit out of Chicago and moving it to Camp David. The White House says the change was not in response to the possibility of protests, which means that's exactly what it's about. Rahm had essentially moved to suspend Constitutional freedoms during the May 18-19 Summit.

According to a report in the Monitor, Rahm didn't even learn about the change until yesterday making it pretty clear that he has fallen from grace in the party's inner circles.

Monday's announcement appeared to catch many in Chicago by surprise. A spokeswoman for Emanuel said the Chicago mayor was informed about the location change in a Monday phone call from a White House official. Chris Johnson, spokesman for the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce, said his organization was "just as surprised about the announcement as anybody else."

Chicago will still play host to the NATO Summit, May 20-21at great expense (conservatively estimated at $65 million) to city residents, mainly for a massive police presence. Thousands of anti-war and civil-liberties protesters are still preparing to come to the city and make their voices heard, according to Joe Iosbaker of the United National Antiwar Committee in Chicago.

Check out the Chicago Reader's Ben Joravsky who has been writing the best local stuff on this.

Now we'll see if the CTU and it's allies can take advantage of this rift in upcoming negotiations and in support of legislative efforts to stop the school closings.

=====
Join the puny humans in fighting the machines
March 10 - STATE OF THE UNION PART 2: TIME TO FIGHT BACK

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

Lois Weiner and Karen Lewis on Democracy Now as Educators Push Back Against Obama’s "Business Model" for School Reforms

People have gotten to know about Karen Lewis (the winner the GEM award in the upcoming GEM newsletter). But not enough people know about Lois Weiner (see tab on her in the heading). Lois has taught us all about the neo-liberal agenda. Putting these two together is brilliant. See the video.

Here Karen takes apart Arnie (he's be arrested if he tried to teach because he is not credentialed) and because he doesn't know what to do - see her great impression of Arne - he says let someone else - the privatizers - do it.

Lois looks at the global aspect of the market based deforms. And talks about the national impact of the CORE victory in Chicago. And she gives a shout out to our pals in Teachers Unite.

Educators Push Back Against Obama’s "Business Model" for School Reforms

It’s back-to-school season. As millions of children around the country begin a new school year, the Obama administration is aggressively moving forward on a number of education initiatives, from expanding charter schools to implementing new national academic standards. We talk to Karen Lewis, the president of the Chicago Teachers Union, and Lois Weiner, a professor of education at New Jersey City University. [includes rush transcript]

http://www.democracynow.org/2010/9/3/educators_push_back_against_obamas_business

See transcript at Norms Notes.  Lois Weiner and Karen Lewis Democracy Now Transcript

UPDATE: CTU Pres Karen Lewis: US SCHOOLS FACE PERFECT STORM

"We have to stop thinking of school buildings as magic castles where the real world doesn't penetrate." Lewis talks to Paul Jay at The Real News. 

There are so many good quotes here that I won't even try to list them. Let's just say these are the kinds of things we in NYC have been hoping would not only be said, but backed up with action. Sorry to say- won't happen here with this Unity Caucus leadership.

Read the transcript: Karen Lewis Defends Teachers

See the video
http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=5463

MORE:

Corporate Media and the

Pillage of Chicago Public Education

To view on bliptv, click here:

 http://blip.tv/file/3958149

In the weeks following the election of Karen Lewis as the new Chicago Teachers Union President, we see how Chicago's corporate public relations world attempts to spin the story of new union militancy in the face of layoffs and 35 students per classroom. Exclusive press conference scenes and analysis. Interview with Carol Caref, new CTU Region A Vice President, as we watch her and Karen Lewis spar with reporters. George Schmidt, Editor of substancenews.net, provides valuable insights into the media scene in Chicago. Also footage and commentary by substancenews.net reporter John Kugler who describes his question that shut down a press conference put on by Mayor Daley and the head of Chicago Public Schools Ron Huberman. 27 min.

Karen Lewis with the media shortly after her election as CTU President

Photo: David Vance / Labor Beat

Produced by Labor Beat. Labor Beat is a CAN TV Community Partner. Labor Beat is a non-profit 501(c)(3) member of IBEW 1220. Views are those of the producer Labor Beat. For info: mail@laborbeat.org, www.laborbeat.org. 312-226-3330. For other Labor Beat videos, visit Google Video, YouTube, or blip.tv and search "Labor Beat".

Visit Labor Beat's YouTube Channel:

http://www.youtube.com/user/MiloWolf

List of our schools-related videos:

To receive a Word file describing our 14 videos on public schools struggles in Chicago,

send request for "Struggles in the Chicago Public Schools" to: lduncan@igc.org

To order a dvd:

BUY DVD - CLICK HERE

(Put title of DVD, "Corporate Media and the Pillage of Chicago Public Education" in Description box. Put $15 in Unit Price box.)

AFT Convention: UFT/CTU Deal Expose Fault Lines in School Closing Policy

There is no more volatile issue than that of closing schools. It leads to disruption of students, parents and teachers who are tossed onto the scrapheap– in NYC they are known as ATRs - absentee teacher reserves as even the most experienced teachers are used as subs.

The difference between the new Chicago Teachers Union leadership from CORE and the UFT/Unity Caucus almost came to a head at the recent AFT convention in Seattle, where the UFT initially supported a resolution that did not include much stronger language. Randi, fearing an embarrassing floor fight that might expose the fault lines in AFT/UFT policy on closing schools — they have refused to oppose them unequivocally — had Unity leaders approach the CTU and together they negotiated language the CTU would be willing to accept.

The 9 minute video below opens with Unity's Janella Hinds (one of the UFT point people in NYC on closing schools) making a strong statement on closing schools – which at first surprised me until I was filled in on what had gone on behind the scenes. She is followed by a strong statement from CORE's Jenninfer Johnson thanking Local 2 for "seeing the light" - my words.

Jen Johnson went where the UFT won't go – she flat out stated that the closing of schools is an attack on teacher tenure and seniority rights and talked about Chicago's ATR problem, where they can be fired after 10 months if they don't get a job. She said there was an attempt to cut into this time limit. (In NYC, ATRs cannot be fired at this time. It is hard to imagine even the UFT giving on this issue, especially after seeing the impact that issue has had in radicalizing Chicago teachers.)

Jen is followed by new CTU president Karen Lewis, who said, "I would like to thank Local 2 for understanding what it means to be on the front lines of a policy that is not only dangerous, it's deadly." You gotta love the underlying dig here at Unity. She talked about how closing schools undermine neighborhood stability and even lead to the deaths of students.

One of the reasons Lewis, who was teaching chemistry a few weeks ago, is now the CTU president is because the Unity style leadership in Chicago that preceded her went along with the closing schools, as has the Unity leadership in NYC. It wasn't until the slap in the face by the NYCDOE when they announced 19 school closings in Dec. 2009, that Unity, facing an upcoming union election, started to take action by organizing a rally in January and filing a lawsuit.

The UFT/Unity Caucus leadership has been making a big deal over their "victory" in lawsuit to keep schools open, especially at the AFT convention. I can't tell you how many people came over to talk about that "win" — even our pals in Chicago.

Of course, people on the ground here in NYC know better:

Bloomberg is sending so few students to those schools that, in effect, they won't be open anyway. And in a startling deal with the UFT, he's placing replacement schools in a bunch of them anyway. It's incomprehensible to me that they've agreed not to file another lawsuit and are essentially allowing him to walk all over the one they managed to win. But such is the transitory nature of victory when you have no follow-up strategy, I suppose.

Read full post at NYC Educator

There was disgust over a recent agreement between the UFT and DOE to insert new schools at Jamaica HS, one of the closing schools where ICE's James Eterno is the chapter leader (Eterno ran against Mulgrew for UFT president) while the incoming freshman class has been undermined by the DOE. Eterno wrote on the ICE blog:

We suffered a setback today when the DOE-UFT agreed to co-locate the two new schools in our building for September and the UFT agreed not to sue. It is hard to believe how we were stabbed in the back by the UFT. They didn't even have the decency to consult with us before they allowed the DOE to move new schools into our building.

Read James' full piece: Committee At Jamaica Vows to Fight on After UFT Gives us Away

Here is the video, also playing on the ed notes sidebar, GEM, and CPE.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bhailiqr4uQ

Randi Tries Out Her Big Speech -then goes back to drawing board to make it tougher on Obama/Duncan

UPDATED: July 8 11:15am, PST

Randi is feeling the heat and it's not just from the weather

Seattle, July 8, 7am, pst
(This post will be updated through this morning so check back later)

Part 1
It's supposed to get hot here in Seattle today with temps reaching 90, but it may get even hotter at the convention hall with the opening session of the AFT today.

Randi was burning the midnight oil last night polishing her big keynote speech due to be delivered around 11am this morning. She gave a preview to the Progressive Caucus (the national version of Unity) meeting, which I joined for $20 so I could attend – and therein lies a tale with Randi herself coming over to give me a love tap.

The reaction must have been that she was not tough enough on Obama/Duncan — and she certainly wasn't. The anger of teachers at them is so palpable. So reports surfaced while we were hanging with the Chicago Teachers CORE people at the Hard Rock Cafe last night that Randi was reshaping parts of her speech to make it look like she was tougher on Obama/Duncan. Yawn.

NEA's president Dennis Von Roekel came out strong a few days ago (Teachers Union Chief Blasts Obama Administration's Education Policies Teachers Union Chief Blasts Obama Administration's Education Policies though Susan Ohanian calls it "Too little too late - This is the same union that told its members not to sign the petition against NCLB. Their argument was they needed a seat at the table."

But it is Chicago's new president Karen Lewis (who I met last night) who is getting raves for her acceptance speech last week when she took over the CTU on July 1. Ana Philips has a great piece over at Gotham on this speech: Chicago’s aggressive, new union leader introduces herself.

Lewis' speech is not to be missed. Ana writes:

If anyone wondered what the union backlash to Secretary of Education Arne Duncan’s leadership would be like, watch this state of the union address by Chicago’s newly elected teachers union president.....Led by Weingarten, the national branch of the union has taken a softer approach to its relationship with Secretary of Education Arne Duncan. And in New York, we’ve yet to hear rhetoric like Lewis’s from union president Michael Mulgrew.

Oooh! Nice dart from Ana. By the way, there has not been a Mulgrew sighting here yet. He must be up in Randi's room ironing her clothes.

One comment:

Do you believe this…..Ms. Lewis did not use any buzz words! there was no mention of robust, of invigorated, of forward thinking, of a new paradigm. I bet she was never schooled by McKinsey. Hallelujah….someone who talks intelligently, who like a real person, wants to improve our education system for our children. Now that’s an innovation

Leonie Haimson said:

“Our opponents have deep pockets and shallow morals.” I like that line!

Heh, heh, heh - you don't have to look far here in Seattle to find union officials with shallow morals and deep pockets.

So yes Randi IS feeling some heat. She even went to dinner with the Chicago new leadership last week. One of them told me "she really loves you." How nice to see Randi misses me. We did speak yesterday after her speech and I really do miss her - so much material.

So one would have expected her speech to try to compete in the anti-Obama/Duncan rhetoric. But it didn't and that is why I expect her to act tougher - and I mean act - in today's version.

When the Progressive Caucus nominated her and she got up to accept- she said she would just say a few words - sure Randi - you and a few words are incompatible.

The Unity crew - remember though they dominate the room this is still a national caucus - gave her a rousing standing ovation before and after the speech. Many of them in private conversations say how happy they are to have Mulgrew - a real teacher. But there are those shallow morals, you know.

Randi looked good - tanned and maybe a little thinner - as she took the podium. She was wearing - how the hell would I remember what she was wearing - this is not a fashion report. Besides I was too busy fending off Unity hacks.

Before the speech a contact told me that the AFT hired Michael Powell as their new messager - a guy who shapes the message after polling to see what resonates. Powell was involved in the disastrous and short lived Harold Ford Jr. campaign in NY recently. Ford dropped more than a few ed deform crums in his brief stint. Maybe Powell is really the AFT's new massager to rub Randi's back when she is tired. At any rate their polling - internal and external showed that the way they shape their defense of teachers is crucial to the response of the public.

So - here it is - the grand theme - FIGHT SMART.

Now we all know what that means. A way to rationalize all the givebacks the AFT/UFT has agreed to.

After talking about the hot weather, Randi began by saying: "Those of us who have been in the trenches for a long time..."

Huh? What trench has she been in?

"...you have seen hot all year."

Oh, I get it - a funny.

"We are finding things we have never seen - even from a Democratic president - telling us we don't have a right to exist- no voice, no retirement security..."

That's about as tough as she got. She continued with, "Why are we upset? Not a surprise. Members are mad." Sure, real members as opposed to the Unity hacks are mad at her.

"They didn't sign up for a world where we would be demonized and scapegoated, where even if you have no U ratings every single teacher would be fired."

She was referring to Central Falls, RI, which she is claiming credit for saving all the teacher jobs. Unity hack supremo Jeff Zahler stressed that point before Randi's speech.

Randi continued:
"It is easy to vent against people we supported for a long time. Now all of a sudden they have gone from liking us to not liking us." At that point I was getting cramps.

"Look at the economy." Oh that one is coming. Like the ed deformers weren't attacking teachers in Chicago and beyond in the mid nineties when the economy was booming - except in NYC where in 1995 Randi went along with the Mayor Giuliani line the city had no money and she negotiated a 5 year contract with a two year wage freeze, only to see the city have a billion dollar surplus a year later. Yeah, that economy.

"When we say we need more taxes or deserve retirement security - part of the social contract - we worked for low wages - they want to bring us down. Our strategy - yes - fighting back hard [oh when did she fight back hard] and fighting smart.
There it is - the big strategy laid out for us to wonder at. Or wander at. Or wender at.

PART 2:
She went on - "Fighting Smart lifts all boats - trade unions are not anchors of privilege but beacons of hope. We have a harder job than ever. We have to call out the demonizers no matter who they are..."

AND HERE COMES THE BIGGIE, FOLKS -

"EVEN IF THEY ARE THE PRESIDENT OR THE VICE PRESIDENT."

So there, Ana Philips. How dare you say Randi I mild compared to Karen Lewis or Diane Ravitch.

Now back to the pablum:

"You went into this [teaching] in the first place to create a greater good."

Come on Randi - some of us went into teaching so we didn't have to go to Vietnam. Let's be honest here. Teaching is also a job. We can do it well but also not have it be a calling.

"The reason we have a full opposition slate against us - instead of national taking a step back..." [what does she mean by a step back?] "we rolled up our sleeves and helped those on the front lines - Central Falls, Detroit, Cincinatti, California ..."

We are getting a geography lesson - but Randi seems to have forgotten Washington DC and her best friend Michelle Rhee who along with New Teacher Project Tim Daly have a love affair with Randi.

Then she goes into the screwing - oops - the saving of Detroit - you know where Randi helped broker a deal where teachers gave up money to save jobs. How the city was going to go bankrupt, etc, etc, etc.

She ended with the usual screech that got everyone to their feet - we will see better days ahead you know. Well, maybe when we have more Chicago-like revolts.

Karen Lewis: Our opponents have deep pockets and shallow morals

State of the CTU Address-Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis.

CORE took over the union on July 1.

Lewis asks the rank and file to organize parents and students at the grassroots level to defend public education.

http://vimeo.com/13012492

This message is so counter the the message given off by the AFT/UFT leadership no matter what the rhetoric.

One of the ironies is that one of the opponents will turn out to be the leadership of the AFT/UFT, a group with deep pockets and shallow morals.

This message is so counter the the message given off by the AFT/UFT leadership no matter what the rhetoric.

Is Randi Weingarten more aligned with Bill Gates than Karen Lewis? Watch her make nice to the CTU – with a dagger behind her back. The cynic in me is always active. Will Lewis, once enfolded in the pillows of power, be able to resist attempts to pull her away from her core - or CORE?

There are signs some of this occurred in LA where Duffy was not totally aligned with the core.

TWU in NYC - see stories out there on Marc Kagan, Elena's brother's disaffection from Toussaint.

The way around this is to de-emphasize the cult of personality and view the president as one of many who could serve. Any group fighting for power must take so much into account. There may be many lessons to learn from Chicago over the next few years, both positive and negative.

Eduwonk Takes Note of Events in Chicago as Karen Lewis is Turning into the Anti-Randi

With new Chicago union chief Karen Lewis taking office on July 1, expect her to become the anti-Randi. Eduwonk has noticed while Alex Russo who writes a Chicago blog while living in Brooklyn has his head in the sand. But both are open or closet ed deformers.

Eduwonk is Andrew Rotherham, a chief ed deformer - a Democrat who worked for Clinton so you know where the bread meets the butter - who went to some extent to challenge and expose Eduwonkette when she was anonymous.

Truth Stranger Than Fiction I

A lot going on in this curtain raiser for the new president of the Chicago Teachers Union. Here’s one:

AFT President Randi Weingarten has collaborated with Race to the Top and other White House education initiatives, even at the cost of retreating from the union’s opposition to merit pay and defense of tenure as the basis for teacher job security. But the election in the CTU–the third largest teachers’ union local in the U.S.–is a clear signal that rank-and-file teachers have different priorities.

Going along with the above as the Chicago establishment tries to challenge CORE even before they take office on July 1 here are some links from Gotham.

Chicago’s schools chief wants more than just seniority to determine layoffs. (Catalyst)

Chicago’s school board agreed to lay off teachers by quality rating, not seniority. (Chicago Sun-Times)

CORE will be sending 146 delegates to the AFT convention in Seattle (July 8-11.)

---------------
After-burn

See the Karen Lewis interview with Labor Beat:





If you haven't been following events in Detroit, Gotham has this link:
Momentum is growing for mayoral control of Detroit’s schools. (Detroit Free Press)

Now the Detroit union has also been in a state of flux and is sending 20 anti-Randi delegates to Seattle. Rest assured, the Chi/Detroit totals pale in comparison to the 800 Unity junketeers who dominate the convention.

Chicago Hope - UPDATED - 9am

The victory was so overwhelming, Randi and the AFT won't be able to help Stewart steal this one. Hopefully CORE will make use of people like George Schmidt (who declined to run with them to focus on making Substance a tool in the election) and former CTU President Debbie Lynch who finished third but endorsed CORE in the runoff. Keep checking Substance for details. Analysis on what it mean for all of us in the next few days. (Remember, there is no sell-out like New Action that will support the party in power no matter what to split and drain off votes from the opposition. See After Burn below for a touch of analysis.)

Substance Reports:

CORE, led by Karen Lewis, wins CTU election in landslide, with Lewis defeating Marilyn Stewart 12,080 to 8,326

Fred Klonsky Says:

Chicago teachers elect new leadership, sending a message to teacher union leadership everywhere.

June 12, 2010

It’s a stunning rebuke of business as usual. And it sends a message to teacher union leadership everywhere. Members of the Chicago Teachers Union overwhelmingly voted out the old and turned to the new, progressive, fighting leadership of the CORE slate.

Among CORE’s issues were: Capping CTU officer and staff salaries to the average teacher salary prorated over 12 months, limiting standardized tests and banning the use of test results to punish, label or denigrate schools, students or teachers. CORE has promised to work to repeal mayoral control of schools and restore the right to collectively bargain class sizes, counselor loads and stop school closings and reconstitutions.

But beyond their specific platform, teachers responded to CORE’s aggressive response, so untypical of so many teacher union leaders today, to the teacher bashing, union bashing politics of politicians at the local, state and national level, from Democrats and Republicans both.

Teachers are tired of the go-along, “sit at the table” politics that passes for teacher union leadership today. Chicago’s vote yesterday is the clearest sign of that.

Substance background report:

Marilyn's Merdy Mess... The UPC ends itself with the dirtiest campaign in the history of the Chicago Teachers Union

After Burn
The CORE story does not begin with its founding a little over 2 years ago. Having had their own media outlet that reaches so many Chicago teachers did not play an insignificant role. George Schmidt's Substance played a role in Debbie Lynch's election in 2001 and in this result.

I am planning on writing about the differences between NYC and Chicago soon but one major dif is our not having a Substance around. (The print edition of Ed Notes from 2002-2004 had this idea around it, especially after George's visit to a meeting I held at my house in the summer of 2002 but there seemed too many competing groups around - New Action (still viable as an opposition), Teachers for a Just Contract and Progressive Action Caucus. All 3 groups had a great dislike for each other and Ed Notes attempts to broker some kind of united front were rebuffed.)

I wonder what the New Action sell-outs will be saying - probably claim their example of "suck-up to the leadership under the guise of we all must stick together when under attack" was an inspiration to CORE.