Showing posts with label Steve Conn. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Steve Conn. Show all posts

Tuesday, January 12, 2016

Detroit Union Calls for Public Hearings While illegaly deposed DFT President Steve Conn Calls for Sickout/Strike - and What Impact on Friedrichs?

At a news conference Monday morning, [Acting DFT President] Bailey and other union officials, teachers and parents expressed frustration about conditions in many DPS schools and called for public hearings.... Detroit News
A WTF moment that exposes how the Randi Weingarten ideal of a union operates. I just heard a report on NPR's Takeaway where the point is made that the city manager is claiming that the union has not sanctioned the sickout and that only a minority of teachers are supporting it.

How different is the destruction of the Detroit school system than the poisoning of the water in Flint?
The NY Times report has the below the lines bias, trying to paint this as an internal union dispute:
The job actions are tied up in the politics of both Lansing and the teachers’ union itself. The sickouts have been organized by Steve Conn, who was ousted in August as president of the union, and still has an ardent following.
Mr. Conn had been a firebrand activist at odds with union leadership — as well as the district administration — until a year ago, when teachers elected him president. Seven months later, the union’s executive board removed him over charges of misconduct.
No attempt to provide context for Steve's removal. At least they give him credit for leading the sickouts and given the appearance of a DPS FightBack, "union within a union" which says it has no affiliation with Steve - a group promoted by Diane Ravitch, I begin to wonder if  they are not a front group set up by the union itself to divert people from Steve. Just thinking out loud.

Previous Ed Notes reports:
Meanwhile, Steve Conn, the legally elected president of the DFT had this to say:

Steve Conn, the ousted president of the Detroit Federation of Teachers, has been calling for teachers to stay home in protest. “It’s great,” Conn told The News on Monday.
On Sunday, Conn had told reporters he expected three dozen closures — and added that “an all-out strike will be the only way to save public education in Detroit.”
At Sunday’s meeting, Conn called his Jan. 20 reinstatement hearing with the American Federation of Teachers, which has placed the DFT in trusteeship, “D-Day.” Monday, Conn said that if he’s not reinstated, the Strike to Win committee will pursue a full-blown strike.
“It’s all one thing — the degradation of local control of our schools,” Conn said.
Though teacher strikes are illegal in Michigan, Conn brushed off those concerns Sunday.
“Teachers strikes have always been illegal, but I’ve been through four of these,” Conn said.
Conn was removed from office and expelled from the DFT in August by the union executive board, which found him guilty of internal misconduct charges, including illegal cancellation of meetings and failure to investigate abuse of members.
Acting DFT president Bailey had more to say:
“The deplorable conditions in our schools have created a serious environmental and educational crisis that is being ignored. We refuse to stand by while teachers, school support staff and students are exposed to conditions that one might expect in a Third World country, not the United States of America,” Bailey said. “The children of Detroit, Flint or any other community should not be exposed to atrocious, environmental hazards.”
Bailey said health and safety hazards include rat and other rodent infestations, crumbling walls, holes in ceilings, cracked sidewalks and broken boilers and no heat. She also said DPS has 170 teaching vacancies and that some special education classrooms have no textbooks.
But no plan of action to fight it other than the usual bitching and call for lame public hearings.

In the meantime, it was the actions of deposed president Steve Conn and other teachers willing to make a stand that got conditions noticed and are generating national headlines.

What is DPS Teachers Fight Back?
Then there is this group that I posted about yesterday that Diane Ravitch mentioned: DPS TEACHERS FIGHT BACK! "A Union Within a Union"

Exactly what is a union within a union? I spoke to someone named Kimberley who said Steve Conn had not reached out to them. In the full article below there is no mention of DPS, only Steve Conn. DPS states clearly that it is not affiliated with Steve's political group, BAMN which has run against Randi since 2010 at AFT conventions. Is DPSFB an attempt to separate itself from the more radical Conn? Note that they do not say a word about a strike.

There is a full membership meeting this Thursday and as Steve points out his hearing will be Jan. 22. If Randi's minions bury Steve he may form another union in Detroit and challenge the DFT as the bargaining agent. In the light of Friedrichs coming decision there is a lot to chew on.

DFT, like the UFT, plays a role -- to make sure things don't get out of hand and become too militant in ways that threaten the current power structure in the union and the Democratic political establishment.

Left-tinged social justice unionists with lines into the communities have the potential to cause all sorts of problems with the comfortable partnership teacher unions have established with the establishment over the past 55 years. Throw in the wild card of Friedrichs which will certainly harm the more traditional unions than the radical ones in terms of dues collection.

Just think Chicago, where over 90% of the teachers support a strike, inconceivable here in NYC. I would bet that the CTU will have less problems collecting dues than the UFT.

But also think about the power structure like Rahm in Chicago facing radical, militant unions that can be leaner and meaner than the UFT and not be as vulnerable to government attacks. We found that in Puerto Rico the union was attacked mercilessly and company unions were brought in to undermine them - yet they continue to collect enough dues to keep them alive.

I think the idea of a teacher union out of control begins to sink in at some point and the avid supporters of Friedrichs may end up with many unintended consequences. It is one thing to be a southern right to work state and quite another to have had certain rights in a northern urban city and then see them taken away. But members of the UFT are increasingly asking "exactly what do we have and what value do we put on it?" The last 20 years as our leaders have capitulated to ed deform are a lesson.

Full Detroit News story here and below the fold.

Wednesday, December 9, 2015

Randi Invades Detroit

Randi sends in shock throops in Detroit union takeover
How does one rally the membership against a state takeover of local schools with a national takeover of the local union?... Mike Antonucci, EIA
About 6 or so years ago Randi parachuted into Detroit to help negotiate another sell-out contract along with retired DFT president Keith Johnson. That worked out as well for DFT as for Newark, Washington DC, Philly, etc. 

David Bellel's graphic

Over the past decade, EIA's Mike Antonucci and I have chronicled AFT takeovers of local unions, not only over corruption like Washington DC but over locals that want to leave the AFT or because AFT leaders don't like the politics of the elected union leader, like Detroit which we reported on in August

Ed Notes Online: The Trial of Steve Conn: Is Attack on ...

ednotesonline.blogspot.com/.../the-trial-of-steve-conn-is-attack-on.html
Aug 4, 2015 - The Detroit Federation of Teachers executive board put president Steve Conn on trial this morning for conduct detrimental to the union. Even though Steve won 2 elections, they just threw him out of the union.
Last August, the executive board of the Detroit Federation of Teachers ousted its perennially agitated president, Steve Conn. When the rank-and-file had an opportunity to weigh in, a majority favored Conn’s return, but the margin fell short of the necessary two-thirds.
Oh, democracy. Even though Steve had the majority, they just decided to throw him out of the union so he could not win again.

In past AFT takeovers they sent in shock troops which Mike hinted at:
 there’s still the danger that AFT could airdrop the locksmiths and take over the whole operation.”

But that wasn't necessary:
Well, the airdrop wasn’t required because the DFT executive board opened the gates and let the army in.
And the best part:
Internal elections would be temporarily postponed to permit all DFT leaders and members to focus, for now, on the goals of the campaign.”
Conn couldn’t run again for the presidency because he was also booted from the union, but certainly there was a danger that one of his allies could activate his base and regain the office.
You see, I often tell people in the UFT who think that taking over the union is just about beating Unity in an election that there would be consequences - they would protest the election to the AFT (Randi) and they would rule there were "issues" and then just take it over and maybe even put the elected president on trial.

How much fun will it be if they every decide to have a union election in Detroit if Steve Conn's people actually win again? Just throw all of them out of the union. I believe Steve is trying to organize a counter union and force a vote on which one teachers would choose.

Here is Mike's full report:

AFT Set to Assume Control of Detroit Local

And the Detroit News report.

And by the way, this Friday MORE is doing a support event for the Puerto Rico union, which actually broke free of what they termed the "bloodsucking AFT" a decade ago - they were too far away to drop in the troops and the AFT sued and lost.

Here are some ed notes pieces over the years on the situation in Detroit (One day I have to dig up the video of Steve Conn heckling Randi at a rally in 2012 at the AFT convention.)

Ed Notes Online: Detroit Teachers Recall of Weingarten Ally ...

ednotesonline.blogspot.com/.../detroit-teachers-recall-of-weingarten.html
Feb 14, 2010 - Detroit teachers have been fighting to recall DFT President (and major Randi Weingarten ally) Keith Johnson as part of the fight to stop the Arne ...

Ed Notes Online: Weingarten Ally, Detroit Teacher Union ...

ednotesonline.blogspot.com/.../weingarten-ally-detroit-teacher-union.ht...
Jan 15, 2010 - See comment 2 by Mike Antonucci of the EIA who checked the Detroit Fed of T web site which says the recall was illegal. Read on to where I ...

Ed Notes Online: Randi's Nightmare Continues: Steve Conn ...

ednotesonline.blogspot.com/.../randis-nightmare-continues-steve-conn.ht...
Jan 28, 2015 - Ed Notes Online: Detroit Union Election - Is Randi guy in ... Dec 06, 2010. Detroit teacher Steve Conn (above center) spoke to the Peace and ...

Ed Notes Online: Randi's Nightmare: DETROIT TEACHERS ...

ednotesonline.blogspot.com/.../randis-nightmare-detroit-teachers-elect.ht...
Jan 17, 2015 - Detroit teachers elected Steve Conn to head the Detroit Federation of Teachers today. Conn ... Posted by Norm @ ed notes online at 7:56 PM.

Ed Notes Online: January 2015

ednotesonline.blogspot.com/2015_01_01_archive.html
Jan 31, 2015 - At a demo in Detroit at the AFT convention in 2012, Steve constantly heckled Randi ... Ed Notes Online: Detroit Union Election - Is Randi guy in .

Wednesday, January 28, 2015

Randi's Nightmare Continues: Steve Conn Sworn in as Detroit Teacher Union President

Think of this as the AFT version of the Greek election.
Conn, who has run for DFT president about a dozen times before, credits his victory to members being fed up with the "fiasco disaster" that governor-appointed emergency managers have brought to the district over the last six years. "This is about a struggle for civil rights" in DPS, he said about his new role... Detroit Free Press
Ed Notes reported the story on Jan. 17 this way: Randi's Nightmare: DETROIT TEACHERS Elect Steve Conn
Conn said with some classes as big as 40 to 50 students or more, pushing for smaller classes will be among his top priorities.
Holy crap -- a teacher union leader making class size a priority.

Steve may be the most militant teacher union leader in the nation. He lost a recent election by only a few votes and this time won a narrow victory by 15 votes in a run-off. Race plays a role in elections and most Detroit teachers are not white, while Steve is white - but also Steve has had a strong history on issues related to the black community. Most of all, even half the union voting for his well-known left leaning level of activism is MAJOR. Think of this as the AFT version of the Greek election where the Greece is the only nation in Europe to elect a seriously left party. Some people I know on the left have issues with Steve's group BAMN though I'm never clear what they are - I think their style is also a factor.

One activist emailed asking about Randi's control of the AFT given that Chicago and Los Angelos are in the hands of reform union leaders, along with other cities. My response was that nationally the NYC Unity Caucus wags the NYSUT and AFT dog. So no matter what happens elsewhere, Randi is in control of the AFT.

But I did report this in May 2010:
Maybe just a drop in the bucket of the UFT dominated AFT, but this message from Detroit's Steve Conn is an early warning sign for Randi Weingarten and the AFT that their collaborationist policies are causing a counter reaction... Ed Notes Online
Steve Conn presents a different level of in your face activism -- he is not polite to Randi like other union leaders who might just roll their eyes. At a demo in Detroit at the AFT convention in 2012, Steve constantly heckled Randi while she tried to speak. Steve is part of  By Any Means Necessary (BAMN) which has run in the past few AFT elections against Randi and her Progressive Caucus, garnering about 5% of the vote.

And when we protested Bill Gates in Seattle at the AFT 2010 convention I believe Steve was right in the middle of it. How much fun will the 2016 AFT convention in Minneapolis turn out to be?

Ed Notes has covered events in Detroit over the years. A quick seach yielded these articles amongst many going back to 2008.
Nov 17, 2008
Steve Conn was an activist in Teamsters Local 688 and Teamsters for a Democratic Union in St.Louis in the in the 1980's. He is now a supporter of the civil rights group BAMM and current candidate for President of the Detroit ... 
Dec 06, 2010
Detroit teacher Steve Conn (above center) spoke to the Peace and Justice Caucus of the American Federation of Teachers on July 10, 2010 (above) during the AFT convention. Conn is now in a runoff against incumbent ...
Mar 21, 2010
Maybe just a drop in the bucket of the UFT dominated AFT, but this message from Detroit's Steve Conn is an early warning sign for Randi Weingarten and the AFT that their collaborationist policies are causing a counter ...
Randi's guy was Randi cheerleader Keith Johnson whose tune changed between 2010 when he led cheers for Bill Gates and 2012 when the union he led has been devastated by the contract Randi helped him accept. Johnson retired and tried to push his hand-chosen candidate but Detroit teachers had enough.

Here is a bulletin from Steve to the members posted on the DFT web site after 800 members met on Sunday, and some press articles on the election.

New DFT President and Executive Board Sworn In [1.21.15]


New DFT President Steve Conn, executive vice president Ivy Bailey, and the executive board members were sworn in yesterday by AFT Michigan President David Hecker.
"I want to salute the marvelous due militancy of Detroit teachers," Conn said. "It's time to take a stand for justice.
"I want to say to the governor, the politicians, and the corporate interests who they work for, we are fed up with the state-sponsored destruction of the Detroit schools."
Conn said he wants to re-incorporate the EAA schools into DPS, end the "obscene standardized testing regimen," and get a union rep in every building, among other goals.
He recalled the speech given by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in 1963 as a situation similar to what Detroit teachers face today and "the fierce urgency of now."

Activist Steve Conn to lead Detroit teachers union


Teacher and activist Steve Conn said he plans to fight for smaller class sizes in his new role as head of the Detroit Federation of Teachers.
Conn, 57, narrowly won the presidency Saturday in a race against union vice president Edna Reaves. He replaces longtime rival Keith Johnson, who backed Reaves and is retiring after six years.
A swearing-in ceremony will be held at 4 p.m. Tuesday in front of the union offices at 7700 Second Avenue. A rally will follow.
Conn, who has run for DFT president about a dozen times before, credits his victory to members being fed up with the "fiasco disaster" that governor-appointed emergency managers have brought to the district over the last six years.
"This is about a struggle for civil rights" in DPS, he said about his new role.

Conn's victory was a blow to Johnson.
"His mantra has never been to work with the other side, the adversary," Johnson said. "His mantra has always been to stand out at the periphery and throw rocks at it and talk about how horrible it is."
Conn received 614 votes in the election. Reaves got 599.
The other people who shared the United for Teachers' Rights slate with Reaves won their races: Ivy Bailey, Michael Schenk and Vida Bonacci were elected vice presidents; Nicole M. Davis was elected recording secretary; and Michelle Broughton was elected treasurer.
Conn has worked as a math teacher in Detroit Public Schools since 1986. He spent most of that time at Cass Technical High School, a position he's leaving because of the new job.
He has also been actively involved for years in the social justice group By Any Means Necessary.

Conn said with some classes as big as 40 to 50 students or more, pushing for smaller classes will be among his top priorities.
DPS has a roughly $170-million deficit. Just last week, it got its fourth emergency manager, Darnell Earley.
The DFT has about 4,000 members.
In 2008, Conn and his wife Heather Miller, who was also a teacher, were fired but then won their jobs back after being accused of leading a protest in May 2007 that led to some middle and high school students being pepper-sprayed and detained by police. The pair sued the district and won a $300,000 judgment.
Contact Ann Zaniewski at 313-222-6594 or azaniewski@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter: @AnnZaniewski.