Archive Page 120

Where do we go from here?

Published June 19, 2011 Uncategorized Closed

New Action/UFT…a caucus of the United Federation of Teachers
PO Box 180574  North Richmond Hill,NY11418
newaction.wordpress.com / new.action.uft@gmail.com
                                                                                                June 2011

 Lay-offs  –  Down to the Wire
Where Do We Go From Here?

The media is citing an “obscure” municipal union health care fund that could be used to avert teacher lay offs and prevent fire houses from closing. Whether this happens or not, we just don’t know. Anything short of contract concessions, pension give- backs, or having UFT members pay for their own jobs, would be a welcome solution to this horrific situation. We hope it can work.

BUT MORE IMPORTANTLY:  how does our union position itself so that our members are never put in this untenable situation again?

New Action has been proposing, in this current period (and we have stated it publicly over many years) that the membership MUST be prepared to take any and all reasonable actions. We believe the membership has not been prepared to meet this challenge. Since last December we have been calling for mobilizations and actions at every school. In January, we called for a week of membership meetings at every school followed by schools doing informational picketing against lay offs and budget cuts. Others have called for borough wide membership meetings. New Action has called for activities at every school.  New Action members on the UFT Action Committee have called for this several times this year alone. In April, we urged the Action Committee once again to employ this strategy. In May, we met with President Mulgrew and proposed a concrete date for school wide membership meetings, followed by a week of picketing at schools. At the June meeting of the Action Committee we called for actions to take place at every school on June 21, 2011. Picketing is not a panacea, but engagement by the entire membership is a critical factor.

The demonstrations, rallies, texting and faxing elected officials have been without precedent by our union. UFT members have turned out at borough hall rallies, picketing of enemies of our union, like Marty Golden, marches, and car caravans; we should be proud to have participated in so many events. Yet, the overwhelming number of our members have not been drawn into the fight. Only when the City administration knows that tens of thousands of union members are expressing themselves will we have the clout to produce a contract or prevent lay offs.

Finally, New Action believes it is time to end mayoral control of our schools—a mistake of major proportions. 

United we will win!

Layoffs? Fight back!

Published May 7, 2011 New York CIty Department of Education , UFT Closed
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by Jonathan Halabi

Mayor Bloomberg has announced his preliminary budget, with a reduction from 75,000 to 69,000 teachers, with over 4000 of that reduction to come from layoffs.

Some things we can do:

  • Demonstrate Thursday May 12. There will be actions downtown. Ask your Chapter Leader, who should be in regular contact with the District Rep, or check daily for updates on http://uft.org for details.
  • Mobile phone bank. Ask your Chapter Leader about which day the staff in your school can do lunch time mobile phone banks to your council person (even those who are on our side need reminders to stay there).
  • Ask your Chapter Leader to arrange a date to picket in front of your school. Doing something together, all of you, builds solidarity. It feels nice. And gets us ready for what comes next. If there is a common date in the district, all the better.
  • Ask your Chapter Leader if there is going to be a Council District meeting with the council person (when the meeting happens, you’ll want to make sure your school participates – even better if you are there Day 1 and can work on getting the site to be close by)
  • Watch out for fax campaigns!  Once they are announced it is easy to send the faxes. Leave the right page open on the computer, and everyone can send one – takes just a minute. And the politicians see them.
  • Pass good information. When you learn something important, share the information and where you learned it. Conversely, don’t pass rumors. People are nervous (with reason) and rumors are our enemy.
  • Finally, stay ready. This fight will not end June 1 or Brooklyn-Queens Day or the beginning of Regents. We are in for a battle, and Bloomberg is too. We don’t relax until we’ve spared the classrooms and saved our colleagues’ jobs.

A Real Peoples’ Victory/Good Riddance Cathie Black

Published April 26, 2011 New York CIty Department of Education Closed
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by Michael Shulman

The resignation of Cathy Black was nothing short of a peoples’ victory. In a nutshell, Black was unqualified for the job as Chancellor. This was apparent to everyone, with the exception of Mike Bloomberg. His choice of Black showed his arrogance and utter contempt for students, parents, community organizations and, of course, teachers.

Black compared her experience at the DOE with learning Russian in one week and then having to give a lecture in Russian. A question for you Cathy  -Why did you take this position in the first place?

Her comments about birth control and mocking demonstrators at a public hearing was not only evidence of being unqualified and unprepared- it was an act of racism and showed her contempt for the racially diverse population she was supposed to serve.

The PEP rally at Brooklyn Tech on February 3 was a moving event. It was a defining meeting for Black and Bloomberg. The puppet panel appointed to do the mayor’s bidding was given a lesson in how the students, parents, elected officials and rank and file teachers were prepared to stop school closings. The walkout of well over a thousand participants showed the mayor, PEP, and Cathy Black that the school community was not going to take school closings sitting down.

Will Dennis Walcott be any better? The answer is an absolute No! While he is much smarter than Cathy Black, his policies will be 100% the same as hers. They have to be—he is the mouthpiece of Mayor Bloomberg.  One of his first acts as Chancellor designee was to go to Albany to argue against seniority. Sound familiar? We have the same charge as pre Walcott –to fight layoffs and fight against the proposed draconian budget cuts.  Mike “I Need Another Term Because of My Business Expertise During  This Crisis” Bloomberg has to go. We should not be in this position in the first place. New Action opposed mayoral control, opposed our union sitting out the term limit fight, and was the first (perhaps only caucus) to support Bill Thompson for Mayor.

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