Oakland teachers being arrested inside the Wells Fargo bank in Oakland on May 12, 2011. San Francisco Bay Area Independent Media Center photo. Oakland Teachers Asssociation

'Arrest the real crooks — the bankers!'... Oakland teachers arrested at Wells Fargo protest

Six Oakland California teachers were arrested at a branch of Wells Fargo Bank on Thuresday, May 12, 2011, during a protest against the banks policies and the relationship between the favored position of the banks while public schools and being cut and privatized.

YouTube video taken at yesterday's (May 12, 2011) rally and sit-in at Wells Fargo Bank.



Chicago Teachers Union

Education in Crisis: What YOU Can Do!

over 300 educators listened Dr. Lois Weiner explain what’s prompted this assault on public education and teachers and why creating space in this landscape for schools that serve all students well and support quality teaching and teachers requires transforming teacher unionism. The attack on public education has taken many forms:privatization and commercialization of services; creation of charter schools to displace neighborhood schools; curricula geared to standardized tests; de-professionalization of teaching; and vilification of teachers.

The Dehumanization of our Children.

A new mindset is necessary, one that views families as customers, schools as ‘retail outlets’ where educational services are received, and the school board as a customer service department that hears and addresses parental concerns.

From The Book of Knowledge Investing in the Growing Education and Training Industry,” Merrill Lynch Report, April 9, 1999



Massive Wall Street Protest Draws Over 20,000

by Allison Kilkenny, May 13, 2011 More than 20,000 protesters descended upon Wall Street Thursday to demand an end to Mayor Bloomberg’s draconian education cuts and his soft touch approach to billion-dollar companies. The May 12 event began as a series of splinter cell protests in the radius surrounding Wall Street that ultimately converged on the financial district.

http://www.thenation.com/...

The march coming to Wall Street on Thursday, May 12, 2011. Photo from United Federation of Teachers website.

Lower Manhattan on May 12 was flooded with tens of thousands of educators, other unionized workers, students, community advocates and New Yorkers of all stripes calling for a fundamental reordering of the city’s priorities.

“This city is upside down,” said UFT President Michael Mulgrew to the huge crowd of UFT members, students and parents who gathered outside City Hall. “It’s not working for all of us and that’s why we are out here today. We want a city that works for everyone.”

Among those leading the march on May 12 were United Federation of Teachers President Michael Mulgrew (center, in blue shirt) and American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten (second from right). Photo from United Federation of Teachers website.

“We are the middle class workers who built this city and we deserve to be treated with dignity,” said Correction Officers’ Benevolent Association President Norman Seabrook as the protesters roared their approval. “This city belongs to us — not the rich, not the powerful.”

The UFT protesters, who marched en masse to Wall Street after the City Hall rally, were united in their outrage at Mayor Bloomberg’s insistence on teacher layoffs when the city has a large budget surplus.

“They’re using the kids as political footballs,” said Suzanne O’Brien from IS 51 in Staten Island. “Wall Street gets away with murder and the most vulnerable pay the price.”

According to the UFT, the march stretched 24 blocks through the city on May 12. Photo from United Federation of Teachers website.

The crowd was filled with teachers with disturbing tales of how layoffs would devastate their schools.

Dena Schwartz from PS 189 in the Bronx said her four-year-old school would lose 17 teachers — 47 percent of its entire teaching staff. Maria Herrera and Damaras Solis Padilla from Columbia Secondary School in Harlem said their school was slated to lose 79 percent of the school’s faculty.

Math teacher Judith Glazer, the chapter leader at IS 125 in Woodside, said her school had been notified that five teachers would be laid off and 31 were in danger of being bumped to other schools.

“I am here to fight for the children, our staff and our rights,” said Glazer, who brought 45 of her colleagues to the rally. “If Bloomberg is the education mayor, he shouldn’t be looking for layoffs. Enough is enough. We are not going back to 1975.”

Victoria Mulligan, a science teacher at PS 78 in Long Island City, said she felt compelled to stand up for the children. “What the mayor is doing is not in support of the children, it is in support of his agenda,” she said.

Laura Daigen-Ayala, at the rally with her colleagues from PS 48 in Manhattan, blasted the mayor for balancing the city budget on the backs of kids and teachers.

“This is a city with a budget surplus and millionaires and billionaires are getting tax breaks,” she said. “The DOE website says ‘Children First;’ well, we’ve been devoting our lives to children while the mayor has been devoting his life to making money.”

The UFT marchers met up in the Water Street area with thousands of activists representing other sectors of the city economy, including transit workers, CUNY faculty and students, housing advocates and AIDs and homeless advocates.

Michael Richardson, a tower operator for NYC Transit subways, said the teachers’ fight with Bloomberg hit close to home for him.

“What happens to city workers like school teachers happens to us,” Richardson said. “If teachers get laid off arbitrarily, and if seniority means nothing, we could be next. It’s a slippery slope.”

Performance-based teacher layoff bill dies in committee

California legislation calling for the creation of teacher ratings for use in layoff decisions instead of seniority fails to win enough votes to move forward.

Legislation that would have allowed school districts to lay off teachers based on performance, not seniority, failed in a state Senate education committee Wednesday. The measure, proposed by state Sen. Bob Huff (R-Diamond Bar), called for school districts to create new administrator and teacher evaluations that would be partially based on student test score data. It would have allowed district officials to lay off teachers based on performance.

Huff said the testimony was a sign of teacher unions' power and helped quash the bill. "What happened today was [the union] flexed their muscle," he said.

California Teachers Assn. representatives did not return an email, but A.J. Duffy, president of the Los Angeles teachers union, said he was pleased that the bill did not pass. "There must be something better," he said.

http://articles.latimes.com/...



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Mr. Bloomberg also is backing off plans to eliminate more than 16,000 day-care slots next year.

http://online.wsj.com/...

California Legislation that would have allowed school districts to lay off teachers based on performance, not seniority, failed in a state Senate education committee Wednesday. http://articles.latimes.com/...

“I'm not going to be a union buster,” Davis said. “Especially starting in my own city. The only “no” vote came from State Rep. Monique Davis, D-Chicago, who said she could not support a plan that could weaken the Chicago Teachers' Union. http://www.mcdonoughvoice.com/...

Delegates at the WEA Representative Assembly in Tacoma stop short of strike call http://blog.thenewstribune.com/...



Naperville Teacher's Union Files Unfair Labor Complaint Against District 203 The complaint was filed “because we were given information that the school board decided to freeze some of our members,” http://lisle.patch.com/...

Denver Classroom Teachers Association is threatening a lawsuit on these hiring non-qualified teachers(scabs) http://www.denverpost.com/...

UWGB faculty vote in favor of union representation http://www.fox11online.com/...

Teachers' union in vote for strikes. Members of the NASUWT union unanimously agreed to reject the changes proposed by the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (Cosla) and the Scottish Government which included a two-year pay freeze as part of a £45 million package of cuts. http://scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com/...

Teachers and students gather at City Hall to oppose cuts outside San Francisco City Hall http://www.examiner.com/...

