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1) Contract Hit in New York City.
New York City Councilwoman Eva Moskowitz (D-Manhattan) has suddenly become
Public Enemy Number One of the city’s teachers’ union, the United Federation
of Teachers (UFT). Why? For holding public hearings that critically examine
the sledgehammer of UFT power: the collective bargaining agreement.
Moskowitz released a document that
summarizes various provisions of the 316 pages of contract and memoranda of
understanding. These included:
* Middle and high school teachers can be
scheduled to teach for no more than 3.75 hours a day.
* Much of teachers’ professional
development is self-directed.
* Schools must consult with the local
union chapter committee before setting the agenda for a faculty conference.
* Schools that choose a school-based
management system have exemptions from certain provisions of the contract.
For example, hiring can be done by a school-based personnel committee.
However, this committee must contain a majority comprised of “teachers
selected by the UFT chapter.”
The hearings themselves have been
entertaining, to include principals testifying anonymously on tape, with
their voices disguised. These principals feared repercussions despite the
fact that, in New York, principals also belong to a union. Anthony Lombardi,
the only principal to testify in person and undisguised, accused the union
of trying to create “a parallel management structure.”
Mayor Michael Bloomberg used his weekly
radio address to compare the UFT contract to the workings of the Soviet
Union. (EIA note: In this, he was mistaken. Soviet
trade unions were tools of managers, government and the Communist Party.
They awarded prizes to workers if they fulfilled production quotas, which
would be unheard of in any American union.)
UFT President Randi Weingarten angrily
testified at one hearing that teachers were being “demonized” and “stripped
of their professionalism” by the mayor, Chairwoman Moskowitz and some
editorialists. “The contract is not the management straitjacket some claim
it to be,” she said. “It is being used as a scapegoat by those who wish to
explain away their own managerial failures.”
Weingarten rhetorically asked, “If
teaching under this contract is such a cushy job, why do one in four new
teachers leave within a year, 40 percent within three years?”
Well, perhaps this section of the
contract on transfer limitations might explain: “Each year, the number of
teachers who will be permitted to transfer out of a school hereunder shall
be equal to five percent of the teaching faculty of the school on regular
appointment; provided, however, that in the junior high schools and the high
schools no more than 25% of the regularly appointed teachers in the school
holding a particular license will be permitted to transfer. When the
teaching faculty of the school on regular appointment numbers less than 20,
one transfer shall be permitted, and when it numbers 21-39, two transfers
shall be permitted. Where 25 percent of the regularly appointed teachers in
a particular license would be less than one, then one teacher will be
permitted to transfer.”
As onerous as the UFT contract is,
imagine if the union were able to get all its wishes fulfilled in
negotiations. United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA) listed all the proposals
that came out of its various committees, to be pursued during its upcoming
contract negotiations with the district. Here are just a few:
* A moratorium on the high school exit
exam.
* “An accountability piece has been
included for all stakeholders in our education system, except parents.
Include some component that will require parents to be accountable for their
child(ren)’s education.”
* “Negotiate two hours a week for
chapter chairs to handle grievances, matters of the local chapter, and UTLA
business.”
* An emphasis on Asian Pacific issues in
staff development.
* Ten personal days a year without
designation, left to each teachers’ personal judgment. Bereavement days to
include the death of anyone designated by the teacher.
* Establish a voluntary database of gay
and lesbian friendly schools, teachers and administrators that can function
as safe havens for reassigned teachers.
* Eliminate norm-referenced tests.
* Gradually reduce physical education
class sizes until they have same upper limits as academic classes.
* Class sizes to be no greater than 25
in grades 4-5, no greater than 30 in grades 6-12.
* Mandated curricula, instruction and
professional development must receive a 75% vote of all stakeholders before
implementation.
* “Library fines and book money to be
used solely for libraries.”
2) Union Learns Recalling Governor
Not So Easy. When the recall of Gov. Gray Davis
qualified for the California ballot, the reaction of the California
Federation of Teachers was abrupt. The union called it an “ugly partisan
campaign” and “an abuse of the democratic process.” But thousands of miles
to the east, another AFT affiliate thought it wasn’t such a bad idea at all.
The St. Croix Federation of Teachers (SCFT)
organized and funded signature-gathering on a petition to recall U.S. Virgin
Islands Gov. Charles Turnbull for “incompetency.” Turnbull is a Democrat, a
former teacher and principal, and former commissioner of education of the
island chain. The recall effort was headed by SCFT President Tyrone
Molyneaux, who ousted Cecil Benjamin in a June 2000 election after Benjamin
had run the union for 28 years. Molyneaux celebrated his victory by taking
his union out on strike in October. The strike marked the first of many
battles between Molyneaux and Gov. Turnbull.
After the California recall qualified,
Molyneaux decided it was worth a try in the Virgin Islands. Gaining support
from another public employees’ union, SCFT set out to gather the required
17,518 signatures in 60 days. The deadline was 5 p.m. last Saturday.
At the deadline, Molyneaux submitted 614
signatures, or 3.5 percent of the number needed. “It didn’t go as well as
planned,” said Molyneaux, also submitting his entry for understatement of
the year. He blamed his failure on “the apathy of V.I. residents.”
3) Endorsement Scandal Splits NEA
and AFT in West Virginia. The newspapers in West
Virginia are abuzz over a feud between the West Virginia Education
Association (WVEA) and the West Virginia Federation of Teachers (WVFT). The
two unions have been at each other’s throats for many years, with the
smaller WVFT beginning to make membership inroads on the 14,000-member WVEA.
Tempers flared both internally and
externally at WVEA when the union issued its Democratic gubernatorial
endorsement to Secretary of State Joe Manchin instead of state Senator Lloyd
Jackson. Jackson, who served eight years as chairman of the Senate Education
Committee, is more ideologically attuned to WVEA.
The endorsement prompted threats to
resign from a WVEA official and a committee member, as well as threats to
ignore the endorsement from several WVEA locals. Meanwhile, the Jackson
campaign claimed the WVEA endorsement was bought by Manchin in exchange for
a pledge to deny access to WVFT if he became governor.
Manchin later said, “I regret implying
that AFT would have no input into my administration.” But his campaign
issued a statement that Manchin had acted that way because “certain
hard-line leaders of the AFT have been working against Joe on behalf of
Senator Jackson.”
4) Long Island Local Disaffiliates
from NEA. EIA has learned that the Deer Park
Teachers Association, a 380-member local on Long Island, has voted to
disaffiliate from NEA and NEA New York. DPTA would be the fourth known local
to disaffiliate from NEA New York in the last three years. The union did not
respond to an EIA request for information on its status, but the
AFT-affiliated New York State United Teachers has made no announcement
concerning Deer Park, suggesting the union is currently independent.
5) Your Choice: Contract
Negotiations or Hostage Negotiations. Activists
from the South Africa Democratic Teachers Union (SADTU) were unhappy with
the government’s non-payment of salaries to temporary teachers. So they made
an appointment to see district manager Walter Mzoneli. Upon entering his
office, the SADTU members took Mzoneli hostage. Police reinforcements were
called and after several hours of negotiations Mzoneli was released
unharmed. An education ministry spokesman said the department would not be
coerced into negotiations by blockades, hostage-taking and sit-ins.
6) Education Establishment Discovers
Tenth Amendment. Reporting from the floor of the
NEA convention on July 3, 2003, EIA stated, “The fact is, NCLB is a federal
power grab. But it’s the first federal power grab NEA has ever found reason
to oppose.” Union officials are not alone in decrying the mandates of the No
Child Left Behind Act. They have been joined by a number of administrators,
legislators and governors.
Those of us who are of the libertarian
persuasion quietly note that the federal government has no constitutional
authority over public education policy. Therefore, Washington has to buy its
authority – in the case of NCLB – with Title I money. If states want the
money, they have to accept the mandates. So we are confused by those NCLB
opponents who claim the federal law is costing them money. They say the cost
of the mandates exceeds the funding.
The unions’ default reaction to such a
condition is to demand more funding. But more and more districts and states
are considering the alternative: reject the mandates and turn down the
funding. Federal money usually trumps the principle of local control in most
aspects of government policy. But if NCLB truly costs more than it provides,
why participate?
It’s only fitting in a year when an
Austrian bodybuilder becomes governor of California that an expansion of
federal power by a conservative Republican administration would lead to an
embrace of states’ rights by liberal Democrats.
7) School District Size Issue
Reemerges. Dormant for almost a year, conflicts
about the size of school districts reappeared in several locations across
the country:
* In Los Angeles, where several efforts
to break up the mammoth district have been turned aside, the United Teachers
Los Angeles (UTLA) is calling for an end to the “mini-district” experiment.
Several years ago, the Los Angeles Unified School District established 11
mini-districts to answer criticisms that its bureaucracy was too centralized
and removed from the public. UTLA claims the mini-districts simply add an
additional layer of bureaucracy and cost too much.
* In Illinois, a state senator held a
forum about a proposed breakup of Elgin School District U46, the
second-largest school district in the state. The effort recently received a
boost when the district disclosed it had a $40 million operating fund
deficit. The Elgin Teachers Association called the proposal “a destructive
distraction.”
* In Nebraska, the legislature’s
education committee recommended all of the state’s elementary school
districts merge with secondary or unified districts within two years,
offering them an incentive of $4,100 per pupil to do so. Opponents wonder
how paying such large incentives could possibly result in overall savings to
the state.
8) Chicago Teachers Union Delegates
Approve Revamped Contract. On Friday, delegates of
the Chicago Teachers Union approved a renegotiated four-year contract by a
margin of 337 to 275. Both the delegates and the membership-at-large had
rejected an earlier tentative agreement. The new deal will likely be
approved by the rank-and-file during tomorrow’s vote.
9) Pennsylvania Union Staff
Bargaining Resumes Tomorrow. Negotiations between
the Pennsylvania State Education Association and its staff on a new
collective bargaining agreement will resume tomorrow. The session will
provide an indication of whether PSEA will accelerate efforts to reach an
agreement, or allow the divisive negotiations to become the main topic of
discussion at its House of Delegates meeting on December 5.
10) The Other Election in Louisiana.
The NEA-affiliated Louisiana Association of Educators and the AFT-affiliated
Louisiana Federation of Teachers can celebrate the victory of Democrat
Kathleen Blanco over Republican Bobby Jindal in the race for the state’s
governorship. But both teachers’ unions suffered a setback with the election
of Polly Broussard to the state’s Board of Elementary and Secondary
Education. Broussard is the executive director of the independent, non-union
Associated Professional Educators of Louisiana.
11) Irony of the Week.
Last Thursday, Massachusetts Teachers Association President Catherine
Boudreau testified before the legislature’s Joint Committee on Education,
Arts and Humanities against the state’s English immersion law, which passed
through a 2002 ballot initiative with 68 percent of the vote. The reason? It
infringes on parental choice. “The new law’s lack of choice is not good for
parents who want their children to have instruction in their native language
or who prefer a program other than sheltered immersion,” she said, adding
that the union is supporting legislation that would give districts and
parents more educational choices. MTA’s championing of parental choice does
not, however, extend to charter schools. The union is pursuing a moratorium
on the establishment of new charters.
12) Quote
of the Week.
“Why would they lead their members into a divisive, disruptive buildup
toward a strike that would have cost their members dearly in money,
professional esteem and public support? Why would they mislead their members
about the content and timing of the district’s counterproposals? Because
conflict inflates their importance. Why would they lead their members to the
brink of a strike to protect a wasteful health insurance system and a
dysfunctional process for assigning teachers to schools? Because both of
those things serve to enmesh the association in the management of the
district, to a degree scarcely seen anywhere else.” – former Portland
(Oregon) school board member Susan Hagmeier, asking rhetorical questions
about the Portland Association of Teachers. (November 14 Portland Tribune) |
