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1) History Repeats Itself at United
Teachers Los Angeles. United Teachers Los Angeles
(UTLA) made headlines twice this week. Perhaps this isn't so strange: it's
the second largest teachers' union local in the nation; it's a powerful
player not only in education but in municipal politics; and its
communications strategy seems to be that of Hollywood itself - there's no
such thing as bad publicity.
This week's stories contained more than
a hint of past events, but no one seems to have noticed the union's
positions are exactly the opposite of its previous ones, taken in similar
circumstances.
Case #1 -
The
"un-endorsements" of school board candidates John Fernandez and Jesus
Escandon. UTLA withdrew its support of Fernandez after belatedly discovering
his bankruptcy and tax problems. Fernandez claims UTLA drafted a letter for
his signature, withdrawing his candidacy, but he refused to sign it. He
called the union's pressure "a
vicious, racist, cowardly act."
Escandon did withdraw after UTLA
discovered previously undisclosed convictions for driving under the
influence and public drunkenness. But Escandon's wife claimed he did so
under duress, only after UTLA President A.J. Duffy allegedly made a veiled
threat against his job. Escandon is a regional UniServ director for the
California Teachers Association.
UTLA "would
rather lose the campaign than have a candidate who didn't rise to our level
of honesty and integrity," said union spokeswoman Marla Eby.
This might sound like a unique
situation, but it happened before in Los Angeles. In 2006, the union
endorsed Christopher Arellano for the school board. Arellano,
coincidentally, was a UTLA staffer at the time (and
evidently still is). After the endorsement, news surfaced of Arellano's
criminal convictions for theft. UTLA planned to rescind the endorsement, but
Arellano made an emotional appearance in front of the union's representative
assembly.
L.A. Weekly reported:
"Convinced that Arellano was the subject
of a smear campaign, UTLA activists demanded that their candidate receive
the opportunity to speak. Once Arellano appeared, he received a standing
ovation and re-won their loyalty."
Unfortunately for all involved, after
the union voted to stand by their man, it was revealed that Arellano
had not completed the two master's programs at USC for which he claimed
degrees. While UTLA continued to work for him, he eventually shut down his
campaign and was defeated for the seat.
Arellano's endorsement was a mistake
UTLA did not care to repeat, but it's hard to believe the union's background
checks were again so faulty, considering its previous experience. Also, no
one has bothered to explain why Arellano and Escandon are unfit for a school
board seat but perfectly fine on the union's side of the bargaining table.
Case #2 -
The UTLA elections. Current UTLA president A.J. Duffy is moving on to run
for the
vice presidency of the California Teachers Association. Mail-in
balloting is taking place for his successor, and eight candidates are
running.
The
Los Angeles Times reports:
"Except for
Washington, who is part of the union leadership, candidates insisted that
UTLA has become too weak, too compliant, too ineffectual, too willing to
compromise under president A.J. Duffy, who is finishing his second and final
three-year term."
Flashback six years to Duffy's election,
when the Times reported that Duffy's slate pushed for
"militant rank-and-file unionism." Outgoing
president John Perez admitted, "I think they want a more aggressive attitude
toward LAUSD."
When Perez was elected in 2002, he
defeated Mike Cherry, who said, "We need to do something about salaries. If
that means being more militant, that's what I'll do.'' He also defeated
Warren Fletcher, who said the union under Day Higuchi had become too
bureaucratic and "too cozy" with the district.
"Every year we send them to market with
the family cow and every year they come back with magic beans
See JavaBeans. ,'' Fletcher said.
You would hard-pressed to find anyone
whoever ran for - much less won - union office by promising to collaborate
with management and seek more common ground. The union electorate (not
to be confused with its entire membership) either wants the status quo
or someone more militant than the incumbent.
Santayana famously wrote, "Those who
cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." In Los Angeles, it
appears they can't even remember repeating it.
2) Last Week's Intercepts.
EIA's blog,
Intercepts, covered these topics from February 1-7:
* From
Supreme Court to Criminal Court. Karma.
*
Two More Iowa Locals Decertify NEA. If three's a trend, what's four?
*
Credit Where Credit Is Due. Maybe we can't all get along, but we can
agree that merging districts doesn't save money.
*
Crossing the Line. Flexibility.
*
Race to Nowhere Already Won. They lost it at the movies.
3)
Quote of the Week. "The original intent was to send the money to the
state so that the state could send it directly to the local education
association or school districts to retain and re-hire teachers." - Joe
Gertsema, superintendent of the Yankton School District in South Dakota,
talking about the edujobs bill (emphasis added). (February 4
Keloland Television) |
