Intercepts
A listening post monitoring public education and teachers’ unions.

The news that 700 Oakland teachers had received pink slips sent that merry group of pranksters from the Oakland Education Association into the streets to shut down a branch of Wells Fargo bank. They were ably assisted in this endeavor by representatives of the International Bolshevik Tendency. (No, I’m not making this stuff up.)

Now, less than three weeks later, we learn that the actual number of layoffs is… 35.

I don’t expect the Wells Fargo employees to march over to the offices of the OEA and shut it down. They have more productive things to do.

The California Federation of Teachers’ defense of its Mumia resolution trots out Dick Cheney, “right wing propaganda networks,” Amnesty International, the NAACP, 8 hour days, minimum wage laws, the weekend, Wisconsin, “billionaires and their right wing politician friends,” the longshoremen, and the Wall Street banks. In fact, it’s reminiscent of Mumia’s own defense.

It’s unclear where Maureen Faulkner, Randi Weingarten and the National Fraternal Order of Police reside in this fever swamp. What’s more, CFT is being deliberately misleading about an important detail of the resolution – one that seems to have escaped the notice even of its critics.

CFT describes the resolution as “one supporting a new trial for Mumia Abu Jamal.” Later, the statement asks, in Q&A fashion:

What does the resolution say?

The CFT supports a new trial for Mumia Abu Jamal, who was convicted of killing a police officer.

And again, the statement says that the purpose of the resolution was to “reaffirm the previous statement of support for a new trial.”

The problem with all these claims is that CFT’s resolution doesn’t say anything about a new trial for Mumia.

Instead, the resolution claims “the appellate courts have also refused to consider strong evidence of Mumia Abu-Jamal’s innocence,” references his “continued unjust incarceration,” calls on CFT to “demand that the courts consider the evidence of innocence of Mumia Abu-Jamal” and bring the issue to the AFT Convention “should he not have been cleared of charges and released by that time.”

You can infer that “justice” for Mumia means a new trial, but the text of the resolution suggests his release is the real aim. I can’t find the original CFT resolution, which must have passed before 2003. The 2003 CFT convention resolutions also contain a Mumia measure that references the union having “gone on record calling for justice for Mumia Abu Jamal.” The 2003 resolution also doesn’t call for a new trial, but instead instructs CFT to join in an amicus brief “appealing the decisions of state and federal courts to refuse to hear evidence of Mumia’s actual innocence.”

In addressing why the resolution came to the floor, CFT states “the delegates are bound by our bylaws and constitution to address it. That means if it goes to the convention floor, we hear it, debate it, and vote on it.” But the union also says the Mumia resolution “took almost no debate and almost no time.”

Much to CFT’s chagrin, that debate is now taking place in the public square.

The California Federation of Teacher resolution expressing support for Mumia Abu-Jamal received the national seal of disapproval from AFT President Randi Weingarten yesterday, after she received a complaint from Chuck Canterbury, president of the National Fraternal Order of Police.

In an April 14 letter (cc’ed to AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka and CFT President Marty Hittelman), Canterbury expressed his “outrage and disgust” at the resolution. “I cannot understand why the CFT, which like us represents rank-and-file employees, would support a murderer,” he wrote.

Canterbury then covered the evidence in the case, and the details of Mumia’s various appeals over the years. He then concluded:

This resolution, if it remains unchallenged by the AFT, would cast grave doubts on your leadership as well as pose serious questions as to the ability of the FOP to work with your organization at any level. On behalf of the more than 330,000 members of the Fraternal Order of Police, the families of slain law enforcement officers and the honored memories of the officers killed in the line of duty, I urge you to repudiate the resolution supporting this cop-killer.

Weingarten replied in a letter dated April 18:

We have taken the last few days to search the record, and except for this isolated action in California, we cannot find another incidence in which the AFT or any of our other affiliates have adopted a similar resolution. If such a resolution ever were to be raised at our national convention, I’m confident it would be soundly rejected.

She concluded by characterizing the CFT measure as an “isolated, and in my judgment, unfortunate resolution.”

I’ve checked the EIA archives and can find no past reference to Mumia in AFT stories, and scant mention in NEA. In 2000, Massachusetts Teachers Association delegates instructed their president to write a letter to then-Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge in support of a new trial. The same year, a Mumia-related new business item was presented to the NEA Representative Assembly but the delegates voted not to consider it.

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1) Teachers, Parents, Students and the World: Who’s to Blame for Poor Results?

2) Last Week’s Intercepts

3) Quote of the Week

At its annual convention last month, the California Federation of Teachers approved a host of new resolutions, including Resolution 19, which reaffirmed the union’s support for Mumia Abu-Jamal, claiming the “continued unjust incarceration of Mumia Abu-Jamal represents a threat to the civil rights of all people.”

Mumia Abu-Jamal was convicted of murdering Philadelphia police officer Danny Faulkner in 1981 and sentenced to death the following year. His nearly 30-year stint on death row has long been a cause célèbre for the left.

Faulkner’s widow, Maureen, has devoted her life to countering myths about her husband’s shooting, and she currently lives in California. Having heard about the resolution, she phoned Marty Hittelman, the president of the California Federation of Teachers. She wrote her account of the conversation in the Ventura County Star:

Thursday, I called and spoke with Marty Hittelman, president of the California Federation of Teachers, to inquire if I had the facts straight regarding its endorsement of the murderer of my husband.

During my brief conversation with Mr. Hittelman, I calmly asked him if he knew what happened the night my husband was murdered. He replied that he did not know and “he has not read any of the transcripts” yet, he believes “Abu-Mumia deserves a third trial.”

He told me that the resolution (by the teachers) only took one minute and he had not personally voted on it. I responded that it may have only taken one minute but the continuing trials, appeals and propaganda have resulted in many years of emotional distress for me and my family. He replied, “I’m sure it has.”

He also said this wasn’t supposed to get out into the press, asking, “How did you find out about this?” I replied that I found out through the newspapers and told him, “You have no idea what victims go through when they lose a loved one to murder.” At this point, Hittelman hung up on me!

Let’s assume for a moment that Hittelman’s version of the conversation may be different, and concentrate on his apparent laissez-faire view of the Mumia case and his union’s resolution. It’s curious that Hittelman would claim to have not read “any of the transcripts” since he figures prominently in a May 2000 press release by the Educators for Mumia Abu-Jamal attempting to raise funds for newspaper ads (like this one that appeared in the New York Times) advocating for a new trial. He was also a signatory to the ad. Educators for Mumia Abu-Jamal still exists, and Hittelman’s name still appears on the organization’s “list of supporters.”

Also noteworthy is Hittelman’s surprise that a major California union’s reiteration of support for a convicted cop-killer should receive public attention, and that passage of the resolution by the attending delegates in one minute is somehow a mitigating circumstance.

The CFT resolution also commits the union to “introduce and advocate on behalf of a resolution at the 2012 AFT Convention reaffirming the AFT’s support for justice for Mumia Abu-Jamal should he not have been cleared of charges and released by that time.”

With this much advance notice, perhaps the AFT delegates will spend more than a minute debating it.

Lost in all the uproar about the California Teachers Association’s “state of emergency” protests were the results of the union elections for its three executive positions.

Vice president Dean Vogel ran unopposed for the union’s presidency and was elected by acclamation last January. The vice president and secretary-treasurer positions were contested, and the winners were selected by CTA’s 745-member State Council.

Incumbent CTA secretary-treasurer Gail Mendes, United Teachers Los Angeles president A.J. Duffy, and Eric Heins, a former member of the NEA board of directors, competed for the vice president slot, with Heins emerging as the winner.

CTA board of directors member Mikki Cichocki was elected secretary-treasurer, defeating Mark Koch of Delano.

Alas, we shall never know the taste of “labor-union flavored ice cream.”

After the widespread dissemination of the California Teachers Association’s list of “potential activities” planned for its May 9-13 protests and occupation of the state Capitol, the union has severely edited the list, posting a new one on its CAstateofemergency.com site.

Gone from the original list are plans to picket legislators’ homes and target their businesses. Gone is the idea to “follow targeted legislators for the entire day.” Gone is having students and parents picket school sites and camp there overnight.

No more co-opting of the earthquake/fire drill. No more closing of major arteries into cities. No “Refrain from Shopping Day,” dyed red hair or ”labor-union flavored ice cream” from Ben and Jerry’s.

However, CTA still thinks it’s a good idea to “Call parents to tell them how their child is doing and then talk about the budget cuts and invite them to attend the rallies.”