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Detroit teachers need a new political strategy
The following statement will be distributed by supporters of the Socialist Equality Party at a mass meeting of Detroit teachers on Sunday, August 27. The teachers are meeting to vote on strike action against the demand of the school district for drastic cuts in wages and benefits in a new contract. The leaflet is also posted as a PDF file. We urge teachers to download and distribute it at Sunday’s meeting.
In the run-up to today’s mass meeting, Detroit school district CEO William Coleman published a column in Friday’s Detroit Free Press threatening teachers with fines and other penalties if they strike against the wage and benefits concessions the district is demanding.
Coleman cited the state law against public employee strikes and said it imposes daily fines of $5,000 on the union and one day’s pay on workers for every day they remain on strike. He further threatened to retaliate for a teachers’ strike by furloughing “thousands of other employees.”
The tactics of intimidation and strike-breaking are being used to impose a 15 percent reduction in wages and medical, dental and optical benefits, as well as a lengthening of the workday and regressive work rules changes. For teachers struggling to meet mortgage payments and support their families, these cutbacks will have devastating consequences.
Coleman seeks to place the onus for a strike on the teachers, blaming them for the crisis of the school system. This is a fraud! With a salary of $180,000 (and six educational directors under him pulling in $150,000 each), he speaks for the financial elite that dominates one of the most impoverished cities in the country.
Read More
http://wsws.org/articles/2006/aug2006/detr-a26.shtml
Coleman cited the state law against public employee strikes and said it imposes daily fines of $5,000 on the union and one day’s pay on workers for every day they remain on strike. He further threatened to retaliate for a teachers’ strike by furloughing “thousands of other employees.”
The tactics of intimidation and strike-breaking are being used to impose a 15 percent reduction in wages and medical, dental and optical benefits, as well as a lengthening of the workday and regressive work rules changes. For teachers struggling to meet mortgage payments and support their families, these cutbacks will have devastating consequences.
Coleman seeks to place the onus for a strike on the teachers, blaming them for the crisis of the school system. This is a fraud! With a salary of $180,000 (and six educational directors under him pulling in $150,000 each), he speaks for the financial elite that dominates one of the most impoverished cities in the country.
Read More
http://wsws.org/articles/2006/aug2006/detr-a26.shtml
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