Detroit teachers vote narrowly to end strike

The struggle of the teachers was undone by the DFT leadership and the rest of the Detroit trade union bureaucracy, which did nothing to mobilize the broad popular support for the teachers and instead isolated the strike, leaving the teachers to face the threat of fines and other reprisals on their own. The teachers had defied a court injunction issued the previous Friday ordering them to return to work, as well as demands by School Superintendent William Coleman that a state law banning public employee strikes be enforced.

Most teachers who streamed into Cobo Hall for the mass meeting Wednesday morning where union leaders read out provisions of the tentative deal were angry and bitter over the agreement’s derisory wage offer and an across-the-board ten percent co-pay on health benefits. They had struck to reverse years of wage freezes and give-backs, school closures and job cuts, and the deterioration of conditions in the schools. The strike had remained solid despite a concerted effort by the media to whitewash the school district and city and state politicians, while blaming the teachers for causing “irreparable harm” to the schools.

But in the face of the treachery and cowardice of the DFT leadership, the vote to end the strike passed by a small margin. Many of the teachers who opposed the contract felt there was no choice but to vote to go back to work.

The contract was reached under massive pressure from city and state Democratic politicians, including Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm.

At Wednesday’s mass meeting the reactionary role of the union bureaucracy was on full display, as it moved to cut off discussion and ram through the contract. It was clear the union leaders felt that a serious, extended discussion would lessen their ability to obtain a back-to-work vote.

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http://wsws.org/articles/2006/sep2006/teac-s14.shtml