Quan Supporter Gets No Introduction On KPFA

Pam Drake has supported the boycott of the Morning Mix and yet when it suits her interes, she appears on the show. Drake and her "SaveKPFA" allies were calling anyone who worked on the Morning Mix scabs and union busters and none of their folks on the air will cross promote the Morning Mix, which is just another example of their sectarian games at KPFA: if we can't control it we won't support it. For the longest time Drake and her allies would contact people and urge them not to appear on the Morning Mix. Are these the people you want running a community station?

Apparently Alameda Labor Council flack Pamela Drake who is campaigning for Jean Quan thinks things are going great in Oakland. The bust up of the Oakland schools for private charters is apparently her idea of a "renaissance" and "flowering" in Oakland.


Oakland plan makes teachers compete for their jobs
Jill Tucker
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2012/03/31/MN1F1NSJ0C.DTL
Saturday, March 31, 2012


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Michael Macor / The Chronicle
Rodney Brown, a Castlemont High School English teacher, speaks at a rally outside Fremont High Wednesday.
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As part of a radical plan to reform three failing high schools in Oakland, current teachers who want to stay will have to compete for their jobs with outside applicants.

They also will have to agree to work nearly a month more each year, but the deal comes with a bigger paycheck.

The plan, which takes advantage of a small clause in the labor contract, skirts teacher seniority rights and is the latest attempt by a school district to get highly trained and reform-minded teachers in front of the most struggling students even if it means defying labor union doctrine.

In San Francisco this month, district officials skipped over less-senior teachers in 14 struggling schools when handing out pink slips.

In Los Angeles, a legal settlement last year allowed the district to spread layoffs more evenly across schools rather than rely solely on seniority. Several state legislatures across the country have banned the use of seniority in teacher layoffs.

Teacher unions see these moves as an affront to a sacred tenet of worker rights.

In Oakland on Thursday, the teachers union demanded the district rescind its plan for McClymonds, Fremont and Castlemont high schools and has filed an unfair labor practice complaint.

The superintendent is attempting to abuse a clause in the contract that allows the district to set different work requirements for "teachers on special assignment," union leaders said. It's a power struggle that will take veteran and committed teachers away from their students, said Betty Olson-Jones, president of the Oakland EducationAssociation.

"This is really a slap in the face to our students," Olson-Jones said. "It's saying it doesn't matter who your teacher is."

Official disagrees

District officials disagreed.

The plan isn't meant to purge the schools of teachers, but to ensure that every teacher assigned to them is committed to the hard work it will take to help struggling students succeed, Superintendent Tony Smith said.

"The kids in those schools need support, and the teachers need additional time and support to work with these kids," Smith said.

His plan would eliminate teaching positions at the three schools and replace them all with teachers designated as being on special assignment.

Those hired would be required to work an extra 18 days during the students' summer break. They'd receive an additional $5,100 on average.

The district has made it clear that those who don't want the extra workload need not apply.

By Friday afternoon, more than 100 teachers had applied for the estimated 60 positions available. Forty-five of the applications were from teachers currently at the three high schools, district officials said. The deadline for applying was 11:55 p.m. Friday.

Teachers currently at the schools who decided not to apply but wish to remain in the district will be assigned to another district school.

Earlier this week, several teachers at the schools said they wouldn't apply.

Among them was Castlemont English teacher Rodney Brown, who has been at the school six years.

"My staying at Castlemont would only be as a classroom teacher not some made-up position," he said. "I'll teach at another Oakland school."

Fremont special education teacher Moss Hahn said he also would not apply for personal and professional reasons.

He said the schools don't need new teachers; they need to restore funding for librarians, security, art, music, dance and alternative languages like French.

The superintendent's initiative "seems like a questionable remedy at best and may turn out to be a disgraceful experiment," he said.

The plan does not require approval by the school board, but its seven members could intervene, requiring the superintendent to sit down at the bargaining table with union leaders to hash out a compromise, said board member Noel Gallo.

Gallo said the board will probably raise that possibility at a future meeting.

"I think what we have right now is a great deal of division," he said. "I need to be able to reach out and work with our teachers."

Yet, the status quo hasn't worked at McClymonds, Fremont and Castlemont high schools, where test scores consistently fall among the lowest of the low in the state and where less than half the students end up with a diploma, Smith said.

First attempt

As far as Smith knows, no one has ever tried a plan like his before.

"It's aggressive and different, and it's contractual," he said. "Is Oakland satisfied with what we've got? Because what we've got is from what we've done."

At a recent teacher union rally outside Fremont High School to protest the superintendent's plan, ninth-grader Clinton Brand stood with a few of his teachers.

He wasn't clear on all the details of the changes coming to his school, but he didn't like the sound of it.

"I love all my teachers," the 14-year-old said. "I don't like having to get to know new people."

Jill Tucker is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. jtucker [at] sfchronicle.com

This pyschobabble from Pamela Drake, obviously a long time experienced defender of the Democrats' election frauding gang known as the Labor Lieutenants of Capitalism, is a good reminder to NEVER VOTE FOR ANY MEMBER OF SAVE KPFA/CONCERNED LISTENERS FOR ANYTHING. It is criminally insane for anyone who sits on the Local Station Board to say that any part of this backward, increasingly fascist warmongering country is experiencing a renaissance. THE ENTIRE US IS EXPERIENCING A GREAT DEPRESSION WORSE THAN THE 1930s and increasing fascism that would make Hitler proud.

By the way, Mayor Quan is easily recalled as the mayor's race is a property owner's race and they never wanted her in the first place. Any other Democrat or Republican is just as bad, but as a way of protesting, Oakland residents (not this writer) can vote for the recall AND vote for any Peace & Freedom or Green Party candidate who hopefully will run as a replacement. The whole Quan recall drive is not worth airtime on KPFA as absolutely nothing will change, regardless of which Democrat or Republican replaces her.

So:
1. We are voting NO ON THE RECALL OF TRACY ROSENBERG so that the "SaveKPFA" gang cannot destroy our station;
2. We are voting for all the ANTI-RECALL CANDIDATES in September 2012 and September 2013, so that we have a strong majority of anti-recall candidates who will repeal this expensive and destructive wasteful recall provision in the bylaws as we have almost annual expensive elections to the Local Station Board thus negating any need for any recall, and as we now see, this recall is being used to destroy Pacifica and KPFA by changing the majority on the Pacifica Board so as to fire Arlene Englehardt, executive director, and then appoint a new executive director to fire station manager Andrew Phillips, and install a new one who will drain KPFA and Pacifica of funds, as before, thus ending the existence of KPFA and Pacifica. Pamela Drake and her government operation friends known as "Save KPFA" must be defeated in September 2012 to literally save KPFA and Pacifica.

The attack on Pam Drake is completely unfair. First, she has no connection to the Alameda County Central Labor Council, as a flack or otherwise. Second, it is not principled to treat the Council, which, for better or worse, represents organized labor in this county, as though it were an enemy organization. It is fair to criticize the Council's actions and even its leaders, but if the movement has any desire or hope of uniting working people in this community, you cannot begin by treating all labor leaders and those who associate with them as though they were completely and hopelessly reactionary. Third, some people on the left may decide to support the recall of Mayor Quan. I do not, although my disagreements with her are sharp and widely known. The people who initiated the recall and will benefit from its success represent the most corrupt and reactionary forces in our community. I have no problem with people wanting to debate this issue, but attacking Pam, who is a respected and committed community activist and nobody's hack is unprincipled and counterproductive. We want to unite the 99% against the 1%, not the 1% against the 99%!

From http://www.facebook.com/Progressive16?sk=app_4949752878
Pamela Drake: As a member of the Alameda County Central Labor Council, the Local Politics Chair of the Wellstone Democratic Renewal Club, a former president of the Metropolitan Greater Oakland (MGO) Democratic Club, a member of the KPFA Local Station Board, and a small business advocate, I bring a diversity of experience to the Progressive wing of the California Democratic Party. I have been an activist in the Bay Area since I went on strike for Ethnic Studies at San Francisco State in the 60’s. As a staff person for a former Oakland City Council Member, I worked on policy initiatives for violence prevention measures, tenants’ rights, homeless prevention, community banking, and affordable housing. Since then, I have run a community center which assisted residents in organizing around multiple issues. Prior to the near shutdown of our program, I was an Adult Ed instructor in Government and Economics. I became a single mother in the eighties and raised my biracial family on my own and I fully understand the economic and political challenges of being a low income parent in Oakland. I believe that the Democratic Party’s platform is an important tool in promoting a just society for all Californians.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=%2Fc%2Fa%2F1996%2F09%2F21%2FMN45417.DTL

Tentative Deal In Sex Harass Suit: But Oakland council must OK payout

Rick DelVecchio, Chronicle East Bay Bureau
Saturday, September 21, 1996

The city of Oakland will pay $125,000 to settle a lawsuit that accused Councilman Nate Miley of sexually harassing one of his former aides, according to a tentative deal announced yesterday.

The suit, filed in April, caused a minor sensation at City Hall because the former aide and chief of staff, Pamela Drake, alleged that Miley first demoted her then forced her out at a time when she `rejected his advances and objected to his continuing sexual harassment.''

Drake, who worked for Miley from 1991 to 1995, had sought compensation for lost wages and benefits, medical bills and punitive damages.

The settlement, which also would allow Drake to pursue workers' compensation claims, will not become final until approved by the City Council. She has not worked consistently since her city job ended more than a year ago.

Drake's lawyer, Jeff Trowbridge, said his client is generally pleased with the agreement. However, he said, `It's not everything she could have hoped for, in light of her present economic circumstances and the risks of trial.''

A trial would have been personally and financially draining for both sides. An earlier sex harassment suit, filed by a former Oakland police officer against her boss, went through the courts for six years before it was settled last January for $335,000.

Miley says he did nothing wrong and has characterized Drake's suit as a mean-spirited attack on him, his current aides and his political friends.

The suit named Miley's political mentor, former Alameda County Supervisor Don Perata, as a co-defendant.

`Nate is happy to see the matter resolved,'' his lawyer, Dan Siegel, said yesterday. ``It's a cloud over his head, and I think it's very unfortunate that the city is required to spend this amount of money to resolve a claim we believe to be totally without merit. This is the kind of lawsuit that can be characterized as legal extortion, where the pressure points of litigation costs and political embarrassment are used to extract a settlement.''

Drake and Miley had a friendship and intermittment sexual relationship. Siegel characterized the intimacy as `entirely consensual.'' Drake said it started out as part of their friendship but by the end of 1994 became something she was embarrassed about and did not want to continue.

In early 1995, Drake was given secondary duties in a staff reorganization. Miley's account is that he decided, after consulting associates, including Perata, that Drake was no longer suited to the role of chief of staff.

Drake said her continued employment as chief of staff depended on her willingness to engage in sexual relations with Miley and endure a hostile work environment created by his alleged sexual harassment. She said in the suit that she was fired. Miley said she quit.

Alameda Labor Council Stands With Mayor Jean Quan-KPFA Board Member And "Save KPFA" Supporter Drake Backing Quan
Stand with Oakland and Stop the Recall

The Alameda Labor Council supports Mayor Jean Quan and we held a press conference and adopted a resolution opposing the recall campaign.
Oaklanders are asking that you "Stand with Oakland and Stop the Recall" because it's divisive, expensive, and unfair. Residents are tabling at our local farmers' markets and hosting house parties where Mayor Quan can answer questions and talk about her programs, and asking people to sign the petition against the recall.
Please visit Stand with Oakland, Stop the Recall on facebook or our new website, StandwithOakland.org for more information on how you can volunteer, donate, or sign the petition.
Questions? Contact Pam Drake at 510-834-9198
Stand with Oakland and Stop the Recall
http://www.alamedalabor.org/index.cfm?action=article&articleID=c87c9648-c468-4b32-9124-303dc2d7a90f


Stand with Oakland and Stop the Recall
The Alameda Labor Council supports Mayor Jean Quan and we held a press conference and adopted a resolution opposing the recall campaign.
Oaklanders are asking that you "Stand with Oakland and Stop the Recall" because it's divisive, expensive, and unfair. Residents are tabling at our local farmers' markets and hosting house parties where Mayor Quan can answer questions and talk about her programs, and asking people to sign the petition against the recall.
Please visit Stand with Oakland, Stop the Recall on facebook or our new website, StandwithOakland.org for more information on how you can volunteer, donate, or sign the petition.
Questions? Contact Pam Drake at 510-834-9198

Alameda Labor Council, AFL-CIO
For Immediate Release December 19, 2011
CONTACT: Josie Camacho, 510-502-1454 or Jean Cohen, 510-499-2839

Local Workers Deliver Strong Show of Support for Mayor Quan
Alameda Labor Council Vows to Fight Recall Effort

OAKAND -- Local workers affiliated with the Alameda Labor Council today expressed strong support for Mayor Jean Quan, vowing to defeat any attempt to recall her. The show of support follows a resolution to oppose the recall adopted by delegates of the Alameda Labor Council on December 5th.

"Mayor Quan is doing very important work to revive Oakland's economy, and that work must continue,” said Josie Camacho, Executive Secretary Treasurer of the Alameda Labor Council. ”Mayor Quan’s efforts to develop the Oakland Army Base will bring businesses to our city and create good, sustainable jobs for Oakland residents.”
The resolution adopted by delegates to oppose the recall says the recall would hurt the city during a time of continued economic uncertainty.

“Our communities are in the midst of an economic downturn which has caused both unemployment and a fiscal crisis in Oakland,” the resolution states. “A recall would distract attention from the crucial task of confronting this crisis and would only create an additional financial drain on the city.”

Workers cited the Mayor’s longstanding commitment to working people at today’s press conference.
“When the FAA shutdown happened in July at the Oakland Airport tower construction site, it put me and dozens of workers out of work,” said Theo Green a journeyman electrician with IBEW 595. “Mayor Quan came out to our job site, stood with us and spoke out, stressing the need to get people back to work. She is a leader for working people and we need her voice and leadership in Oakland more than ever.”

The Delegates resolution also draws attention to the critical public safety efforts Mayor Quan is leading and highlights her success in building Oakland’s first public safety plan that unites law enforcement and schools to combine community policing efforts and targeted work with youth and families.

"We must make our neighborhoods safer and reduce the violent crime impacting our communities,” said Michael Patterson, IBEW 1245 member and Oakland resident. “I know Mayor Quan is focused on identifying public safety solutions for our youth and families who have been impacted by violence."

The Alameda Labor Council, AFL-CIO is committed to building a progressive city government that serves the interests ofworking families. We believe our energy and resources are best served by building safe and healthy communities, tackling our shared challenges, and creating good jobs.

Leftists who support the right-wing-initiated recall against Quan remind me of the German Communist Party (KPD)'s support of the Nazi-initiated referendum to remove the Social-Democratic government of Prussia, the most important German state, in 1931. The Stalinist KPD tried to cover their asses by calling this Nazi initiative 'The Red Referendum'. It was defeated anyway.

If it turns out that I'm wrong, and that the recall move against Quan is not a move to push the Oakland situation farther to the right, but merely a fight between capitalist politicians with conflicting ambitions, then it would be correct to abstain on it, rather than to oppose or support it.

Oakland 2012, just like Germany 1931. Thanks for the brilliant historical analogy.

Aron Arons must be getting senile. Using his argument we should all support Jerry Brown and Obama to stop the fascists. Does this sound like the Wellstone Democratic Club. Stop fascism with the lesser evil Democrats. This is the same arguments the union bureaucracy is using. Support the Democrats or we are done. Instead of relying on the power of the people, Aron is now relying on Quan to defend the people while she attacks the people?

The same Alameda Labor Council Labor Council that now so uncritically backs Quan denounced her after the first Police attack on OO in late Oct . 2011. THey correctly wrote that Quan was ''on the wrong side of History ''
What's changed ? Not ex Communist Now very Pro-Capitalist Jean Quan !
PS If someone runs into Drake ask her why her great progressive leader Quan hasn't demanded the criminal prosecution of the OPD thug that almost murdered Scott Olsen ?