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Indybay Feature
Oakland Schools to Continue Hiring Scabs
The Oakland Unified School District ended it's scab hiring at the Airport Hilton, but has resumed it at district offices at 314 E. 10th Street in Huerta Hall. These will continue through Saturday, from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. All are encouraged to go there to let the educational bureaucrats know what the Bay Area working class thinks about hiring scabs in our community.
This is a report forwarded from 3 people who attended the Scab Job Fair on Friday, January 27 at the Oakland Airport Hilton:
"(1/28/06) We went to the hall on Friday, early in the afternoon. Only one person had his diploma and was able to continue through the application process. Neither of the other two of us brought ours, but we did find out the details of what we needed to bring next time. So we just mingled and ate and drank to our heart's content at the coffee/pastry buffet.
The comrade with his diploma sat at the dozen or so tables set up to fill out his application. The other comrade and I ate and talked like we were too stupid to know we were scabs. Others joined the conversation, some defending that it was "for the kids." Most still said they wished the best for the teachers. The diplomaed one further provoked the discussion with people around him, I joined in--and after some others joined, if even passively by listening, our third comrade joined too. Our friend with his diploma carried on in the conversion for quite awhile, progressively realizing that he was stabbing the regular teachers in the back, and then stated boldly "I JUST CAN'T DO THIS!" The other guy and I agreed and all of us casually walked out. Two women, who'd been istening attentively, followed us out without finishing filling out their applications in order to move on to the interview process.
A tiny victory, and on the way out we scrawled with a marker on the conference room poster, mounted on an easel, announcing the teacher hiring, "DON'T SCAB!" and left.
All-in-all, it was good to scope out the district's scabbing. The common refrain of the fools who were scabbing was 'We're on doing it [SCABBING] for the kids,' which after hearing it enough times was nauseating. If we do this again, we need to make clear that teachers and support staff took a 4% pay cut in 2004 and the contract the OUSD offered DOESN'T even bring them back up to parity with their wages before that. And the tight-fisted district doesn't even have enough books or supplies for each student and it's very common for teachers to pay over $1000 a year, out-of-pocket, to provide those things for the students. The Oakland Tribune had a story on January 16th about Castlemont High School closing its library. So, the district doesn't give a fuck about the kids. And paying sleazy scabs $300 a day isn't going to change that one bit. Randy Ward runs the district like an autocratic dictator, but the numbers compute as well as Arthur-Anderson managed for Enron. Any one who cares about the kids should support the teachers, at least the 70% who stick around each year and don't leave because of the shitty wages and conditions.
They're continuing the scab hiring on Monday [January 30] at the district's HQ downtown. We are planning to doing something there next week. With more advanced warning, we'll let you all know."
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Some reflections of the above:
Perhaps the students, parents and teachers in Oakland should take a cue from the John Swett Elementary School in San Francisco, where 90% of the kids were kept out today in protest about the school being closed and merged with 2 others into a new school a considerable distance away (http://www.sfexaminer.com/articles/2006/01/31/news/20060131_ne01_protest.txt).
In the 1996 Oakland teachers strike, schools maintained the same level of emptiness--80-90%, with only about 15% of teachers scabbing--because parents supported the teachers with groups like the "Parents for Classrooms First," mimicking the slogan of the teachers' struggle and strike. But earlier the students had risen up valiantly, creating the "Student Power Union" with the goal of pushing the teachers to be more militant and make the strike "stronger and more fierce." The organized students helped rebuild mass militance on the picket lines and were clearly more radical in tactics and demands than the teachers' union.
The strike was successful for the wages of the regular teachers, but its great flaw was a contract that allowed other support staff, like counselors whose already heavy workload with the ratio of one counselor to 300 students was raised to 500 students. Also betrayed were early childhood education workers and school psychologists, many of whom were laid off. And the district completely hedged on reducing classroom size, one of the main demands of students, teachers and parents.
Learning the lessons from the struggles of the past can help avoid their mistakes and emulate their strengths in the class war of the present.
VICTORY TO THE STRIKING TEACHERS!
Gifford
"(1/28/06) We went to the hall on Friday, early in the afternoon. Only one person had his diploma and was able to continue through the application process. Neither of the other two of us brought ours, but we did find out the details of what we needed to bring next time. So we just mingled and ate and drank to our heart's content at the coffee/pastry buffet.
The comrade with his diploma sat at the dozen or so tables set up to fill out his application. The other comrade and I ate and talked like we were too stupid to know we were scabs. Others joined the conversation, some defending that it was "for the kids." Most still said they wished the best for the teachers. The diplomaed one further provoked the discussion with people around him, I joined in--and after some others joined, if even passively by listening, our third comrade joined too. Our friend with his diploma carried on in the conversion for quite awhile, progressively realizing that he was stabbing the regular teachers in the back, and then stated boldly "I JUST CAN'T DO THIS!" The other guy and I agreed and all of us casually walked out. Two women, who'd been istening attentively, followed us out without finishing filling out their applications in order to move on to the interview process.
A tiny victory, and on the way out we scrawled with a marker on the conference room poster, mounted on an easel, announcing the teacher hiring, "DON'T SCAB!" and left.
All-in-all, it was good to scope out the district's scabbing. The common refrain of the fools who were scabbing was 'We're on doing it [SCABBING] for the kids,' which after hearing it enough times was nauseating. If we do this again, we need to make clear that teachers and support staff took a 4% pay cut in 2004 and the contract the OUSD offered DOESN'T even bring them back up to parity with their wages before that. And the tight-fisted district doesn't even have enough books or supplies for each student and it's very common for teachers to pay over $1000 a year, out-of-pocket, to provide those things for the students. The Oakland Tribune had a story on January 16th about Castlemont High School closing its library. So, the district doesn't give a fuck about the kids. And paying sleazy scabs $300 a day isn't going to change that one bit. Randy Ward runs the district like an autocratic dictator, but the numbers compute as well as Arthur-Anderson managed for Enron. Any one who cares about the kids should support the teachers, at least the 70% who stick around each year and don't leave because of the shitty wages and conditions.
They're continuing the scab hiring on Monday [January 30] at the district's HQ downtown. We are planning to doing something there next week. With more advanced warning, we'll let you all know."
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Some reflections of the above:
Perhaps the students, parents and teachers in Oakland should take a cue from the John Swett Elementary School in San Francisco, where 90% of the kids were kept out today in protest about the school being closed and merged with 2 others into a new school a considerable distance away (http://www.sfexaminer.com/articles/2006/01/31/news/20060131_ne01_protest.txt).
In the 1996 Oakland teachers strike, schools maintained the same level of emptiness--80-90%, with only about 15% of teachers scabbing--because parents supported the teachers with groups like the "Parents for Classrooms First," mimicking the slogan of the teachers' struggle and strike. But earlier the students had risen up valiantly, creating the "Student Power Union" with the goal of pushing the teachers to be more militant and make the strike "stronger and more fierce." The organized students helped rebuild mass militance on the picket lines and were clearly more radical in tactics and demands than the teachers' union.
The strike was successful for the wages of the regular teachers, but its great flaw was a contract that allowed other support staff, like counselors whose already heavy workload with the ratio of one counselor to 300 students was raised to 500 students. Also betrayed were early childhood education workers and school psychologists, many of whom were laid off. And the district completely hedged on reducing classroom size, one of the main demands of students, teachers and parents.
Learning the lessons from the struggles of the past can help avoid their mistakes and emulate their strengths in the class war of the present.
VICTORY TO THE STRIKING TEACHERS!
Gifford
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SCHOOL TALKS END WITH NO CONTRACT
Oakland district, teachers cannot agree on raises, health benefits; strike looks more likely
By Paul T. Rosynsky, STAFF WRITER
Inside Bay Area February 1, 2006
OAKLAND — The city's state-run school district and the union representing 3,100 teachers failed to agree on a contract Tuesday, raising the specter that the two-year-old dispute will end with a teachers strike.
"This is the best the district can do. It is our last and final offer," said Randolph Ward, the district's state administrator. "As of today, we became farther apart. I'm kind of stunned at this point."
Pay increases and health benefits continued to be the focal points of the dispute.
The district offered to restore a 4 percent pay cut made three years ago. It also guaranteed continued free health care for the next two years.
In exchange, district leaders said both issues would have to be renegotiated in the third year of the contract, when the district's financial position is clearer.
"We felt we were giving them what they were asking for," Ward said. "Inexplicably, the union leadership rejected that offer."
The union, led by veteran teacher Ben Visnick, balked at the offer, saying it wants more assurance that health care costs would not rise dramatically in the third year.
That assurance came in the form of a pay raise proposal the union demanded for the first time Tuesday. It was a move that both surprised district leaders and led to the end of discussions. In addition to the restoration of the 4 percent pay cut, the union said it wanted a 3 percent raise beginning next year.
That proposal was made, Visnick said, to ensure stability within the teacher ranks and help offset any increases in health care costs that could come during the last year of the contract.
"We are professionals, not missionaries," Visnick said.
Visnick said he was losing teachers to other public districts at a rate of about 30 percent a year. Without the pay raise, the number of teachers leaving the district would swell, he said.
"When other school districts around us are giving raises... we wouldn't be doing our responsibility if we didn't fight for one as well," Visnick said. "We have to look at the future."
As of Tuesday, that future appeared headed toward a strike.
Though Visnick refused to rule out further negotiations, district leaders continued to say throughout the night that they would not change their offer.
To spend any more money on the teachers would put the district in the same financial spot that put it into state receivership three years ago, officials said.
As more and more children leave the district and as the state's budget deficit increases, the amount of money available for public schooling is decreasing, they argued.
"It's just a frustrating process," Ward said. "We can only agree to a contract that is responsible."
But the teachers union argued that the district does have the cash to pay teachers more. And, they argued, the district's proposal to restore the 4 percent pay cut was a smoke screen since it left open the possibility that health care costs could rise in the future.
The sides have not scheduled further talks.
Ward said the district now will regroup to come up with a plan to move forward.
Visnick said he is still willing to discuss new proposals.
"We can settle this contract, but the district has to understand that our teachers want a fair contract," Visnick said. "The district needs to step up to the plate."
Oakland district, teachers cannot agree on raises, health benefits; strike looks more likely
By Paul T. Rosynsky, STAFF WRITER
Inside Bay Area February 1, 2006
OAKLAND — The city's state-run school district and the union representing 3,100 teachers failed to agree on a contract Tuesday, raising the specter that the two-year-old dispute will end with a teachers strike.
"This is the best the district can do. It is our last and final offer," said Randolph Ward, the district's state administrator. "As of today, we became farther apart. I'm kind of stunned at this point."
Pay increases and health benefits continued to be the focal points of the dispute.
The district offered to restore a 4 percent pay cut made three years ago. It also guaranteed continued free health care for the next two years.
In exchange, district leaders said both issues would have to be renegotiated in the third year of the contract, when the district's financial position is clearer.
"We felt we were giving them what they were asking for," Ward said. "Inexplicably, the union leadership rejected that offer."
The union, led by veteran teacher Ben Visnick, balked at the offer, saying it wants more assurance that health care costs would not rise dramatically in the third year.
That assurance came in the form of a pay raise proposal the union demanded for the first time Tuesday. It was a move that both surprised district leaders and led to the end of discussions. In addition to the restoration of the 4 percent pay cut, the union said it wanted a 3 percent raise beginning next year.
That proposal was made, Visnick said, to ensure stability within the teacher ranks and help offset any increases in health care costs that could come during the last year of the contract.
"We are professionals, not missionaries," Visnick said.
Visnick said he was losing teachers to other public districts at a rate of about 30 percent a year. Without the pay raise, the number of teachers leaving the district would swell, he said.
"When other school districts around us are giving raises... we wouldn't be doing our responsibility if we didn't fight for one as well," Visnick said. "We have to look at the future."
As of Tuesday, that future appeared headed toward a strike.
Though Visnick refused to rule out further negotiations, district leaders continued to say throughout the night that they would not change their offer.
To spend any more money on the teachers would put the district in the same financial spot that put it into state receivership three years ago, officials said.
As more and more children leave the district and as the state's budget deficit increases, the amount of money available for public schooling is decreasing, they argued.
"It's just a frustrating process," Ward said. "We can only agree to a contract that is responsible."
But the teachers union argued that the district does have the cash to pay teachers more. And, they argued, the district's proposal to restore the 4 percent pay cut was a smoke screen since it left open the possibility that health care costs could rise in the future.
The sides have not scheduled further talks.
Ward said the district now will regroup to come up with a plan to move forward.
Visnick said he is still willing to discuss new proposals.
"We can settle this contract, but the district has to understand that our teachers want a fair contract," Visnick said. "The district needs to step up to the plate."
From today's (2/3/06) SF Examiner:
TEACHER CONTRACT TALKS HIT SNAG
by Bonnie Eslinger
Staff Writer
A breakdown Thursday at the bargaining table may prompt a strike by San Francisco’s 6,000 public school teachers and aides in the coming months.
Contract negotiations between the San Francisco Unified School District and teachers union representatives came to a stalemate, with union leaders declaring an impasse.
The district has offered the teachers a 7.5 percent raise over 18 months, with 2 percent effective immediately. Union representatives are demanding a 10 percent raise, starting with an immediate 3 percent retroactive payment and another 3 percent in July. The teachers have not received a raise in 3½ years.
The district would face a budget shortfall by giving the teachers raises, officials say, and program cuts would be necessary. They’ve estimated the cost of their current offer at $20 million and said each additional percentage point in wage increases would cost $3.4 million.
Now that an impasse has been declared, a state-appointed mediator will be brought in to negotiate a settlement. If that effort is unsuccessful, a process called “fact finding” would ensue, where an independent auditor would review such data as the district’s budget in order to make a recommendation. The two-step process could take several months. If the teachers disagree with the resulting recommendations, they are legally allowed to strike.
Board of Education President Norman Yee said he is hopeful a strike can be averted and would be in support of giving teachers a higher wage increase if more money came from the state after the budget is finalized in June.
“An impasse is an impasse, it means that there’s a mediator we can use,” Yee said. “We still have an opportunity to come up with something.”
The district has been under fiscal pressure in recent years due to less-than-expected funding from the state, compounded with a loss in revenue due to declining enrollment. This year, the district lost nearly 1,000 students, resulting in a $5 million decrease in per-pupil funding. In an effort to trim the budget, the school board voted to shut down four schools last June, and recently voted to close, merge or relocate 14 others at the end of this school year.
Dennis Kelly, president of San Francisco’s teachers union, said the district has received annual cost-of-living increases from the state that could have been passed along to the teachers but was instead used for other priorities.
Tom Ruiz, the district’s chief labor negotiator, said the district has done the best it can do and has suggested that the union present the offer to its members for a vote. Kelly said he wouldn’t bring the offer to the district’s teachers.
TEACHER CONTRACT TALKS HIT SNAG
by Bonnie Eslinger
Staff Writer
A breakdown Thursday at the bargaining table may prompt a strike by San Francisco’s 6,000 public school teachers and aides in the coming months.
Contract negotiations between the San Francisco Unified School District and teachers union representatives came to a stalemate, with union leaders declaring an impasse.
The district has offered the teachers a 7.5 percent raise over 18 months, with 2 percent effective immediately. Union representatives are demanding a 10 percent raise, starting with an immediate 3 percent retroactive payment and another 3 percent in July. The teachers have not received a raise in 3½ years.
The district would face a budget shortfall by giving the teachers raises, officials say, and program cuts would be necessary. They’ve estimated the cost of their current offer at $20 million and said each additional percentage point in wage increases would cost $3.4 million.
Now that an impasse has been declared, a state-appointed mediator will be brought in to negotiate a settlement. If that effort is unsuccessful, a process called “fact finding” would ensue, where an independent auditor would review such data as the district’s budget in order to make a recommendation. The two-step process could take several months. If the teachers disagree with the resulting recommendations, they are legally allowed to strike.
Board of Education President Norman Yee said he is hopeful a strike can be averted and would be in support of giving teachers a higher wage increase if more money came from the state after the budget is finalized in June.
“An impasse is an impasse, it means that there’s a mediator we can use,” Yee said. “We still have an opportunity to come up with something.”
The district has been under fiscal pressure in recent years due to less-than-expected funding from the state, compounded with a loss in revenue due to declining enrollment. This year, the district lost nearly 1,000 students, resulting in a $5 million decrease in per-pupil funding. In an effort to trim the budget, the school board voted to shut down four schools last June, and recently voted to close, merge or relocate 14 others at the end of this school year.
Dennis Kelly, president of San Francisco’s teachers union, said the district has received annual cost-of-living increases from the state that could have been passed along to the teachers but was instead used for other priorities.
Tom Ruiz, the district’s chief labor negotiator, said the district has done the best it can do and has suggested that the union present the offer to its members for a vote. Kelly said he wouldn’t bring the offer to the district’s teachers.
Ravenswood / East Palo Alto teachers are also in contract negotiations. I believe they've also come to an impasse.
Since the unions obviously control the information we get about these struggles, we need to spread it ourselves.
Please post more details. It would be great to gather that info to find ways we all could struggle together in solidarity.
Gifford
Please post more details. It would be great to gather that info to find ways we all could struggle together in solidarity.
Gifford
1. An Oakland teacher's strike can be won. The Oakland Unified School District can be rapidly compelled to settle, and to settle to the overwhelming advantage of striking teachers -- if this strike immediately leads to a city-wide school kids walkout.
2. The word for this should be spread by people who aren't strikers, and aren't employees of the school district.
This will prevent any individual strikers from being singled out and victimized later.
3. An action waged in this manner might result in some working people getting a better deal that we get when we play by the pro-capitalist rules of trade unionism. It may also tend, in a very slight way, to politicize the strike and give it something of a more general character.
4. Now, I don't have any kids, and I don't hang out with the under-18 set. So I have no idea of what the level of class consciousness is among kids these days. An appeal for a mass student walkout should certainly be phrased in terms of class solidarity. Most kids in public school are future or current wage slaves. And besides, in any case it's just the right thing to do.
But the real effective appeal of this might be a more amorphous anti-authoritarian one -- kids hate school; my guess is most do. I did, back when I was a kid.
This also suggest another problem in communicating a message that resonates, which is that a lot of schoolkids may percieve of teachers as coercive authority figures.
So the appeal of this should be couched as a jumbo-sized holiday for school kids.
The resulting city-wide chaos, or, let's say, "adultist" fears of vast numbers of unruly young people flooding into Oakalnd's downtown and fucking up the city's bond rating, and the appeal of Oaktown condo living to yuppie gentrifiers might bring the OUSD back to the bargaining table on bended knee at speeds approaching that of light.
My impression is that young people have a tremendous and consistently proven ability to engage in self-organization; witness the tremendous proliferation of cliques among high schoolers. Under the right circumstances this capacity for self-organization can take off in a very different and positive direction. It might be a bigger learning experience for future (and current ) wage earners than anything they will get in the classroom during normal business hours.
Harassment of strikebreakers may be one small part of a winning strategy. But this also has the potential to sidetrack the strike away from bigger and better tactics that could cause the conflict to spread. A strike can only be won if it tends to move beyond the limits of a sectoral struggle. Harassment of scabs may be emotionally satisfying for the people who do it, but that's not a measure of how useful it is in winning this strike -- or other strikes, either.
Only new tactics that jettison virtually the entire framework of the classical, social democratic workers' movement are going to be effective in the short term -- and more importantly in the long term.
2. The word for this should be spread by people who aren't strikers, and aren't employees of the school district.
This will prevent any individual strikers from being singled out and victimized later.
3. An action waged in this manner might result in some working people getting a better deal that we get when we play by the pro-capitalist rules of trade unionism. It may also tend, in a very slight way, to politicize the strike and give it something of a more general character.
4. Now, I don't have any kids, and I don't hang out with the under-18 set. So I have no idea of what the level of class consciousness is among kids these days. An appeal for a mass student walkout should certainly be phrased in terms of class solidarity. Most kids in public school are future or current wage slaves. And besides, in any case it's just the right thing to do.
But the real effective appeal of this might be a more amorphous anti-authoritarian one -- kids hate school; my guess is most do. I did, back when I was a kid.
This also suggest another problem in communicating a message that resonates, which is that a lot of schoolkids may percieve of teachers as coercive authority figures.
So the appeal of this should be couched as a jumbo-sized holiday for school kids.
The resulting city-wide chaos, or, let's say, "adultist" fears of vast numbers of unruly young people flooding into Oakalnd's downtown and fucking up the city's bond rating, and the appeal of Oaktown condo living to yuppie gentrifiers might bring the OUSD back to the bargaining table on bended knee at speeds approaching that of light.
My impression is that young people have a tremendous and consistently proven ability to engage in self-organization; witness the tremendous proliferation of cliques among high schoolers. Under the right circumstances this capacity for self-organization can take off in a very different and positive direction. It might be a bigger learning experience for future (and current ) wage earners than anything they will get in the classroom during normal business hours.
Harassment of strikebreakers may be one small part of a winning strategy. But this also has the potential to sidetrack the strike away from bigger and better tactics that could cause the conflict to spread. A strike can only be won if it tends to move beyond the limits of a sectoral struggle. Harassment of scabs may be emotionally satisfying for the people who do it, but that's not a measure of how useful it is in winning this strike -- or other strikes, either.
Only new tactics that jettison virtually the entire framework of the classical, social democratic workers' movement are going to be effective in the short term -- and more importantly in the long term.
Come on Kevin Keating/Louis Adamic/Marxist/A. Sympa/etc. stop spamming other threads anonymously. We've seen this post a half dozen times already, so give it a rest.
Try dealing with the substance of what I've posted, the way an intellectually substantial individual would.
And since when did the possibility of an Oakland teacher's strike become the personal property of vintage Bolshevik woodcuts fan Gifford Hartman?
And since when did the possibility of an Oakland teacher's strike become the personal property of vintage Bolshevik woodcuts fan Gifford Hartman?
To Kevin Keating (formerly of Muni Social Strike proletaire2003 [at] yahoo.com),
How the fuck do you expect a "substantial" interaction when you post the EXACT SAME post calling for a youth riot repeatedly on various threads? And what do you expect the parents of these kids to do? Or the teachers?
I've asked you politely before and I'll do it again: Please do your shit talking somewhere else. To borrow from your own words, if you don't like what I'm posting here start your own thread.
It's the same again and again and again. You come onto a thread being the authority figure and telling everyone what to do. Someone engages you in good faith and has principled critiques of your ideas. Your ego can't handle it and the next thing it's a shit talking flame war. Everyone who doesn't agree with you is an "ice-pick head, Bolshevik, moron, douche-bag" or they're "spineless," have "Down's syndrome" or some diss that tries to negate their humanity and treat them like objects that must be destroyed. You're a misanthropist.
It reminds me of that old dictum: "The working class isn't divided because it's weak, it's weak because it's divided." And that's exactly what your name calling and shit talking does. The only historical example of this being an effective tactic was for Stalin in his Moscow Show Trials in the 1930s (where he executed 105 of the 110 people who were the core of the Bolsheviks in 1917). The trials were all about demonizing the reputation of his former comrades and then "eradicating" them. Your bragging about how long your "revolutionary" resume is doesn't change your divisive role one bit.
Again, please talk your shit elsewhere.
Gifford Hartman
How the fuck do you expect a "substantial" interaction when you post the EXACT SAME post calling for a youth riot repeatedly on various threads? And what do you expect the parents of these kids to do? Or the teachers?
I've asked you politely before and I'll do it again: Please do your shit talking somewhere else. To borrow from your own words, if you don't like what I'm posting here start your own thread.
It's the same again and again and again. You come onto a thread being the authority figure and telling everyone what to do. Someone engages you in good faith and has principled critiques of your ideas. Your ego can't handle it and the next thing it's a shit talking flame war. Everyone who doesn't agree with you is an "ice-pick head, Bolshevik, moron, douche-bag" or they're "spineless," have "Down's syndrome" or some diss that tries to negate their humanity and treat them like objects that must be destroyed. You're a misanthropist.
It reminds me of that old dictum: "The working class isn't divided because it's weak, it's weak because it's divided." And that's exactly what your name calling and shit talking does. The only historical example of this being an effective tactic was for Stalin in his Moscow Show Trials in the 1930s (where he executed 105 of the 110 people who were the core of the Bolsheviks in 1917). The trials were all about demonizing the reputation of his former comrades and then "eradicating" them. Your bragging about how long your "revolutionary" resume is doesn't change your divisive role one bit.
Again, please talk your shit elsewhere.
Gifford Hartman
I have no interest in any tedious internet brawl with Gifford Hartman, or any other form of contact with him, either.
A mass youth walk-out in support of the teachers isn't a "youth riot" -- this is the language of union bureacrats, elected officials and cops. Hartman's use of it here is telling. His attempt to make his posts on indybay somehow sacrosanct, and unlike each and every other post on this site, somehow beyond critical response, is ridiculous. The guy can't hold up his end in a debate, or stay on topic in a political exchange.
Anyway, like I said, this isn't about Gifford Hartman. I wanted to get this out to potential strikers, but there don't appear to be any actual potential strikers posting on this thread. It would be interesting to hear from some of them. But it doesn't look like they are actually reading these articles.
A mass youth walk-out in support of the teachers isn't a "youth riot" -- this is the language of union bureacrats, elected officials and cops. Hartman's use of it here is telling. His attempt to make his posts on indybay somehow sacrosanct, and unlike each and every other post on this site, somehow beyond critical response, is ridiculous. The guy can't hold up his end in a debate, or stay on topic in a political exchange.
Anyway, like I said, this isn't about Gifford Hartman. I wanted to get this out to potential strikers, but there don't appear to be any actual potential strikers posting on this thread. It would be interesting to hear from some of them. But it doesn't look like they are actually reading these articles.
Be a scab for a good cause! I have a good idea that I can't act on myself, but maybe somebody else can. My idea is to go get hired as a "temporary teacher". Act like a normal excited educator-to-be. Once they leave you alone in the room with the kids (which they will), teach them about labor issues. Talk to them about why the teachers are striking and connect it to their curriculum if possible by teaching about a related aspect or time period of labor history. Make it fun. Teach to the students' interests. Give them resources to further their own learning. Do it until you get caught and dismissed. You just have to pass a background check, have a bachelor's degree, and do decently in the interview. I doubt they're going to be all that picky. I wish I could do this, but I don't have a bachelor's degree yet. Pass this idea on to as many people as possible! It would be awesome if a lot of people could do it.
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