AFT works with Gates to destroy union

Weingarten & Gates - Class Collaboration

The speech by Bill Gates at the general session of the AFT convention on Saturday July 10 was an insult to teachers who work hard every day in the face growing attacks by the ruling class. The invitation by Randi Weingarten was nothing less than the act of A CLASS TRAITOR! Bill Gates makes his billions of dollars by exploiting the workers of Microsoft (a non-union employer). He has led the attack on public education, spending millions of dollars on programs that attack our union, work to privatize schools, and prepare working class youth for a future of war and fascism. Our union should not be working with our bosses to destroy our students.

We are workers--our needs are different than those of the bosses.

The U.S ruling class is currently fighting 2 wars to protect its interests in the oil and mineral resources in Iraq and Afghanistan. It is also preparing for its next war, in Iran or Korea or South America. The bosses are facing a strengthening competition from Europe, Russia and a growing China. At some point soon the U.S. is going to have to take on these other capitalists. If not the bosses will lose their standing as a world power. In order to do this they must commit resources to the war machinery rather education (or healthcare or other services for workers). We, as workers, gain nothing from these wars, except to see other workers like us maimed or dead.

Why does this matter to us?

At the same time they must train the next generation of workers for their future. Workers must be won to working for lower wages, working more hours and joining the military in much larger numbers. To do this the bosses use the education system that they have bought and paid for. The ruling class needs teachers who have bought into their system, so they are strengthening their political indoctrination. At the same time they are working to convince teachers that there is no difference between us and our bosses. Having teachers evaluate each other, rule on hiring and firing, and doing away with the due process protection of tenure are all steps to blur the line between worker and boss.

Look at the main motion pushed by the AFT leadership and at Bill Gates’ speech. They both talked about class collaboration—teachers being evaluated by other teachers, and teachers working with administrators to develop plans to evaluate teachers in order to destroy tenure and bust the unions.

We have been lied to by the liberals, Weingarten, Obama, Duncan and Gates. Under the guise of anti-racism and the fight for better schools for all, we are being convinced that our job is to help them build this fascist system of evaluation and school closings and mass firings. These liberals are using fascist and racist teacher-bashing to force us to work harder and longer for less money, in competition with each other, and with other schools and other states. We need to organize as class without the illusion that these bosses are our friends.

Irony is alive and well at BP

'nuff said.

Workers get Lay-offs and Pay Freezes, Banks make Billions

Today the NYC DOE and the UFT (our sellout union) announced a two year wage freeze for all teachers. This could really be almost 3 years since our contract expired 7 months ago. This agreement will stop any lay-offs of teachers and guidance counselors. This does not mean schools are unaffected as aides and other DC37 workers have already lost 500 positions earlier this year, and there are more to come. Other city workers are facing lay-offs of thousands of positions, especially as the courts have ruled that the city cannot back out of contractual obligations that were negotiated.

So the UFT was given the choice of lay-offs or a salary freeze. These are the choices as long as we let the ruling class pose the question. But let’s take a step back for a minute. What industry is at the heart of New York? What industry depends on the services of New York to continue to provide safety for its workers; healthcare for its workers; education for the children of its workers? Well we know the answer to this – Big Banks! That’s right the same people that caused this financial crisis. The same ones that have received hundreds of BILLIONS of dollars in bailouts. The same ones that are once again turning record profits of tens of billions of dollars each quarter!

How are these things connected? Well, here’s a couple of interesting facts: NYC has debt in the form of bonds. These bonds are bought mostly by big finance. Paying this debt will cost NYC $2.469 billion in financial year 2011. (http://council.nyc.gov/html/budget/PDFs/2011/pbr_omb_2011.pdf)

NYC also has a projected deficit for financial year 2011. That deficit was projected to $1.191 billion dollars. (http://www.comptroller.nyc.gov/bureaus/bud/Summary_budget_report.shtm)

So let’s do the math….If the city were to suspend its debt service for this year they would not only cover this year’s deficit but make a huge dent in the 2012 projected deficit. Yet, no one talks about this option.

THIS IS CAPITALISM. Profits come before people.

Vanishing Students, Rising Scores: Middle School Charters Show Alarming Student Attrition Over Time

Here is a wonderful study from the EDWIZE blog on how charters dump students who will pull down test scores.

Vanishing Students, Rising Scores: Middle School Charters Show Alarming Student Attrition Over Time

The Gulf oil spill and education. What's the connection?

What does the BP leak in the Gulf of Mexico have to do with the future of education? Bear with me and I’ll try to work through this.

The Obama administration has been taking a beating for “not acting fast enough.” This is true, but doesn’t really explain the relationship between the U.S. government and “Big Oil”. Oil drilling is no longer three guys on the Plains looking for gushers. It is a highly technological, scientific endeavor. This “gusher” is at the bottom of a column of water as deep as the Grand Canyon. To monitor these wells, and to fix any problems are major undertakings and require a well developed technical/engineering know-how. This is something that the U.S. government has been more than happy to allow the oil companies to fund and basically have let the oil companies self-monitor. This has become the practice over many years and continued by the current administration.

The problem for anyone who takes the time to think about this is that oil companies are driven by the basic DNA of capitalism – MAXIMIZE PROFIT. It is becoming clear that BP knew about problems with this rig, but did not act on them. They chose ways of dealing with issues that were “faster” (i.e. cost less money) rather than safer. It is clear that the “fail-safe” devices were not correctly tested in order to save time.

The role of government in all of this? To help these companies make those profits (BTW – BP profits before this disaster? $45 million/day). Politicians don’t get to run by taking on big business. In this system government protects profit!

So what does this have to do with education? Our union has given up on any form of mass movement. Our leadership has had only one plan of action – rely on these same politicians. What we get is a system of education “reform” that is bad for both teachers and students. So who is it good for? BIG BUSINESS!

In 2008 the AFT invited Arne Duncan to speak at their national convention in Chicago. Let’s look at his history there and his actions as Sec. of Educations. He destroyed almost all of the protections that teachers had won through hard fought battles. At the same time he instituted a program of aligning high schools with the military. Over two dozen schools have programs where students required to participate in JROTC programs. One of the new plans being floated by the U.S. Dept of Ed. Is to set up 2 levels high schools – some 2 year schools leading to “technical diplomas” and some 4 year schools leading to academic diplomas and college. This would provide a guarantee to businesses about the level of achievement of high school graduates and college students, while at the same time providing even more workers whose choices are severely limited and who are more likely to become cannon fodder in future wars.

Big Oil, or Education it’s all about maximizing profits for big business.

Stop Texas from rewriting history

The Texas Board of Education is about to vote on the most wide ranging change to its state education standards in recent memory. This will bring a shift to the right among publishers that will affect text books across the nations. Go to Change.org to sign the petition to stop this.

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