Political Update 11/3/2017
Janus vs. AFSCME Explained:
Twenty three states currently compel all public employees to pay union fees. Those that do not are referred to as “Right to Work” states. "Right-to-work" laws are statutes in a number of states in that prohibit union security agreements, or agreements between employers and labor unions, that govern the extent to which an established union can require employee’s membership, payment of union dues, or fees as a condition of employment.
Mark Janus is a child support specialist with the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family. He is not in a union, but he is compelled to pay union dues because the union negotiates on behalf of all public employees through collective bargaining. This is required by a law that stems from the 1977 Supreme Court Case Abood vs. the Detroit Board of Education in which it was established that all public employees that benefit from the Union negotiating on their behalf pay Union dues. This is so they cannot become what is referred to as a “free rider” or someone who gets all of the benefits of being in the union without paying dues.
Janus is suing the American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees Union (AFSCME) because he claims that paying dues violates his First Amendment right to free speech. According to Janus, the union uses dues for political purposes and therefore violates his free speech. The union is involved in activities he disagrees with politically so he maintains that he should get the benefits of collective bargaining without having to pay. He wants to be a “free rider”.
A very similar case Friedrichs vs. CTA resulted in a split decision last year because one of Supreme Court Justices, Antonin Scalia died before the conclusion. It is widely believed that Scalia would have ruled against the unions and overturned the 1977 Abood case. In both cases public employees objected to paying union fees to cover collective bargaining. President Trump’s pick for the Supreme Court Neil Gorsuch will be hearing the Janus case. No one can be certain what his decision will be, but he has been outspoken against compelled union dues. In other words, the Court will probably decide against unions 5-4.
Who is behind Janus?
The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) is a network of legislators, governors, secretaries of state and leaders from the U.S. Congress whose goal is to represent the wealthiest 1%. One of their main targets for attack are unions and the middle class. Their goal is to reduce regulations on corporations and reduce the bargaining and leveraging power of the working class. In plain terms, the wealthy have become organized and are attacking the middle class.
Their motives are clear. The deregulation of corporations and the elimination of unions allows the 1% to become even more wealthy. Since ALEC was created, the growth in real after-tax income was 18% for the poor, 35% for the middle class (that’s us) and 278% for the wealthiest one percent of the population. Union membership in the United States had dropped from 35% in the 1950s to 20.1% in 1983. It is now at an all time low 12.3%. As union membership decreases, middle class income decreases and income grows for the top one percent.
What is at stake?
If Janus is successful, it will overturn forty years of legal precedent. It will get rid of our ability to negotiate with employers for a fair return on our labor. If we lose, the entire country will become “right to work” from coast to coast. Corporate interests will make themselves stronger while we become weaker. It will remove our power in numbers and our leverage to stop corporate interests from rigging the rules of the economy in their favor even further. Mary Bottari, deputy director of the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) which tracks the rise of rightwing groups in America, said “An $80m campaign to ‘defund and defang’ public sector unions is remarkable, both in its size and in its ambition.”
What can we do?
Stop voting for candidates that go against your own self interests. Research the candidates and find out what their views on education and labor unions are. I know that other social issues matter, but what will you do when you know longer have health benefits, wage increases or employment?
We need to get active and stay involved. Talk to each other about these issues. Face to face conversations are the most effective way to educate and encourage union involvement. People are less apt to ignore the message when they literally have to face it. This does not have to be confrontational. The idea is to get organized!
Political Update 4/28/2017
New York State Constitutional Convention
Every twenty years, the question of whether there shall be a Constitutional Convention appears on the New York State election ballot. We must vote "NO" when this happens in November of 2017. There are political organizations in New York who have a vested economic interest in opening the Constitution. They are lobbying to make radical changes to it. These are the groups that will choose the delegates that go to Albany to decide what changes are made to the Constitution. They have already started a campaign to convince voters that it is a good idea. On the surface it even sounds like a great democratic idea. In recent poll numbers, 70% of eligible voters support it. This would be catastrophic for our state and the profession.
Why Vote No?
Voters rejected the call for a Constitutional Convention in 1997 after many groups came together to convince voters that it was not in their best interest. The group included the following list of diverse stakeholders :
Opening the Constitution is not an attempt to improve democracy, but rather an opportunity for corporations and the elite to increase profits. There already exists a mechanism for changing the New York State Constitution. All of the aforementioned stakeholders must come together in November and have their voices heard. We will not allow profiteers to take away the rights that we have worked so hard to protect. There will be an LCTA meeting on May, 18th that will focus on this and the Friedrichs case. The location and time are TBD.
Here is a great video explaining why we need to vote no!
Solidarity,
LCTA
Political Update 2/27/2017
House Bill 610, explained in this Video has just been introduced by Rep Steve King of Iowa. Time to get to work.
This bill will effectively start the school voucher system to be used by children ages 5-17, and starts the defunding process of public schools.
Once a child is enrolled in a school via vouchers, the school funding for that child STAYS AT THE SCHOOL even if your child moves to a different school. This greatly impacts the ability for public schools to provide for your children.
In addition the bill will eliminate the Elementary and Education Act of 1965, which is the nation's educational law and provides equal opportunity in education.
ESSA is a big comprehensive program that covers programs for struggling learners, AP classes, ESL classes, classes for minorities such as Native Americans, Rural Education, Education for the Homeless, School Safety (Gun-Free schools), Monitoring and Compliance and Federal Accountability Programs. The Bill also abolishes the Nutritional Act of 2012 (No Hungry Kids Act) which provides nutritional standards in school breakfast and lunch.
The bill has no wording whatsoever protecting SN kids, no mention of IDEA and FAPE.
Some things ESSA does for Children with Disabilities
-Ensures access to the general education curriculum.
-Ensures access to accommodations on assessments.
-Ensures concepts of Universal Design for Learning
-Includes provisions that require local education agencies to provide evidence-based
interventions in schools with consistently underperforming subgroups.
-Requires states in Title I plans to address how they will improve conditions for learning including reducing incidents of bullying and harassment in schools, overuse of discipline practices and reduce the use of aversive behavioral interventions (such as restraints and seclusion).
What can we do?
Please call your representative and ask him/her to vote NO on House Bill 610 (HR 610) introduced by three Republican reps.
Brian Higgins: 202-225-3306/716-852-3501
Chris Collins: 202-225-5265/ 716-634-2324
Solidarity,
LCTA
Political Update 1/6/2017
President Trump’s nomination for Secretary of Education Betsy Devos is responsible for propping up the billion-dollar charter school industry while shielding it from government oversight. She is the Republican Chairwoman and the Chair of pro-school choice advocacy group, American Federation for Children in Michigan. While working in those capacities, she created programs and helped get laws passed that used public tax dollars to pay for private school tuition and voucher programs. She helped charter schools open and grow in Michigan even though she knew that most of these have recorded student test scores below the state average.
Stephen Henderson, of the Free Press in Michigan has followed her career. He reports that charter schools have over a decade of “abysmal test scores”. One school that has been open for over twenty years boasts the lowest test scores in the state but had its charter renewed anyway. Overall, the charters have graduation rates that are identical to public schools.
This privatization movement in Michigan was created by Devos whose family had contributed millions to the cause of school choice. In total, her family spent nine million dollars lobbying pro-charter candidates in Michigan. She is responsible for Michigan tolerating low performing charter schools and made sure that nothing exists to close them when they fail. In fact, if anyone criticizes charter schools, they are painted as being anti-progressive.
In Michigan anyone who can raise money can start their own charter school. In other states there is a process that requires the charters to display a proven track record. It is widely believed that, if Devos becomes Secretary of Education, she will lobby to have these restrictions lifted. This would be disastrous for public schools in this country.
Of course if all of the aforementioned analysis wasn’t enough, Betsy Devos does not possess one single qualification for the job. She has never been a teacher, administrator or sat on a public school board. She and her children did not attend public school, but rather went to incredibly wealthy private institutions. She has no understanding of education policy, pedagogy, standard creation, or school accountability. She has no idea what type of educational research will benefit students. She will, however be placed in charge of all of the above.
Betsy Devos is a lobbyist who has used her incredible wealth to influence education policy to favor school choice while gutting public education. She has achieved this without any evidence that support her assertions.
What can you do?
Call your senator’s offices and use this phone script.
Senator Charles Schumer
130 South Elmwood Avenue, #660
Buffalo, NY 14202
Phone: (716) 846-4111
Senator Kirsten Gillibrand
Address: 726 Exchange St # 511, Buffalo, NY 14210
Phone:(716) 854-9725
Send a letter to editor of the Buffalo News and use this sample letter.
Email it to: editpage@buffnews.com
Solidarity,
LCTA
Political Update 11/28/2016
Please take a minute to sign this petition to send a clear message to President Elect Trump that we will not allow public schools to become privatized. Send the sample letter provided or write your own that tells your Senator to vote "no" for Betsy DeVos. She must not become the Secretary of Education.
Why not Betsy DeVos? She has never attended a public school. She has never taught in any school. She knows nothing about the inner workings of a single school district, much less the huge number of school districts that comprise the entire nation. She was born wealthy, married even wealthier and has never had to build anything from scratch. The Secretary of Education has to be able to build influence, beyond just buying it. She has to be able to make policies and see that they are implemented.
And then, there are her ideas for improving public education which include vouchers, which take away funding and local control from our public schools to fund private schools at taxpayers’ expense. She pushes the corporate agenda which privatizes public education to profit corporate donors. No matter who you voted for in this election, the choice of Betsy Devos as Secretary of Education should show you that the President Elect is not serious in keeping his promise of improving the United States’ Department of Education.
Click here to sign the petition.
https://actionnetwork.org/letters/tell-your-senator-to-vote-no-for-betsy-devos?source=facebook
You can also call their offices as I have here:
Charles Schumer: 716-846-1111
Kirsten Gillibrand: 716-854-9725
Reaction to the appointment:
AFT President Randi Weingarten on Nomination of Betsy DeVos as Secretary of Education
"“In nominating DeVos, Trump makes it loud and clear that his education policy will focus on privatizing, defunding and destroying public education in America."
[AFT President Randi Weingarten]
NEA President reacts to Betsy DeVos nomination for Education Secretary
"She has lobbied for failed schemes, like vouchers — which take away funding and local control from our public schools — to fund private schools at taxpayers’ expense. These schemes do nothing to help our most-vulnerable students while they ignore or exacerbate glaring opportunity gaps. She has consistently pushed a corporate agenda to privatize, de-professionalize and impose cookie-cutter solutions to public education. By nominating Betsy DeVos, the Trump administration has demonstrated just how out of touch it is with what works best for students, parents, educators and communities."
[NEA President Lily Eskelsen Garcia]
http://www.nea.org/home/69329.htm
What a Trump presidency might mean for American Public Schools
"Trump’s most substantial campaign proposal on education was a $20 billion grant program that he’d use to encourage states to expand school choice — giving parents more control over the kind of education their children receive — including through vouchers, charter schools and magnet schools."
The Trump Administration is eager support “Right to Work” legislation that will cripple labor unions.
In Solidarity,
LCTA
Political Update 10/18/2016
The LCTA would like to take this opportunity to congratulate our brothers and sisters from the Buffalo Federation of Teachers for successfully negotiating a new contract. They had been without a contract for twelve years!
“The biggest victory is that we reached a contract,” said Buffalo Teachers Federation President Philip Rumore, who negotiated the deal and estimated about 60 percent of the teachers voted. “Now, perhaps, we can start talking about kids, rather than contracts.”
Buffalo News - teachers get big pay bump new contract.
In other news:
NYSUT has released its Endorsements for Election. You can click the link below to find out who NYSUT is endorsing.
http://www.nysut.org/news/2016/august/nysut-votes-endorsements-in-legislative-congressional-races
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If you would like to do more and volunteer to help you can do the following:
Fill out the sheet linked below and contact Camille Irr (Cirr@nysutmail.org) or Louisa Pacheco (Lpacheco@nysutmail.org) at 634-7132 to sig
n up today.
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B91YacRl2qgnMFZhbEhseXZqZUU
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In Solidarity,
LCTA