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9486 in the collection
Teachers ordered back to work
Rich Gibson Comment:
The reason I am highlighting this strike which may seem small or a
long way away to some people is because it addresses many issues all
educators will face, and have dealt with in the past. Michigan school
workers have a long history of militancy, interrupted by a drought of
about 20 years of courage from MEA leaders, but the lessons of the
past linger in Michigan where they may not elsewhere.
On this particular strike:
We know the teachers did not want to strike. Teachers almost never
want to strike. But they did strike because their very health
benefits are threatened and their class sizes are over the top. They
struck because they had to strike.
Teacher strikes are illegal in Michigan, as they are nearly
everywhere. But the only illegal strike is a strike that loses. So,
the teachers were out for four days before a judge ordered them back
to work, but he also ordered the district not to discipline them,
something of a small victory.
Earlier, a hearing officer who frequently takes the union side on
issues (very very rare) had ruled the teachers were on strike because
the district bosses had engaged in illegal bargaining practices. This
is an old MEA maneuver in front of judges, "we are not on strike,
rather this is a job action against illegal employer activity". If
the strike has enough support, that usually works. The law is nothing
but a reflection of political reality.
Note the widespread parent support. It is even broader, according to
Rouge Forum members who have been backing the strike, than the for
profit press reports. (Remember the Detroit News used violence to
smash its own workers strikes about nine years ago).
The parent support is rooted in the demand for real caps on class
size. If that was not there, there would be only a tenuous tie
between the teachers and the community. We can only hope MEA does not
make a deal for the health benefits and dump the class size issue, as
has been done too often before.
Parent support was organized by elementary teachers who usually
believe they have no power, but hold the most potential power of
school workers in that the often have very close ties to parents and
guardians and they provide that absolutely key service of schooling:
babysitting which companies want very much.
It appears the strike was timed to target the Michigan MEAP tests,
set for next week I believe. Such is what the RF folks say. That is
an interesting tactic. The MEAP is the most widely ridiculed of state
exams, written by morons and until recently administered by the
Department of the Treasury, not Education. Most universities discount
its results and the state no longer pays the bribe to suburbanites
that it paid for passing the MEAP in the past.
So, the MEAP is vulnerable and this may or may not be a good idea. It
is a very good test.
I think it is best to strike schools before school starts, to advise
parents through the summer why the strike may happen, what the issues
are, and why they should back it. That is best done door to door.
Then everyone knows. Parents, kids, and community people should be at
least allowed to attend the union meetings discussing the strike.
Plans for a strike should include plans for Freedom Schools (see
Kathy Emery's work), schools where there is no fear-driven MEAP. Even
the planning of that drives bosses nuts. It shows they are unnecessary.
Plans for a strike should include planning to spread it in case it is
attacked with scabs, the law, etc. One way to prepare for that over
the long and short hall is to set up Multiple Area Bargaining
Organizations, MABOS, where each local agrees to Bargaining Minimums
and no local is allowed to bring in a substandard contract. And, at
the other end, the entire Mabo is prepared to shut down the entire
area if their strikers are hit. This real threat is usually enough to
get judges to change their minds about defining a "Strike," rather than "A Job Action."
Judge tells Wayne-Westland officials not to discipline strikers; classes scheduled to resume this morning.
Karen Bouffard
WESTLAND -- Wayne-Westland students are scheduled to return to class this morning following a judge's ruling Thursday ordering teachers back to work after a four-day strike.
It was unclear whether the ruling by Wayne County Circuit Judge Kathleen Macdonald, who also ordered the district not to discipline teachers for the strike, would restore peace in the 13,300-student district. With no contract, teachers continued to picket outside some schools Thursday afternoon after the ruling, and later angry parents demonstrated outside district headquarters in support of the teachers.
Nancy Strachan, president of the Wayne-Westland Education Association, an affiliate of the Michigan Education Association, said teachers would obey the judge's order and return to work today, but will remain committed to securing a fair contract.
"I don't feel it's a sign of surrender," Strachan said. "The teachers want to be in school and be back with the students, but at the same time they want a fair and equitable contract."
Talks to end the labor dispute, much of which centers on health care benefits and class sizes, ended around 7:30 p.m. Thursday. Both sides are expected to return to bargaining at 5 p.m. Monday.
Also Thursday, petitions to recall board members were filed with the Wayne County Board of Elections, and organizers said they hope to start gathering signatures within days.
"We don't feel it's fair for the teachers to be ordered to go back to school without a contract," said Shawnn Maxwell, of Wayne, who filed the recall petitions. "We don't feel the demands of the teachers are unfair."
By Thursday evening, more than 500 people, including hundreds of teachers, rallied outside the board of education building for Wayne-Westland Community Schools.
Teachers who attended the rally said they would show up at school today, but many parents said they planned to keep their children home in protest of the judge's ruling.
"We're keeping our kids out tomorrow," said Erica Tenant, whose fourth-grade daughter Madison, 9, has 28 classmates in her class. "If they can't strike, we'll strike. To watch that many kids in the class, they'll fall through the cracks."
Kim Powers of Westland also is upset about class sizes in the district, where she has two children.
"I think the students should go on strike," said Powers. "They're upping the standards but the classes are too big. I see the frustration in the teachers and everyone else."
Lisa Alvord, of Westland, said she will send her children to school tomorrow. She has a fifth-grader at Wildwood Elementary and an eight-grader at Stevenson Middle School.
Fourth-grade teacher Tina Domagalski said she would report to work today at Vandenberg Elementary. "I'm happy that we're going back with the contingency that the board and teachers are bargaining under the jurisdiction of the judge," she said.
The district presented a counterproposal to the teachers' union. District officials refused to say what the new proposal is.
Both the teachers' union and the administration claimed victory in the ruling Thursday, which was in response to motions by the district and the mother of a disabled child who argued that missing special education classes would cause her 3-year-old irreparable harm.
School administrators were pleased to get school started again. "The school district is very happy to get our teachers back to the classroom," Superintendent Greg Baracy said. "Our main goal has been to get children back in school."
— Karen Bouffard, with comment by Rich Gibson
Detroit News
2008-10-10
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081010/METRO/810100383
INDEX OF OUTRAGES
Pages: 380
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