Category: General

Send Well Wishes to Karen Lewis

By now you may have heard about the unfortunate illness that Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis is battling.

Today the CTU released details on how you can send Karen your well wishes.

Via the CTU Blog…

Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) President Karen Lewis is recovering well from last week’s surgery and appreciates the outpouring of love and support from across the world. If you wish to send a card, letter, flowers or other get well greetings, please send them to the Chicago Teachers Union office.

Chicago Teachers Union
Cards for Karen c/o Audrey May
222 Merchandise Mart Plaza, #400
Chicago, IL 60654

Beth Dimino, Karen Lewis, and Brian St. Pierre this summer in Chicago.
Beth Dimino, Karen Lewis, and Brian St. Pierre this summer in Chicago.

Labor Notes Book Party

Thank you to all of the PJSTA members who attended tonight’s Labor Notes Book Party about the book How to Jump-Start Your Union: Lessons from the Chicago Teachers.  Joining a healthy representation of PJSTA members were teachers from districts such as Mount Sinai, Patchogue-Medford, Port Jefferson, Levittown, and Shoreham-Wading River.

We were joined tonight by Mark Brenner and Samantha Winslow of Labor Notes.  Brenner and Winslow were also two of the authors of the book.  Brenner spoke about his unique experiences as a teacher and now writer for Labor Notes.  He provided valuable insights into what has been effective in Chicago and other areas of the country where teachers are fighting back against harmful education reforms.

We were also joined by Brian Jones who has experience in trying to build a more member drive union from his work helping to build the MORE Caucus in the UFT.  Jones is currently the Green Party’s candidate for Lieutenant Governor.  Jones and running mate Howie Hawkins, who is running for governor, have been formally endorsed by the PJSTA.

Labor Notes logo.

Philadelphia Cancels Contract With It’s Teachers

In a startling move earlier this week the Philadelphia school district canceled their contract with the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers.

Via the Washington Post…

The five-member reform commission that controls the cash-starved Philadelphia public schools announced on Monday that it was canceling its contract with the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers, and while it would continue to honor most contract provisions, it would change the package of health-care benefits and require all teachers to contribute to the health fund. The union said the commission’s action “has amped up a war on teachers.”

The Philadelphia School Reform Commission, in a surprise move, said that after 21 months of negotiating with the  Philadelphia Federation of Teachers, that it would abrogate the contract, which has largely remained in effect even though it actually expired in August 2013. The commission has unilaterally taken other steps to violate contract provisions, including stopping paying teachers for “step” increases.

The cancelation of the contract could cost some Philadelphia teachers more than $600 per month.

We will certainly have more on this story in the coming weeks, but it is obviously just another attack in the war on teachers.  It is important to remember that attacks on teachers in other districts, cities, and states are attacks on all of us.  The PJSTA will shortly be planning an opportunity for you to show support for our brothers and sisters in Philadelphia.

Join PearUp to Support Morgan Leary

There are only two days left to earn the $1,000 of “free” money for one of our own, Emily Leary’s family. As you know her 6-year old daughter has brain cancer.  We are about 75% of the way to our goal, so there is more work to do!

This is NOT a request for a donation and it doesn’t cost you anything.  The first request that was sent around indicated that all you had to do was click on the advertisement, which we believe many people did.  However, we realized in order for us to earn points you have to sign-up with your email (if you’re worried about spam, view the privacy policy) or use Facebook so the company can ensure that they are receiving unique hits to their sponsor’s site.

There is no reason why our caring membership should not be able to attain this goal.  Pass it along to friends and family members.  Time is running out to help this wonderful family and child through this “free” promotion.  I know we can do it!

Here is the link for pearup.com. Please share with everyone through email and/or social media.

1. Click https://www.pearup.com/unitedbymorgan

2. Click “Support this Group” in the blue box on the right

3. Sign up with email (will have to confirm) or Facebook

a. Do both for extra points

4. There are 5 more ways to earn points

a. Follow: Follow Verizon on Twitter

b. Instagram: Follow Verizon on Instagram

c. Visit: Visit the Verizon website

d. Photo: Upload photo and share on Facebook

e. Rally: Share on Facebook and/or Twitter

Save the Date! PJSTA/Labor Notes Book Party- 10/16

On October 16th the PJSTA and Labor Notes will be hosting a book party for the book How to Jump-Start Your Union: Lessons from the Chicago Teachers.  The book party will be at Comsewogue High School at 6:00 pm.  Anyone is welcome to attend, not just PJSTA members.  There is no cost for admission.  You can order the book here or buy it in person at the book party.  If you plan to attend please RSVP at thepjsta@gmail.com.

Via Labor Notes…

Join us for a discussion of Labor Notes’ new book, How to Jump-Start Your Union: Lessons from the Chicago Teachers, with a presentation from Labor Notes author Mark Brenner.

How to Jump-Start Your Union tells how activists transformed their union by engaging their co-workers and neighbors and unleashing the smarts of rank-and-file members. Readers will learn how Chicago teachers worked with their communities, organized a caucus, ran for office, rebuilt a stewards network, trained new leaders, ran a contract campaign, and went on strike.

PLUS: Hear from Port Jefferson Station Teachers Association leaders about New York education struggles and the fight against corporate education “reform.”

Books will be for sale at the event for $15.

For questions, contact Samantha Winslow at 718-284-4144 or Samantha@labornotes.org.

Comments on the book:

“Labor Notes has done it again! Every unionist should read this book that chronicles how the new leaders of the Chicago Teachers Union organized their members, built strong support with the community, and waged a strike against formidable adversaries. But this book is more—it’s a manual on how all unions can revamp to win justice, with lessons that every union can apply to their own situation.”
—STEVEN ASHBY, professor of labor relations, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

“How to Jump-Start Your Union should be a beacon to all rank-and-file members on how to bring democracy to their locals. It’s a toolkit that shows how good old-fashioned hard work and faith in the membership can empower every frontline worker. The bird’s-eye view of the CORE caucus carefully proves that issues are more important than elections and can serve to unite us. It is never all right to just complain.”
—KAREN LEWIS, president, Chicago Teachers Union

Members of the Chicago Teachers Union

De Blasio, Weingarten, Magee, Mulgrew: 4 Biggest Reasons for Cuomo Victory

I have a lot of thoughts to share on the role of our unions in yesterday’s Cuomo victory in the Democratic primary.  Within the next day or two, when I have the time to sit down and get those thoughts on paper I will share them.  In the meantime our friend Reality-Based Educator who blogs over at Perdido Street School absolutely hit the nail on the head in his piece today.

Via Perdido Street School…

The only group of people who did more work than de Blasio to help Cuomo and his bank lobbyist running mate win the primary?

The UFT/AFT/NYSUT leaders:

1) who engineered a putsch at NYSUT to make sure the old leaders who had turned on Cuomo were ousted

2) who threatened the Working Families Party with dissolution if WFP gave their ballot slot to Zephyr Teachout

3) who refused to endorse Teachout in the primary and provide much needed cash and support for the Teachout/Wu campaign (as PEF did) and

4) who made robocalls for the campaign.

De Blasio, Weingarten, Magee, Mulgrew – four reasons why Andrew Cuomo will win re-election this year handily in the general election and his bank lobbyist running mate will ride along with him into power.

Head on over and read the entire thing.  There are some good quotes from Tim Wu as well on the role that De Blasio played.

Cuomo Wins Primary But Has Lost the Faith of NY Dems

If you are into moral victories there were many to be had last night.  Zephyr Teachout, while not winning the primary, garnered nearly 35% of the vote, an astounding total for a virtually unknown candidate facing off against an incumbent governor with loads of Wall Street cash.  Cuomo had a $35 million war chest, including money from NYSUT, nearly forty times the amount of money Teachout raised.  Interestingly enough, Teachout had over 8,000 donors to her campaign while Cuomo had less than 1,000.  Teachout won 30 of New York State’s 62 counties, which is fairly stunning.  Given their discrepency in fund raising it appears as though Cuomo’s votes cost about $65 per vote while Teachout’s cost $1.50.

Teachout did not endorse Cuomo in her concession speech.  She reportedly could not call him to conceded either as he wouldn’t give her his phone number.  He is a classy guy that Andy Cuomo.

Teachout’s comments to her reporters last night pretty much say it all.  Via the Washington Times…

“What we have done here is incredible.,” Teachout told her supporters in a Manhattan bar. “I will not be your next governor but the Democrats of this state have been heard.”

 “Anything over 25 percent against an incumbent with 40 times as much money, one of the most famous names in politics, and a four year’s head start on me, I am really, really proud of what we did.”

I can appreciate the moral victories.  I can appreciate the fact that Cuomo’s small margin of victory against a largely unknown challenger virtually eliminates any opportunity for him on the national stage.  However I still find myself disappointed and angry.  The reality is that we have four more years of a governor who waged all out war on teachers, students, and local communities in his first term.  The reality is that big money Wall Street donations bought another election.  Perhaps what cuts deepest for me is the reality that with an opportunity to make this a really interesting election, the leadership of our parent unions not only failed to support Teachout, but worked to win the election for the governor’s ticket.  But with friends like that who needs enemies?  I’ll have more on that later.

Reality-Based Educator with a good write up of the primary here.