A Bizarro World where teachers are to blame
Teacher and UTLA member explains why the supposedly pro-union LA mayor has jumped on the bandwagon in scapegoating teachers unions.
January 6, 2011
Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa
SPEAKING IN December before the influential Public Policy Institute of California in Sacramento, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa launched a salvo of incendiary accusations against United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA), the largest local teachers union in the state, representing about 40,000 teachers and health and human services workers.
In his speech and a corresponding article on the Huffington Post Web site, Villaraigosa called UTLA an "unwavering roadblock to reform," the "loudest opponent and the largest obstacle to creating quality schools" and the "most powerful defenders of the unacceptable status quo."
These charges are all despicable lies. Unfortunately, this type of rhetoric is all too