Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: SOS Labor Panel and Workshop at upcoming convention

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: SOS Labor Panel and Workshop at upcoming convention:

SOS Labor Panel and Workshop at upcoming convention

by Mike Klonsky

Weingarten calls for "new unionism"

After stops in Cleveland and Philly, two cities now viewed as "models" of privatization by the corporate reformers, I'm headed to D.C. this morning to take part in the upcoming SOS Convention. I'll be part of the convention'sLabor Panel and Workshop, which is looking even more interesting in light of the so-called "solutions driven unionism" being pushed by AFT Pres. Randi Weingarten.

Weingarten, who was re-elected this week for a third term as union president with 98 percent of the vote, is claiming a mandate for her approach to dealing with corporate reform. She's holding up recently signed agreements in New Haven and Cleveland as models of collaboration, agreements which include teacher evaluations and merit pay based on student test scores.

All this should provide fodder for an interesting discussion within SOS as