King Harvest
Went to a UTLA rally Wednesday. I didn’t really want to be there but decided to go anyway. The chants were uninspiring: “We want a raise. We want a raise.” But as the crowd got thicker on the patch of Beaudry roped off for the rally, I found myself agreeing with much that was said. Where was the money from Prop 30? How can Deasy make his 360K and spend construction bond money on iPads for every student in the district–kids in overcrowded classrooms, sped children not getting the help they need?
The next day someone left a note on a rally carpool sign-up in the mailroom of my school. “You should be grateful you have a job.” I am and I was enlightened by some of the comments about a photo of the sign up I put up on Facebook. A young teacher said that with her student loan debt she could never go in strike. Another guessed that a displaced sub may have written the note.
Fair enough. But as I pointed out, if they kill the union we won’t have jobs anyway or positions at charters that can fire us without cause.
Am I a big union man, as a colleague once accused me of being? Standing in that crowd,