Randi Weingarten, Twitter, and “Secret Society” Membership
Connecticut Governor Dannel Malloy is a corporate reformer’s gift. He appointedStefan Pryor, the co-founder of a major charter chain as state education commissioner. Even as traditional public education in Connecticut is underfunded, the number of charter schools grows. Malloy also believes in evaluating teachers using student test scores. He publicly stated that teachers “only have to show up for four years” in order to get collective bargaining rights.
Not only does Malloy not respect teachers; he is actively working to destroy traditional public education.
But, you see, the Connecticut American Federation of Teachers (CT-AFT) is willing to forgive because CT-AFT has other members, and according to CT-AFT President Melodie Peters, Malloy is nice to those other members:
Melodie Peters, the president of AFT-Connecticut, whose 29,000 members include teachers and a diverse collection of other professions, including health care employees, said Malloy supported AFT’s efforts to organize workers at Backus Hospital more than a year ago, as well his efforts to push Lawrence + Memorial to settle recently.The labor movement is far better off with Malloy, who is the first Democratic governor in two decades, than without him, she said.“Have mistakes been made along the way? Absolutely,” she said. “I would defy anyone to tell me that I’m perfect. When you have speechwriters, sometimes those things happen, right?” …The delegates gave him a standing ovation. [Emphasis added.]
Malloy is running for re-election. In June 2014, CT-AFT gave Malloy their endorsement because he’s a Democrat–oh, and he *really* “respects” collective bargaining rights:
AFT’s endorsement of Malloy and the other five statewide constitutional officers, all Democrats, would barely be noteworthy in other years, but the governor’s relationship with labor in general and teachers in particular has been eventful. …Leaders of AFT-Connecticut and other public-employee unions have said that Malloy deserved labor’s support for respecting collective bargaining rights for public employees at a time when they are under attack in other states. [Emphasis added.]
On June 17, 2014, the day that Malloy was officially given the AFL-CIO endorsement that virtually guarantees him a second term, AFT President Randi Weingarten offered wholehearted support for Malloy.
Here is part of Weingarten’s sorry justification for her support:
“There are a lot of people who say things they shouldn’t say,” Weingarten said. She said she has discussed the remark with Malloy and he sounded “very regretful.” And she said Malloy didn’t end up eliminating tenure—he found a way to make it easier to fire tenured teachers based on poor evaluations, but he didn’t get rid of their right to due process, she argued. [Emphasis added.]
Malloy’s really a good guy. He just made it easier to fire teachers who are being graded using student test scores. That’s all.
Oh, and regarding a resolution aimed at removing Pryor as education commissioner, Randi Weingarten, Twitter, and “Secret Society” Membership | deutsch29: