Social Movement Unionism Comes to the Teachers Unions at Last:

Social Movement Unionism Comes to the Teachers Unions at Last

JULY 16, 2014 BY LAURENSTEINER LEAVE A COMMENT

I am an activist and organizer who recently joined the fight against “education reform,” which is really code for the attempt by corporations, billionaires and hedge funds and the industry they have spawned, to privatize public education and break the teachers unions. I have been frustrated at the seeming lack of interest on the part of the unions in working with students, parents and community groups in this fight. After all, students are just as adversely impacted by “education reform” as the teachers, and thus their parents and also community organizations who serve children and their parents could be vital allies in this fight against powerful and well funded opponents.

Therefore, I was heartened by a panel I attended at the American Federation of Teachers annual conference in LA this past weekend called “Social Movement Unionism vs. Corporate Reform: Winning Strategies to Turn the Tide.” It featured six union officials from LA, New York, Houston, Philadelphia, Chicago and St. Paul sharing their efforts to bring the wider community into their organizing and the various successes they’ve had.

Opening up the discussion was Alex Caputo-Pearl, the newly installed President of UTLA, the United Teachers of Los Angeles. He defined social movement unionism as democratic, engaged with members, parents and community, explicit about fighting racial and social injustice, fighting privatization, taking people on, including Democrats and being willing to strike. He spoke of how at Crenshaw High School, he took on then LA School Superintendant Roy Romer who was head of the Democratic National Committee. He said when Romer got so annoyed and transferred him, the community helped get him transferred back.

He spoke about how when community activist Khalid Ali was beaten up by the police and charged himself with assault, the teachers took days off to support his fight and got him out. They formed the Crenshaw Cougar Coalition which was a coalition of community groups and teachers working for social change. Caputo-Perl said he wants to take the work he did in South LA and bring it city wide as the new president of UTLA.

He said he wants to make sure every school had a chapter chair and understands that they may have to strike. He said they have to start saving money for that now. He spoke of a resolution to target high need schools and put money into restorative justice.

He has a sweeping plan to reorganize UTLA which has not had certain key positions until now. Now they have a Policy Director, a Director of Research, an Executive Director and a Parent and Community Organizer. They plan to combine a contract and community campaign with a dues restructuring campaign and conduct a blitz of school site visits to talk to people and survey them face to face.

Next up was Karen Lewis, president of the Chicago Teachers Union, CTU, famous for facing off against Chicago mayor and privatization fan Rahm Emmanuel. She said his favorable rating on education is 29%, as his entire platform is teacher bashing.

She talked about defeating his campaign to get teachers to work a Social Movement Unionism Comes to the Teachers Unions at Last: