Detroit teachers determined to continue fight
Over the weekend, the World Socialist Web Site spoke to Detroit teachers about the issues in their struggle. Last week, teachers conducted three straight days of “sick out” protests that forced the closure of 92 of the district’s 97 schools.
Rank-and-file teachers organized the job actions independently of the Detroit Federation of Teachers to demand the removal of the state-appointed emergency manager and adequate staffing and resources to repair decaying school buildings, lower class sizes and provide social services to children facing chronically high levels of poverty. Teachers also insisted on the return of wage givebacks negotiated by the DFT and the protection of their health and pension benefits.
A young teacher who has been active in the protests told the WSWS, “With the sickouts and the social media coverage, there is now overwhelming support for teachers. It’s been kind of surreal. The dynamic has changed so much. The question now is how to use this attention effectively.
“Teachers are now on the front lines. We waited a long time for effective leadership. It was a debacle last year. But now members are finding their way to each other. They are realizing that it is not just this or that building. Some of the younger teachers had been involved in the Occupy protests and have experience with grassroots organizing.
“We posted the pictures of the buildings first. It was a smart move. Of course the photos were shocking and they’ve gone all over the Internet. It was like opening Pandora’s box. We’re trending on Facebook and Twitter.
“But now we’re concerned that the more serious issues are not getting the traction they deserve. We have huge class sizes, 40 plus, a teacher shortage running as many as 200 missing teachers, there is privatized staffing and Teach for America.
“But we fear that the legislation being introduced is an emergency manager system with a different name. We’re terrified of that. That includes the coded language promoted by the Coalition for the Future of Detroit Schoolchildren. Will there be a board that decides to open and close schools?
“Everyone has an agenda, an angle. How do we know who to trust? This is highly political and we’re not political ourselves.
“If the Detroit Federation of Teachers (DFT)/American Federation of Teachers (AFT) plan active events, we’ll participate. But if they don’t move forward, we will still organize and hope they support us. But we’re not waiting.
“Most of us have devoted ourselves to the kids and we don’t understand why our ‘allies’ have betrayed us. How can the union be allowing or even supporting charter schools?
“We are hopeful, we are strong, but are we strong enough to go against all the entities we are coming up against? It’s been shocking how deep the corruption goes, but things are becoming clear to us. Money talks. As for the Democrats and Republicans, I’m the third box ‘common sense.’ They’re not two parties, they’re one party and a lot of people feel that way.
“We need to align ourselves with everyone in this, with other workers. For example, the building engineers have told us there are unmanned boilers in the schools and the students are in danger.”
A veteran teacher with the Detroit Public Schools (DPS) also talked to the WSWS about the challenges teachers face and the political experiences they are making in the fight to defend public education.
“It’s horrendous what’s going on. They are not able to retain teachers. It’s not Detroit teachers determined to continue fight - World Socialist Web Site:
By Nancy Hanover
Democrats and unions scramble to contain Detroit teacher protests
By Nancy Hanover
18 January 2016
The emergence last week of coordinated teacher protests in Detroit, organized independently of the Detroit Federation of Teachers (DFT), came as a shock to state and local authorities, the news media and the trade union apparatus. Having long relied on the DFT and other unions to suppress opposition to the decimation of public education and other essential services, there was a clear disorientation in the official response, which varied between denunciations and phony claims of sympathy.
Three straight days of “sick outs” led to the shutdown of 93 of the district’s 97 schools. Teachers used social media to expose the intolerable conditions in their decaying schools and to demand increased staffing and resources to lower class sizes, address chronic poverty among schoolchildren and recoup years of lost wages and benefits negotiated by the DFT.
Within leading corporate and political circles there was fear the spreading protests and open defiance by teachers of the union and legislators’ threats of fines and dismissal could become the catalyst for a far broader movement of the working class. Detroit has been the epicenter for the attacks on the working class, including the 2013-14 bankruptcy when both parties, with the full support of the unions, looted city worker pensions and public assets on behalf of Wall Street bondholders. In nearby Flint social anger is at a boiling point over the lead poisoning of the water supply—by the very same emergency manager overseeing the Detroit schools—and late last year thousands of autoworkers engaged in a near rebellion against the pro-company contracts pushed through by the United Auto Workers.
Every section of the political establishment—from Republican Governor Rick Snyder and the Republican-controlled state legislature, to the Democrats, including Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan, city and state officials, all the way up to President Obama—are hostile to the teachers’ demands. All of them defend the “right” of the banks, wealthy bondholders, and for-profit education