Detroit Sickout Mystery: Who is Leading and Who is Trying to Stop It?
Why am I reporting so much on the Detroit wildcat sickout? Because of comments I've seen by dissident teachers here in NYC who are hoping for a UFT loss on Friedrichs and feel that with a weaker union teachers will arise from their slumber and revolt - and Detroit may be a model for a weak union. So I'm trying to decipher exactly what is happening - are there leaders who organized this? To what extent is this spontaneous combustion?
...the DFT [Detroit Federation of Teachers]—discredited for its willingness to sign onto any concessions contract, layoff and school closure handed down by a succession of emergency managers—has been unable to stop or control the sickouts and has gone into crisis mode. For the DFT and its national parent organization, the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), it is now ‘all hands on deck’ to try to quell the protests while at the same time trying to prevent further loss of union membership come next June, when members will be able to opt-out under the state’s right-to-work law.There is too much information coming in on what forces are behind the revolt in Detroit which may be a true rank and file movement independent of the official union, the Detroit Federation of Teachers (DFT) and Steve Conn and his group BAMN.
Meanwhile, the corporate media, from the local Detroit press to the New York Times and UK-based Guardian, have falsely claimed ousted DFT president Steve Conn is the leader of the protests. But teachers have gone through an experience with Conn’s brand of pseudo-left racial politics and unprincipled maneuvers with the Democratic Party, and the organizers of the sickouts have specifically dissociated themselves from him.... the 4th International, World Socialist Website
We've reported on Steve Conn's story of being elected as president and then removed and tossed from the union. Knowing the Ed Notes Online: Detroit Sickout Mystery: Who is Leading and Who is Trying to Stop It?: