Crossposted with permission from Unbossed's Shirah

Is it, though? The mantrum you hear every where these days is: To get good workers and good work an employer must be able to fire workers. That means just-cause employment, tenure, and union grievance procedures are on the firing line, because, they, well, stand in the way of the “firing” line.

NPR reporter Claudio Sanchez can barely report a story that advocates this position. For example, on March 18, his story starts with:

Michele Rhee, the District of Columbia's public schools chancellor, has done a lot to shake up schools in the nation's capital.
. . .
So Rhee is intent on attracting young teachers who aren't vested in the old contractual arrangements with the teachers' union, which Rhee thinks is getting in the way of her reform efforts.

link

Now, it may be that Claudio Sanchez is just confused and doesn’t understand that all just cause, grievance procedures, and tenure get an employee is the rights to be fired

1. only because the employee has done a bad job or
2. only if there is business necessity, such as financial troubles and
3. only after a fair demonstration that these facts exist, otherwise known as due process

These rights do not get you a job for life.

They do not give the right to keep a job even when a worker is incompetent.

So essentially what Rhee wants and what Sanchez advocates is the right of employers to fire workers on whim and with no proof that the worker is not doing a good job.

They assume that workers will only do a good job if they are terrified of losing their jobs.

There is a lot to unpack about those assumptions about workers. It assumes that workers are slackers. It assumes that bosses are always right. It assumes that unions and tenure are our enemies. If Sanchez and Rhee and others who espouse these views are wrong, then they are leading us down the primrose path to bad outcomes.

These untested assumptions miss a lot about most workers. And because they miss key information, they will lead to a system that is detrimental to progress and productivity. Consider that the periods of highest union density in the US, from the early 1950s through the 1970s were also periods of progress and innovation.

An interesting study by Kelly Services, ironically, tells us why Rhee, Sanchez, and others who take this view are barking up the wrong tree and missing the forest for the trees and maybe in danger of setting on fire the trees that make up that beautiful forest.

The survey reveals a widespread desire for more meaningful roles in the workplace. Approximately half (51 percent) of those surveyed are prepared to accept a lower wage or a lesser role if their work contributes to something ‘more important or meaningful.'

Here are some of the summary findings of the Kelly Services study.

Around the world . . .

51 percent of Gen Y are prepared to accept a lower wage or a lesser role if their work contributes to something more important or meaningful.

62 percent of Gen X plan to look for a new job within a year.

46 percent of baby boomers say their career goals are not being advanced in their current job

In North America . . .

Across North America, 92 percent say they derive a sense of pride from their work, the highest of the three global regions in the survey.

Almost half (49 percent) will sacrifice pay and position for more meaningful work, with Gen Y and males the most willing to do so.

Some 45 percent say they intend to look for another job within the next year, however, the proportion in the U.S. (40 percent) planning to change jobs is the lowest of any country in the survey.

Some 40 percent are worried that their current job is not meeting their long term career goals, with baby boomers the most alarmed.

If you scroll down the Kelly Services report, you will see interesting differences based on geography and age cohort, but also many similarities of view.

So maybe what explains any successes in turning workplaces around and making them do good work is actually good leadership, inspiration, and meaningful work to do.

And that is because workers want is to be inspired. They want to be part of something bigger than themselves. They want to live meaningful lives, and work is part of what gives us meaning.

So, to get back to the untested assumptions trotted out by Sanchez, Rhee, and others, isn’t the issue why they think employers can only succeed is by firing good workers and by having no fair process to check whether the employer’s assumptions are correct. Only employers who are not good managers and unfair autocrats need these rights. Good employers will only want to fire workers who are not doing a good job or if there is financial exigency.

So, isn’t time we asked why we need to protect bad managers and bad employers?

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So, not too many folks showed up yesterday to rally in front of the WTU. In fact, there were 8, according to the Wire. Didn’t hear about the Demonstration? The Post reported on it:

The rift is playing out in a blizzard of cellphone messages and e-mails, Facebook entries and posts on teacher blogs such as D.C. Teacher Chic and Dee Does the District.

Some of the teachers who want "green tier" salaries plan to demonstrate this morning at teacher union offices on L'Enfant Plaza.

Older teachers aren’t necessarily bad teachers. But Like I’ve said before, blaming teachers for why students perform badly on tests or administrators for why kids aren’t showing up, well, it’s like claiming that no one else matters in this equation, and that’s not true.

A few days ago, I talked about what it’s like being a parent with a child in DCPS. I wrote about other parents who often treated school more like a babysitter than a school. I talked about how, until we can make school the center of community again, firing administrators and teachers, well, it’s like blaming the nails for why the house fell down and not the builder constructing it. Without parents and community, we’re all screwed.

But, I digress. This post is about WTU and communication and for that matter, lack of communication.

So, let’s look at the DC 8 again. Sure, not many showed up, but like all unions, the WTU should be responsive to its membership. So, when the 8 showed up, WTU didn’t turn them away, Parker met with them.

All of 8 public school teachers, interested in the sizeable salary increases placed on the table by Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee, turned out at Washington Teachers Union headquarters on L'Enfant Plaza. They met for about 90 minutes with union president George Parker and emerged satisfied that they eventually would get a chance to vote on the pay package, which offers $100,000-plus salaries for tenured teachers willing to risk dismissal by going on probation for a year. Teachers unwilling to relinquish tenure would still get significant raises under the proposal.

"All my questions were answered," said Heather Migdon, a fifth-grade teacher at Nalle Elementary in Southeast. "I feel better about things." Migdon said that she wasn't concerned about the sparse turnout, and that it was to be expected with teachers still scattered on vacation and the last-minute notice (the gathering was called yesterday afternoon).

Instead of getting mad, signing on to nebulous groups like “strong schools,” why not actually approach the union in a more constructive way? They represent teachers. They are the voice of teachers in all negotiations. So, why not be more active and proactive with the union?

I’ve been thinking about this because of comments left on a previous post of mine. What struck me about Peter Poer’s comments wasn’t his support of Strong Schools (he’s a member and listed on their website) or that he’s an alumnus of Teach for America, it was that he noted this:

First, you write that Teacher have a voice in the negotiations -- their union. As a member in good standing with the WTU, I have not once been asked my opinion about the new contract. There have been no surveys, phone polls, emails, or any other means of communication between the WTU and me in which my opinion was asked for. How can the WTU claim to represent me if they don't know my opinion? The teachers who are working for Strong Schools DC are all teachers in DCPS, and therefore their voices are just as important as the voices coming from the unions.

To which I replied:

If "good standing" means that you pay your dues, then your voice isn't being heard because you aren't speaking up.

This holds true for all unions, but it holds doubly true for those of you out there who hate paying dues because you’re anti-union or don’t feel the union represents you, individually. If you feel this way, do something about it, again, from Peter’s comments:

I would also point out that teachers in DC must be represented by the WTU, whether they want to be or not.

Snip

Fundamentally, my problem is that the WTU leadership frequently makes decisions that I disagree with, and I have no other option but to deal with those decisions. If the union operated as an unbiased body that truly reflected the opinions of all of its members, then this would be fine.

Here’s the issue, Peter and perhaps 8 other DCPS teachers feel as if the union is not representing them. If there are more DC teachers out there happy or sad about the way the negotiations are going, they don’t seem to be communicating those feelings to the general public, so I’m assuming (and you know what they say about assumptions) that they are making their concerns and feelings known to the WTU, privately. This includes my forwarding of the exchanges with Peter over to WTU leadership (all of them) currently listed on the staff page. And in an effort to improve communications, if I get a response, I’ll post it here. If I receive no response, then I have to find that Peter’s other comments:

Feeling like I should put more effort into communicating with the union, I went to the website (www.wtulocal6.org). I should mention that, although I have never attended a union meeting, I've also never been asked to attend a union meeting. I have attended the meetings at my school, but these are infrequent and don't tend to discuss much actual union business. Anyway, looking at the website, there is no place to find information about when/where meetings take place. I have never received an email or letter telling me when meetings are.

I’d like to think this is an issue isolated to DC, however, another reader who is also in a teacher’s union in another state said this:

I love your site, especially reading about the DC teachers, Michelle Rhee and DC Voice, and could stay on it all day.

Though I am definitely pro-union, and have been a union member most of my life, I find that my union is unresponsive and undemocratic -- even unethical in certain areas. My main goal is to get the union to institute a list serve or an online bulletin board so that members can communicate with each other. Of course, I have larger goals for unions and our country, in general. But this goal is so basic and so ignored by most people in labor that I want to focus on that. If you have any suggestions and I can get this one little (but huge) thing done, then I will have psychic and other energies freed up to do the bigger stuff.

Is this an issue with AFT or is this a local’s issue? The fact that it’s teachers e-mailing me and leaving comments about this has me thinking that this is isolated to teachers and at this point, the new leadership at AFT has really got its work cut out for it.

To Peter and my other readers, I know it can be frustrating and you can feel like you aren’t being heard, but you are. It might just take more time to move your organizations toward the kind of communications you want to see and have and on that note, let me know how I can help. And WTU, send me a note and I’ll post it. Communication is a two way street and if your site isn’t getting the job done, then drop me a line and we’ll help.

In Solidarity- bendygirl

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I opened my e-mail to find this little ditty from DCLabor:

LABOR IN THE NEWS: Teacher Lobbying by Outside Group Raises Ire of DC Teachers: DC teachers and their union, the Washington Teachers Union (WTU) Local 6, are accusing a newly-created community group of inappropriately interfering in the ongoing teacher contract negotiations, reported Bill Turque in Wednesday’s Washington Post. The group, which has members with past ties to School Chancellor Michelle Rhee, has hired teachers to lobby co-workers to support the Chancellor’s controversial pay-for-performance plan that would end tenure rights for workers who take it. "We think it's inappropriate to interfere with the union's communications with its membership about a future contract," Local 6 President George Parker told the Post. Teachers have also voiced concern that Chancellor Rhee’s ties to the group may indicate she had a role in orchestrating the lobbying campaign.

From the Strong Schools website:

Strong Schools DC is an independent, informal group of individuals who came together last spring to support strong public schools and great teachers in the District. Through community meetings, literature distribution, and outreach to teachers, we have learned what teachers are looking for in a new teaching contract, and we have provided a solid, independent information source for teachers. Our mission is to support the growing movement to make Washington, DC the best place to teach in the country.

We are now eagerly awaiting the completion of negotiations for a new contract. When an agreement is reached, we will be prepared to mobilize support for the contract and to continue our role as a pro-teacher community advocate and source of independent information.

Gee, the way this site is written, it does sort of sound as if they intend to lobby teachers to get them on board instead of involving them in a crocess or collaborating in general. Teachers have a voice in negotiations with the Mayor and Rhee, they have their union. And one of the best things the union can do for them is to protect tenure, not for the scapegoat, "the poorly performing teacher" but for the next generation of teachers to come. But there's more than just tenure involved, there's safety, there's coordination, there's community, all subjects that DCVoice has been advocating for since 1998.

Growing up in rural Ohio, I know what it's like to have community involved in the school. All events centered around the school. From parties to girl and boy scouts to language classes, PTA meetings and plays, just to name a few. Together, we reinforced the idea that we really were all in it together. To organize a lobbying effort during district and teacher's negotiations sens a strong message to me, a DC parent, it tells me that you don't care about the teachers and aren't looking to work with the community. It says that you're willing to spend money to sway opinion, like the oil lobby or the insurance lobby. Is that the message you really want to send Rhee? If that what the entire message is Fenty?

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“NCLB has outlived whatever usefulness it ever had. Conceived by accountants, drafted by lawyers, and distorted by ideologues, it is too badly broken to be fixed.”

I couldn’t agree more with Randi Weingarten in her remarks delivered in Chicago.

Randi Weingarten, the new president of the American Federation of Teachers, declared war on the No Child Left Behind Act in her speech to delegates today, saying it has become, for many members, “a four-letter word.”

Wow, did you catch that? The New president of the American Federation of Teachers at her conference speech.

Did you notice? No?

Randi Weingarten is, well, SHE’S A WOMAN.

It’s TRUE and she’s not the only one, either!!

The top 3 posts at AFT are now held by women, and I love it!! Take the short mini-bio-paragraphs in the Chicago Tribune:

Lorretta Johnson was reading to her kids and others in the library of a mostly black Baltimore elementary school when she decided to ask for a job helping teachers. That was over 40 years ago.

About the same time, Antonia Cortese wasn't sure if she wanted school work. But she gave it a chance, starting out as an elementary school teacher and social worker in a poor rural district near her upstate New York home.

Over 20 years ago Randi Weingarten quit a cushy Wall Street lawyer's job to do legal work for the New York City teachers union. Wanting to know what it was like in the classroom, she took a part-time job teaching social studies at a largely black and Latino high school in Brooklyn.

These are amazing women. Women who wanted to make a difference and in doing so, moved toward the union, not away. In that move toward being unionists, they worked to make the lives of kids and their families better as well as the lives of teachers and teaching para-professionals (often called teaching assistants).

Not only have these women moved toward their roles in the union, including their own personal leadership role, but they are the first to lead a major union. Again, from the Chicago Tribune:

Their election would mark the first time three women will hold top positions in a union whose membership is more than 70 percent female. Similarly, no other major union in the U.S. has such a female-driven leadership, AFT officials point out.

And somehow, we still aren’t done yet. Again, from the Chicago Tribune:

As for the union's future, all three women talk of signing up more early childhood workers, paraprofessionals and charter school workers. They talk of stepping up the union's political activities so that schools get support from state and local lawmakers.

They also want to expand teachers' roles in their own professional groups.

One issue for Weingarten is helping workers deal with discrimination.

After the 9/11 terrorist attacks, for example, she felt a drop-off in women serving in top union positions in the New York City area. Her only explanation was that the tragedy triggered a harkening back to "more traditional roles."

She faced her own fears about discrimination when she announced at a public meeting in New York City last October that she was gay.

"I never hid my sexuality, but I never talked about it," she said.

She had hesitated, she explained, because "the things that most people are afraid of, I was afraid of too."

Much to her pleasure, the response, she said, was overwhelmingly supportive.

So, not only do we have these amazing women leading a huge union, but one of them is also an openly gay woman who makes as one of her goals to ensure that workers no longer face discrimination?! OMG!! This is FREAKING AWESOME!

It’s thrilling to see this sort of enthusiasm and excitement about the work of organizing and ensuring the rights of the membership as well as empowering these same workers to establish links in the communities in which they serve along the lines of services that I recall having at school when I was growing up. From the New York Times (login may be required)

Ms. Weingarten >snip< lays out a “new vision of schools for the 21st century.”

“Can you imagine a federal law that promoted community schools — schools that serve the neediest children by bringing together under one roof all the services and activities they and their families need?” Ms. Weingarten is expected to ask in the speech, a copy of which was provided by the union to The New York Times. “Imagine schools that are open all day and offer after-school and evening recreational activities, child care and preschool, tutoring and homework assistance,” the speech reads. “Schools that include dental, medical and counseling clinics”

>snip<

Ms. Weingarten’s speech says, “Sisters and brothers, this is an idea whose time has come.

“Imagine if schools had the educational resources children need to thrive, like smaller classes and individualized instruction, plentiful, up-to-date materials and technology anchored to that rich curriculum, decent facilities, an early start for toddlers and a nurturing atmosphere,” she says.

>snip<

“We all have to work tenaciously to eliminate the achievement gap and to turn around low-performing schools. But the folks who believe that this can all be done on teachers’ shoulders, which is what No Child tries to do, are doing a huge disservice to America.”

Leadership, mission, and the vision to get it done, I think this pretty much sums up Antonia Cortese, Lorretta Johnson and the new AFT President, Randi Weingarten. I’m so excited to see what these accomplished, activist, unionist women can do for AFT, America and the labor movement. Tall order, huh? But these are women with the kind of shoulders to carry this burden and excel at it!!

Congratulations AFT! Congratulations!!

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Actually, this was a snarky post I found over on Dailykos that I thought was pretty straight forward and head on. Let me sample just a little of it:

Public schools provide free education for all youngsters. This has emptied the work houses of child labor, stripped the fields of able-bodied youths, and deprived assembly lines of nimble-fingered tots. As a result, we’ve had to either import all that controversial south of the border labor or outsource our child labor to China. The McCain solution: close public schools and put those kids back to work where they belong. Anyone who can afford to buy a private education can opt out of the system, thus supplying the next generation of Republicans. The program would be modeled on our current volunteer army, where those rich enough to avoid being blown up in Iraq can do so if they choose.

The nation has a shortage of nurses and police officers. These dangerous and difficult jobs are of course essential for our collective well-being, so the shortage is a serious matter. The culprit? Pensions. Overly generous pension benefits cause police and nurses to retire. McCain’s solution is simple. Strip nurses and police officers of their pensions, thus forcing them to stay on the job. Furthermore, McCain points to the virtuous circle effect: all that money otherwise destined to fund pension programs will instead line the pockets of hospital executives and Republican municipal politicians and eventually find its way into the coffers of the GOP.

Ah yes, McSame on the Straight Talk Express to NoWhere, again. Funny thing is, that all of this seems as if he's actually said it outloud, wait, I think he has. Take for instance the opening paragraph of this Dailykos Diary:

On this day honoring our war veterans, John McCain restated his opposition to providing vets with generous education benefits. If a veteran gets a free ride at, say, Dartmouth, where tuition is near $40k and whose president actively recruits service men and women, that vet won’t re-enlist. Your average veteran, McCain argues, would choose an idyllic campus set in pristine New Hampshire woodland over getting shot at and blown up in the toxic dust cloud of Iraq. This is the kind of good sense we’ve come to expect from the straight talker. Indeed his unimpeachable logic applies to a broad range of social programs long overdue for reform.

So, highly recommend you head over and read the entire thing. I laughed my ass off then felt like crying. Unfortunately, this is what we have to look forward to in the ensuing years if we some how let this man become President...more of the same and worse.

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Well, here's your chance!!

If you live in the New York area, please apply. This union needs a strong union blogging voice. Can you be their voice?

Description
Web Outreach Coordinator

Representing more than 200,000 people, the United Federation of Teachers is the union of New York City public school teachers and other non-supervisory educators. The Web Outreach Coordinator is a key member of the UFT’s small Web Communications team and works closely with the Director of Internal Communications. The Web Outreach Coordinator will play a key strategic planning and implementation role in all of the union’s online communications efforts to better serve its members. Primary duties will include making the UFT Web site more effective, managing the UFT blog edwize, and overseeing email blasts.

The online coordinator should be able to manage both the front and back end of the UFT blog and Web CMS technologies. That requires strong communication as well as technological skills.


Responsibilities include:

* helping shepherd the redesign of the union’s Web site to make it more dynamic, interactive and informative

* running edwize, the UFT’s labor/education-oriented blog,
including:
1) editing/organizing/finding content
2) being responsible for a regular flow of new items
3) recruiting new writers
4) monitoring comments and enforcing ground rules
5) developing a strategy for driving more traffic to edwize

* helping develop a strategy for increasing the use of e-mail and other forms of online communications to reach and engage chapter leaders, rank-and-file members and parents

* trouble-shooting and optimizing the current UFT Web site (including sharing the work of routine maintenance)

* helping create action alerts, online petitions, surveys, e-activist campaigns, meeting notices and news bulletins

* contributing to joint projects of the Web communications team

Qualifications:

* At least three years of experience in Web communications
* BA/BS degree
* Knowledge of Web 2.0
* Hands-on proficiency in HTML, CSS and CMS technologies; a plus if knowledge of WordPress, Photoshop, Drupal, Dreamweaver, ASP and PHP and scripting technologies.
* Experience supporting Web-based content management systems
* Strong writing and editing skills
* Strong commitment to unionism and public education
* Knowledgeable about local and national blogs and proactive in disseminating information to like-minded blog communities
* Both a self-starter and a team player
* Ability to think strategically

EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER
Excellent Benefits

How to Apply:

Resumes and cover letters may be sent to:
D. McFadyen
United Federation of Teachers
Communications Department
52 Broadway, 12th Floor
New York, NY 10003
Email: uftwebjob@uft.org
No faxes or phone calls please.

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