Weekly Update #15 – 07.11.12

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Hey Movement of Rank and file Educators,

If you are travelling or doing a staycation or working, make the most of your summer: Rest up for the battles ahead.

MORE THIS WEEK

MORE Election Committee Meeting
Thursday, July 12, 2:30 PM, at Karavas restaurant, 164 West 4th Street

New York, NY 10014

MORE Election Summer Series

First Session: Thursday, July 12, 5PM

The Roots of MORE:  The UFT, Then and Now – Historical perspective of caucuses in the UFT over the past half century. With Michael Fiorillo and Norm Scott.

LOLITA Bar – located at 266 Broome Street (Between Grand & Delancey Streets) NYC, take the F to Delancey St. or the J, M, Z to Essex St.

5pm-8pm

Each “listen & learn” discussion will be preceded by a brief membership meeting at which all are welcome, and followed by happy hour socializing & schmoozing

MORE joins Con Ed Workers on picket lines

“They gave us a hero’s welcome. About 1000 workers were there cheering us and thanking us for the solidarity. On both sides there were picket lines… they all got so excited to see us chanting ‘teacher, teacher.’ Loud whistles, noise makers… the crowd went nuts. We got thumbs-up, high fives, people thanked us…. We all agreed that we have not felt so appreciated as educators in a long time.”

 

READ ALL ABOUT IT ON THE BLOG.

READ OUR FULL STATEMENT HERE.

MORE Members act out this summer

Join MORE members at the AFT convention in Detroit July 26-29.

Join MORE members at Save Our Schools in Washington DC Aug. 3-5

Contact [email protected]

MORE Summer Series

Learn about MORE this summer: Can YOU imagine a transformed UFT?

Come to our Thursday Night Summer Series at:
LOLITA Bar – located at 266 Broome Street (Between Grand & Delancey Streets) NYC, take the F to Delancey St. or the J, M, Z to Essex St.

 

5pm-8pm

Each “listen & learn” discussion will be preceded by a brief membership meeting at which all are welcome, and followed by happy hour socializing & schmoozing

First Session: Thursday, July 12, 5PM

The Roots of MORE:  The UFT, Then and Now – Historical perspective of caucuses in the UFT over the past half century. With Michael Fiorillo and Norm Scott.

If you plan to attend July 12, or even if you don’t, we urge you to check out the videos on the historical roots of the UFT presented by Michael Fiorillo and Peter Lamphere at the State of the Union conference (Feb. 4. 2012).

Michael: Teacher unions up to 1968 (22 minutes): https://vimeo.com/45094559

Peter: Post 1968 (15 minutes):  https://vimeo.com/45094560

Both videos plus the Q&A (1 hour):  https://vimeo.com/45094713

 

Second Session: Thursday, July 19, 5PM

Union Elections- Nuts & Bolts- How do you do it anyway?

Third Session: Thursday, August 2, 5PM

“Each one, Teach one:” MORE Messaging and Outreach

Fourth Session: Thursday, August 16, 5PM

Growing into the Fall: Launching our Fall Campaign

Steering/Planning Committee Meetings This Summer

There will be meetings before each event of the summer series.

Join the MORE Chapter Leader and Delegate Meet-up group listserve.

There are already vibrant discussions going on dealing with the issues of tenure extension, end of year grievances, harassment and other issues. Plug in. Send an email to [email protected] and ask to be added to the chapter leader listserve (not the same as MORE Discussion).

If you haven’t already, join MORE! And please take a moment to check out our website at morecaucusnyc.org.

Spread the word–help build MORE!

Like us on Facebook: Facebook.com/MOREcaucusNYC

Follow us on Twitter: @morecaucusnyc

Check out MORE’s website: MOREcaucusNYC.org

Email us at: [email protected]

We want to hear from you! Check out MORE’s online discussion forum to get the latest news and goings on, and to join in the conversation.

From Mike Klonsky on the new teacher contract in Cleveland

The new law overrides the union’s contract and discards previous board-union agreements governing teacher pay and layoffs, does away with tenure, lengthens the school day and year without accompanying compensation, evaluates and pays teachers based largely on student test scores, and pushes the biggest move yet towards privately managed charter schools along the lines of the Philadelphia model. The new law is also an affront to parents, requiring them to attend meetings under penalty of law. It will take badly-needed funds away from neighborhood public schools and line the pockets of politically connected consultants.

The worst part of this mess is that it was supported by the Democrats and by the AFT and the Cleveland Teacher Union –not only supported, but hailed as “a model of collaboration” for the entire nation. The last time we heard that kind of talk from state union bureaucrats was here in Illinois after the passage of the anti-union SB-7 bill.

Read more at:  Cleveland’s corporate reform bill signed by Kasich
Klonsky follow up with:

There’s no fix without fight in Cleveland

Union leaders, including Weingarten from the AFT signed off on this without any real Chicago-style mobilization of city teachers and community supporters. No line in the sand has been drawn — yet. ….. what’s repulsive is the sight of union leaders hailing these plans as a national models of collaboration. It’s one thing to lose a fight to a more powerful (at least for now) foe. It’s quite another to call that defeat a victory….

More follow-up and comment on Ed Notes