FURIOUS over the Philadelphia School Reform Commission’s (SRC) move to unilaterally cancel its teachers’ contract, 3,000 people shut down North Broad Street last Thursday, vowing more disruptive action if the panel’s action is not undone.
The eyes of the nation are on Philadelphia, said American Federation of Teachers president Randi Weingarten, in town for a massive rally held before an SRC meeting.
‘Philly is ground zero for injustice,’ Weingarten told the crowd of sign-waving teachers, counsellors, nurses, and supporters. ‘The SRC has become a morally bankrupt institution.’
‘We’re not rolling over and we’re not taking it,’ said Jerry Jordan, president of the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers (PFT).
Joined by the Pennsylvania Department of Education, the SRC filed a motion for declaratory judgment Oct. 6 in Commonwealth Court to affirm its action, taken to save $54 million by making PFT members pay toward their health benefits. The union is expected to file a counter-motion shortly.
Labour will watch to see what the courts do, said Patrick Eiding, president of the Philadelphia Labour Council, AFL-CIO. If they don’t rule in the PFT’s favour, he said, watch out.
‘We will turn this city upside down,’ Eiding said. ‘We’ll see you in the streets if it’s not taken care of.’
Eiding and Henry Nicholas, president of the National Union of Hospital and Health Care Employees, alluded to the possibility of a general city strike – asking members of all unions to walk off their jobs – if the cancellation is not rescinded by the courts. PFT members are prohibited by law from striking.
Their proclamations drew jubilant shouts from the crowd, which ranged from babies in strollers to senior citizens with canes. Police diverted traffic and described the crowd as angry but mostly orderly. No arrests were reported.
Officials from the Commonwealth Foundation, a conservative think tank critical of the teachers’ union, were the focus of much ire. The foundation stirred up controversy this week when it hired about a dozen workers to hand out anti-PFT fliers.
It also launched PFT fails, a website that blasts the union as ‘pathetic for teachers’ and ‘defending the status quo at failing, violent schools.’
Matthew Brouillette, chief executive of the foundation, gave interviews over the din of people shouting angry words in his ears.
‘We’re here to stand up for the good teachers,’ Brouillette said. ‘The PFT is really failing our good teachers and our kids.’
Simone Roberts, a sixth grader at Henry School in West Mount Airy, came to the protest with her mother. ‘I like to support our teachers,’ she said. ‘I love them. I think they’re working very hard.’
Simone’s mother, Robin, said: ‘It’s a disgrace what this school board has done to our teachers. We don’t buy into “our schools are failing.” Our district is failing us. Harrisburg is failing us. The SRC is failing us.’
Ali Cogan, a speech therapist at Franklin School in Crescentville and Sullivan School in Wissinoming, dressed her golden retriever, Tobi, in a red PFT shirt and came to show her anger. Speech therapists are in demand, and she could work elsewhere for more money and less hassle, Cogan said.
‘I feel like I should be giving back to Philly, but they’re making it so hard,’ Cogan said.
Under the terms imposed by the SRC, union members will pay between 5% and 13% of their health-care plans. Previously they paid none. If a teacher is single and chooses the cheapest plan, he or she would pay $72 a month. Teachers with families who opt for a better plan would pay almost $700 a month.
That rankled Christine Moan, a teacher at Fitzpatrick School in the Northeast. Superintendent William R. Hite Jr. and his cabinet earn much more than she does, but pay 7% of the cost of their health insurance.
‘I don’t have a problem with contributing to benefits, but I don’t think it’s fair that the higher-ups pay less,’ said Moan, who has two children who attend district schools.
At the SRC meeting, Hite said, ‘We will gladly contribute to our benefits at the same level that the PFT contributes’ – if the PFT comes to the negotiating table and works out a deal that would save the district $54 million annually.
State Sen. Christine Tartaglione (D., Phila.) called the SRC’s move ‘a disgrace’ and said she would act accordingly when the legislature reconvenes. ‘When we go back in January, my first piece of legislation is going to be to abolish the SRC,’ Tartaglione said.
The commission meeting was disrupted frequently by protesters shouting, ‘SRC is not for me,’ and ‘You don’t give a damn about our kids.’
Some speakers supportive of the SRC’s action were drowned out by jeers. Helen Cunningham, a former school board member, told the SRC that she remembers ‘how unpopular doing the right thing can be.’
In 2000, the school board ‘did not have the gumption’ to bring PFT benefits in line, she said.
‘I realise you are only safeguarding the children in your care,’ Cunningham said as protesters grew louder. She walked away without finishing.
Mark Gleason, director of the controversial Philadelphia Schools Partnership, barely got a sentence in before the audience shouted him down.
Those who spoke against the SRC and its cancellation were applauded roundly.
Dan Symonds, a first-year teacher at Munoz-Marin School in North Philadelphia, decried the ‘drumbeat of negativity’ about city schools and their teachers.
‘You’re telling us as educators that we failed a swimming test, but it’s clear to me that you took the water out of the pool,’ he said.
City resident Samuel Jones turned away from the SRC. He said he would not dignify its members by showing them his face. ‘This board is illegitimate,’ he said.
After speakers concluded, the SRC voted on its agenda very quickly. The commission voted to begin the closure process for Arise Academy, a charter school for children in foster care that has struggled since it opened.
Roberta Trombetta, Arise CEO, noted that the school serves some of the system’s toughest children.
‘Most of our kids have been asked to leave your schools,’ Trombetta said. ‘We have a place where kids want to come to.’
• A group of Walmart workers marched on Monday from the AFL-CIO to the Washington, D.C., Walton Family Foundation’s offices to deliver more signatures from 1,710 Walmart stores in all 50 states asking Walmart to publicly commit to pay $15 an hour and provide full-time hours.
Shouts of ‘We’re fired up! Can’t take it no more!’ rang out as the workers and hundreds of supporters and allies marched down I Street and made their way to the foundation offices.
Before the workers attempted to deliver the petitions, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka reminded everyone that Walmart, which rakes in billions every year, wouldn’t make a dime without its workers, yet pays wages so low that many of its workers need to rely on public assistance and food stamps to get by.
One Walmart worker, Isaiah, shared heartbreaking stories of seeing co-workers cry in the Walmart break room when they found out their hours had been cut, making it impossible to provide for their families.
When the workers got inside the office, the building manager claimed no one from the Walton Family Foundation was working today (um, OK) and said they couldn’t call the office because they didn’t know the number. ‘We’ll be back,’ shouted the determined workers, including Bene’t Holmes who was leading some of the chants.
Holmes said they weren’t going to leave the petition with the front desk and promised this is not the last time they would attempt to hand deliver those signatures.
Following the demonstration outside the office, 15 Walmart workers and supporters sat down in a cross section of the street in front of Walmart heir Alice Walton’s condo and took arrest.
The workers were accompanied by union members and allies from the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW), AFSCME, AFT, Jobs with Justice, UNITE HERE, Restaurant Opportunities Centres United, Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU), UAW, United Steelworkers (USW), the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists and many others.
• Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa was greeted by cheers early last Friday morning as workers at the Croydon FedEx Freight yard welcomed the General President of their new union.
The 47 drivers overwhelmingly voted to join Teamsters Local 107 on Oct. 14 and became the first FedEx Freight location to join the Teamsters in the United States. With one successful vote for change under their belt, they are ready to make another next month.
‘I was honoured that Jim Hoffa came by to congratulate us on our victory and help get out the vote for November this morning,’ said driver Gary Loftus. ‘I voted to join Teamsters Local 107 to change my future and now I’m ready to help change Pennsylvania’s future by voting on Nov. 4.’
Following his visit with the FedEx Freight drivers, Hoffa spoke to workers at three other worksites, including a visit to the Liquor Control Board Distribution Centre with gubernatorial candidate Tom Wolf.
Wolf received the endorsement of the Pennsylvania Conference of Teamsters earlier this year, and said now is the time for workers to make their voices heard.
‘This is our chance to take back our society to make it work for people who are building families and want family-sustaining jobs,’ he said. ‘This is not just another same old, same old election. This is really a referendum on our future. And in a democracy, voting is how we make that decision. If we don’t vote, we don’t win. If we don’t vote in this election, we’re not going to get the future we want.’
Hoffa also stressed how important voting on Nov. 4 was to the future of the state.
‘The strength of our union and working families in Pennsylvania is in our numbers,’ Hoffa said. ‘We need to join together to vote for politicians that will support and believe in rebuilding the middle class.’
Hoffa will head west next week to Wisconsin and Illinois where he will continue his efforts to mobilise members across the country to vote in November.