Tonight's Great Demo -- We Stood Up for the ATRs

Photo courtesy of Ivan Rowe.

This report was written on November 24 following the rally to defend teachers in the Absent Teacher Reserve (ATR).

Colleagues, I think we can be immensely proud of the rally we had tonight. It was empowering to hear so many teachers, social workers, counselors and all school staff speak at the "open mike" with their ideas, their stories, their struggle. Every single person who came played an important role in building it at their schools, their committees, and among their friends. It was a real teacher rebellion.

While we were rallying outside the Department of Education, the UFT/Unity leadership was drinking wine and munching cheese at the UFT and having the side agreement explained. (They even had people stationed at Broadway and Chambers re-routing teachers away from the rally and down to the UFT.) Hopefully, some ATRs will get positions from the agreement, but it does not change the basic structure, which continually produces ATRs. We will continue to struggle for a job freeze until all ATRs who want them have positions.

By our count, about 225 UFT members rallied outside Tweed, starting at 4:30 p.m. Without telling us, the UFT leadership had changed the rally permit to 5 p.m., starting at 52 Broadway! That didn't stop us. We soapboxed, marched around, chanted and organized. Our rally "M.C.," John Powers did a great job keeping it all together.

Later, much later, the "official" delegation from Randi's "informational meeting" arrived, which added another 50-75 people, including a number of rank-and-filers, who were very glad to join us.

Marchers return to rally point after circling Tweed.

Photo courtesy of Ivan Rowe

At this point, we started a spirited march around the DOE/Tweed Courthouse chanting. Facing shouted objections when she started to start the "official rally" while the march was underway, Randi waited till we returned from this walkaround. After she had spoken, and a couple others, I asked to speak, which was angrily refused. Teachers started chanting for me to speak, and Weingarten had to agree. So I was able to get the message of our rally out again -- that is was our grass roots organizing in the schools that has built this rally, and we need to keep up the struggle.

There were many chants and shouts of "Bring Back Seniority" directed at the Unity leadership--an understanding that it was the sellout of the 2005 contract which has in good part led to this mess we're in. After awhile, when the leadership kept repeating "Let Teachers Teach," the crowd chanted back, "Place ATRs!"

Dr. Lezanne Edmond
CSEW photo

At our speakout, which lasted for well over an hour, there were many powerful voices. One of the first speakers was Dr. Lezanne Edmond, Ph.D. in education, literacy specialist and an ATR! She said "we have to stop making education a business and get back to the business of education." Among the speakers were John Lawhead from Tilden High School in Brooklyn, where they have lost many ATRs; Robert Bobrick who came with a group of teachers and students from Lafayette High School; Michael Fiorillo, chapter leader at Newcomers HS, colleagues from the "rubber room"; Christine Grassman from GED-Plus; Angela DeSouza from TAGNY, Keith Brooks from Restart.

Importantly, Dan Feldman spoke from the Teaching Fellows who are facing a December 5th "termination date" if they do not get assigned positions. (By the way if you know of any openings, please beat the bushes for them and inform us!).

John Powers
CSEW photo

There were speakers from ICE (Independent Community of Educators), Teachers for a Just Contract, Progressive Labor Party, and my group, the Class Struggle Education Workers, CUNY students from the Internationalist Clubs, the Support Committee for the Federation of Teachers of Puerto Rico (FMPR). I'm sure I've left some people and groups out. The striking thing is that EVERYBODY wanted to talk, and did.

There was a class of 30 students with their teacher from the Harry Van Arsdale Labor Studies Program at SUNY, who came to observe labor struggle in action! They surely got a taste of that tonight!

Marjorie Stamberg
Photo courtesy of Ivan Rowe

At the speakout, and again later, I called to "smash the Taylor Law" which keeps us from exercising labor's powerful weapon--the strike. That the main way the labor bureaucracy ties us to the bosses is through what Daniel De Leon called "the labor lieutenants of capital." We need a class struggle leadership, a break from the Democrats and Republicans, and a workers party and workers government.

Randi Weingarten
Photo courtesy of Ivan Rowe

The union leadership wanted to have at most a celebration of their side agreement. Hundreds of union rank and filers showed we are determined to keep up the struggle, not just for the ATRs but for all the anti-union attacks coming down the pike in this economic crisis. So we have a lot of work to do. But today was a great beginning.

Marjorie Stamberg
November 24, 2008

Video of the November 24 rally, Part I (26 minutes)
Thanks to David B.



Link to video of the November 24 rally, Part II (20 minutes)


Brief slideshow of the rally with part of Marjorie's speech.
From "Pseudo-Intellectualism" (http://dbellel.blogspot.com)