‘Money for Books, Not for Crooks! Angry Teachers Turn Bosses’ ‘Small Schools’ into Big Anti-Racist Struggle

BROOKLYN, NY, June 11 -— The unified, spirited voices of about 50 staff members and students rang through the streets as they rallied in front of their school against the latest rounds of racist budget cuts to all NYC schools.

 “They say cut back, we say fight back” and “Money for books, not for crooks” were just a few of the chants used during the half hour rally. This action reflects an effort by PLP members in two of the three schools housed in this one building, to unite the students and the staff in some struggle.

The effort began when a union meeting was called for all three schools to hear the district representative defend the United Federation of Teachers’ (UFT) agreement to allow teachers’ ratings to be based partially on students’ standardized test results. It quickly became clear that the UFT bosses work hand-in-hand with the education bosses to attack students, parents and teachers.

The district rep claimed the union was fighting for teachers’ rights by not allowing 100% of our rating to be based on students’ scores. He argued that a partial link between the two was a victory because since the Department of Education (DOE) was going to pass it anyway, this compromise makes it “less bad.”

A PL teacher responded by attacking the union. She argued that the role of unions should be to fight the boss, not to give in to what the boss wanted. She also said that if the UFT really wanted to fight this they could have organized teachers, students and parents across the country to strike. Lastly she stated that the threatened budget cuts and the linking of teacher ratings to student test scores were primarily a racist attack against students.

More teaching to the test will develop in the schools that are already struggling with low budgets — and these schools primarily serve black and Latino students. Many other teachers at the meeting were angered and spoke out against the district rep’s arrogant and combative attitude and by the anti-worker message he was bringing.

After the meeting teachers got together to plan a building-wide union meeting without the presence of any union hack. At the following meeting teachers decided it was time to take action. A debate ensued about whether to make the focus of our action the attacks against teachers or students.

A PL teacher put these latest attacks in the context of the bigger capitalist crisis. He explained that the bosses were mainly concerned with their imperialist wars in the Middle East so workers were being forced to pay for this latest capitalist crisis with layoffs, lowering of wages, attacks on our healthcare and pensions. He then argued that in schools the budget cuts were racist attacks on our students who are paying the price with less supplies, overcrowded classrooms, fewer electives and afterschool programs. Most teachers, many of whom read CHALLENGE,  quickly agreed to make our students the focus.

Two letters were drafted by two different teacher committees. One was a letter sent to newspapers countering the lies in all of the bosses’ media made about “lazy” workers in the UFT and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. The other letter was for parents. It outlined the budget cuts, put them in the context of the bigger economic crisis and called on all parents to unite with their children and teachers to fight back.

Along with these letters, rallies were planned for every Friday morning till the end of the year, the union rally at City Hall on June 16th and one final rally the last day of school. In an act of solidarity, teachers from two of the schools agreed to rally even earlier in the morning than they would have had to because the third school starts on an earlier schedule. This small action shows the potential workers and students in this school building have to create the deep ties needed to develop a real movement against this racist system.

After six years of PL members working with students, parents and teachers, these rallies and meetings with members from all three schools are a huge step forward. Uniting our class brothers and sisters is not an easy or fast process since the bosses use every strategy they can to divide workers. They are splitting up larger schools and creating smaller ones in one school building to divide the student body and the teacher union chapters. But workers in this building are defying them. This is the only way to prepare for the on-going class struggles we need to organize to eventually destroy the system that denies us an education, jobs and our humanity! J

NEW YORK CITY, June 16 — PL’ers and friends attended a mass rally of city workers at City Hall. The rally was well-attended by workers from all over the city. Unfortunately workers were subjected to speeches from numerous union hacks and politicians who were all saying the same thing — not much. PL’ers attempted to start a picket within the rally, to no avail. However, PLP chants of, “No cuts, no more, no money for the war” did spur some discussion with workers at the rally.
All in all it was exciting to see workers from all over the city regardless of occupation together in one place. It was a reminder of the power of a united working class. It was also clear that workers were not satisfied with the empty “leadership” being offered by city unions. The leadership of the Progressive Labor Party is what workers need and want.