Found something about this in my in-box this morning, and wanted to share it with you all.
Anyone who has paid even the remotest attention to education in the United States understands that the efforts to undermine public education and teachers over the past decades have been horribly effective. Teachers are underpaid and unappreciated, funding is not keeping pace with needs, in many areas segregation remains at about the same level as 1970, efforts at privatization continue with support from both parties, and our national policy is to run schools like early 20th century wage-slave factories.
For schools in Puerto Rico, however, conditions tend to be even worse.
(more on the flip)
In this struggle, teacher's unions are often the lone voice for a truly progressive education system. This past week, teachers in Puerto Rico, members of the Teachers Federation of Puerto Rico (FMPR) went on strike:
From The New York Protest Calendar:
The Teachers Federation of Puerto Rico (FMPR), represents more than 42, 000 teachers in the public schools of Puerto Rico. In defiance of Public Law 45 which prohibits strikes by public sector employees, the FMPR has responded to the governments’ refusal to negotiate a new contract in good faith. The FMPR has been subject to an increasing public campaign of attacks as they work to obtain a fair and just collective bargaining agreement for its members.
Demands by striking teachers include smaller classroom size, an end to government efforts to privatize public education, especially the use of Charter Schools, a just wage and increases, school-based committees of teachers, parents and students, improved health and safety conditions in school buildings [Asbestos is a serious problem in PR schools], and the provision of adequate teaching materials and resources. The strike began on Thursday, February 21, 2008.
Teachers and their supporters are also calling for an end to the harassment and political reprisals targeting teachers and the FMPR for defending their right to collective bargaining, a living wage and decent working conditions.
What do you mean decent working conditions and better pay? What's wrong with what they have now? From the AP:
At the end of her teaching day, Felicita Figueroa would like nothing more than to leave her crumbling, rat-infested school building in the Puerto Rican capital. But to pay her bills, she needs to stay late and offer private tutoring sessions.
So she will not hesitate to join an island-wide strike that could begin as early as Friday ‹ even though participating in an illegal walkout could cost her the job.
"I can't take 30 years of this," said Figueroa, 28, adding that her annual salary of $19,500 barely covers food and her share of rent for a small apartment.
With contract negotiations at an impasse, the union that represents most of the 42,000 teachers in the U.S. island territory has threatened a strike to demand pay raises, smaller class sizes and repairs of neglected school buildings.
The starting salary for a teacher in Puerto Rico is $19,200 ‹ lower than any U.S. state and about a third less than the average on the mainland. Puerto Rican teachers with advanced degrees can earn a starting base salary of up to $24,156.
According to WaPo and other sources, the strike has become violent quickly:
Teachers, parents and students picketed in front of many of the commonwealth's public schools. At least two teachers were injured in the confrontations. Fourteen protesters were arrested, and several were forcefully removed by authorities as they attempted to block access to some schools.
What was the catalyst?
The Puerto Rico Teachers Federation, the island's largest union, called the strike after 30 months of failed contract negotiations.
30 months? 30 f*cking months? When I read that, I realized the question is not why the teachers are striking, but why it took them so long to strike in the first place? 30 months for negotiations is another way of saying that no negotiations have taken place, and from most accounts familiar with the issue, the Department of Education (PR's education system is centrally controlled; the state has almost total control over individual districts) has basically avoided serious negotiations with the teachers from the beginning, refusing to consider their requests.
Like many public employees, teachers in Puerto Rico are not allowed to strike; Puerto Rico Law 45 forbids "disruption" of the public-education system, but the teachers believed they had no other choice, given the intransigence of the Dept. of Education.
This law is terrible, like the Taylor Law in New York. The argument, of course, is that a strike by public workers is against the public interest. "Won't someone please think of the children?" they cry. Even some mainstream labor unions regard strikes by public employees as anti-public interest. But every worker, public or private, should have the right to strike. These laws are not designed to protect the public, but to keep public sector workers restrained, lacking any real bargaining power other than appealing to the public. There is not a single union that exercises its right to strike without seriously considering the consequences, and taking such action as a last resort. If any Kossacks have ever been on strike, we know it's no picnic.
What is most troubling to me is the response of U.S. labor unions, in particular the AFL-CIO and Change to Win. FMPR is an independent union, the biggest in Puerto Rico. Both the AFL-CIO and Change to Win have sought to undermine the strike, issuing public declarations against the strike, and siding with the government. From El Diaro-La Prensa, via Labor Notes:
Battle Between Big Labor Unions Hits Puerto Rico
El Diario-La Prensa, Posted: Jan 04, 2008
SAN JUAN -- The competition between the two most powerful labor federations in the United States has moved to Puerto Rico, where "Change to Win", whose leadership includes New York-based Puerto Rican union leader Dennis Rivera, is trying to compete with the teacher's union, the island's largest. By the middle of January, Change to Win expects to hold a meeting on the island in which the union will lay out instructions on how it will try to displace the Teacher's Federation of Puerto Rico from its position as exclusive representative of the tens of thousands of teachers working in the public school system.
This labor drama is much more than just a challenge to represent workers, but may well be the battle that marks a major step backward for the AFL-CIO in this Caribbean nation. The battle takes place in anticipation of a major teacher's strike that threatens to paralyze the public school system and in which Change to Win (United for Change) is positioned as a strategic ally of the island's autonomous government, which wants to push the Teacher's Federation out.
This is a troubling continuation of longstanding efforts of mainstream labor unions in the U.S. to undermine independent labor unions in Central and South America and the Caribbean.
...Although many of the individual programs sponsored by the AFL-CIO have helped foreign labor and even been sought by it, the overall foreign policy which is carried out by the AFL-CIO and its institutes [Dept. of International Affairs, American Institute for Free Labor Development, among others] often harms workers both in this country and overseas. Derived from the ideological biases of a select group of top labor bureaucrats - many of whom lack actual trade union experience - the resulting policies have stressed anti-communism at the expense of worker militancy. Simultaneously, these policies have affirmed the right of the United States to intervene in the affairs of other countries, whether through governmental or private actors.
In the process, foreign labor movements have been shaped to fit the needs of the United States government and business sector...
-Beverly Sims, Workers of the World Undermined
So what can we do?
Contact Change to Win, tell them to support independent labor in foreign countries, and to stop undermining the teacher's strike in Puerto Rico:
Change to Win
1900 L Street, NW Suite 900
Washington, DC 20036
phone: (202) 721-0660
fax: (202) 721-0661
e-mail: info@changetowin.org
Do the same with the AFL-CIO.
Finally, please sign this petitionin support of the teachers (below is a very rough translation of the letter you will be signing):
Anibal Acevedo Vila
Governor of Puerto Rico
Rafael Aragunde Torres
Secretary of the Department of Education
Public education that is free and excellent is one of the major concerns of any responsible citizen. Therefore, I speak to you, Anibal Acevedo Vila, governor of Puerto Rico, and Rafael Aragunde Torres, secretary of the Department of Education, requesting you to fulfill your ministerial functions and negotiate a collective agreement with the Federation of Teachers of Puerto Rico. The country looks forward to resolving this conflict in which the education of our children and youth is at stake.
The proposals made by the Federation are not only fair and reasonable but seek to improve the quality of education in our country: a just salary reflecting the labor of teachers, fair compensation for their work, dedication and sacrifice, to show that this government regards education as important.
Reducing the number of students per group would facilitate better learning for our students. Ensuring basic equipment in schools and teaching materials in classrooms is a prerequisite for teachers to do their job. Securing teaching materials that complement the curriculum, such as Physical Education, Health and Fine Arts, will enrich the future of education in Puerto Rico.
A functioning library in each school is the least we should provide our students for better academic performance. School teachers need substitutes to cover absences in order to avoid interruptions in education. Schools should have psychologists and social workers to provide a better environment for learning.
Education is the responsibility of all the communities that make up the school: teachers, parents and students. All are participants in the school organization; in addition to being a democratic exercise, this ensures a higher commitment of all parties to the educational process.
The Federation advocates free education, a constitutional law that Puerto Ricans are not willing to surrender. Charter Schools and any other attempt to bring the private sector into public education are violations of the guaranteed Constitutional right for our children: a free and quality education...
Because I want an excellent education for our children, I call on the government to negotiate in good faith an agreement with the Federation of Teachers, who with its proper perspective submitted for consideration the teachers’ proposals more than two years ago. The country does not expect otherwise. If not, I will be supporting acts of protest that the teachers decide to convene, including strike action...
Respectfully,
The undersigned.
I know this isn't a candidate diary, and will probably go nowhere, but if you've read this far, I urge you to please sign the petition, and take whatever action you can. We have to support workers and teachers, no matter where they are. We're fighting the same fight here.
An injury to one is an injury to all.
In solidarity,
Cruz