It shouldn't be newsworthy that a state Democratic Party would stand in solidarity with teachers or unions. But in Tennessee, things are a little different. Tennessee is a long-time incubator of the Democratic Leadership Council (DLC), a long-time "Right to Work" state that limits the organizing power of unions, and a state that is better known for pro-business Democrats (Phil Bredesen, Harold Ford) than for a strong labor movement. After all, remember that Martin Luther King, Jr., was assassinated in Memphis while trying to organize sanitation workers who wanted better working conditions. And remember that Memphis, today, is home to FedEx, which has long sought a competitive advantage against the union-shop UPS and the government-run Postal Service.
So, when the Tennessee Democratic Party posted a Standing with Teachers link on its site, allowing voters to show their support, it was kind of a big deal.
State Rep. Mike Turner (D-Old Hickory), the House minority caucus chair and full-time Nashville firefighter, wrote a message to constituents showing his support and solidarity with teachers:
State Rep. Mike Turner pledged last Thursday to oppose efforts in the legislature to undermine the rights of our teachers across the state.
“Our most precious asset is our children. And, nothing should be more important than those who teach them,” said Turner – D. “Yet, the first initiative of the new majority is to undermine our teachers by attempting to cut back on their pay and benefits.
“This, at a time when teachers are doing more and more in and out of the classroom. We need to honor and support our teachers by allowing them the ability to have input in their careers, their students and their schools.”
Gov. Bill Haslam announced Thursday that current tenure law would be stripped and not available until five years of probationary work was reached by our teachers. The current probationary time is three years, after which a teacher can’t be fired without probable cause. Even after tenure is obtained a teacher is still subject to disciplinary action or dismissal for incompetence, inefficiency, insubordination and neglect of duty or unprofessional conduct.
Another anti-teacher bill, which takes away the rights of teachers to negotiate a contract covering their salary, benefits, working conditions, school safety, class size, planning time, time to teach, length of the school day, scheduling and other priorities, passed the Senate Education Committee on Wednesday.
“These are just more changes that will make the teaching profession less attractive to our young people,” Turner said. “This ‘Education Reform’ is being used as a keyword for tearing down the walls that protect our teachers. These efforts will harm working families. Anything that does this should have no part in ‘reform.’”
Teachers signed off on “Race to the Top” legislation last year imposing stricter standards on themselves. That agreement has been broken, in that, more standards are being suggested, while Race to the Top guidelines have yet to be implemented, Turner said.
“We were hoping to see a Jobs package from the majority and the administration, but it wasn’t included in the legislative package introduced last Thursday,” Turner said.
“I will be working with my colleagues to develop a package to bring more jobs to Tennessee in the coming weeks and that will include preserving quality jobs and rights for our teaches and all working families across the state.”
As Democrats prepared to stand in solidarity with teachers, union groups and job-growth advocates rallied in the state Capitol in Nashville yesterday to voice their concern with the direction of the Republican majority and the lack of action to promote job creation.
This Saturday, a large group of Tennesseans are planning to respond to Tennessee native Van Jones' call to action with a rally in Legislative Plaza in downtown Nashville. Another group supporting Tennessee teachers will gather on Saturday, March 5th, to call for justice and adequate funding for schools.
In a state that is famous for its union busting tactics and its rebel spirit, it will be interesting to see how Tea Party groups in the state respond. Tea Party groups have been supportive of state Senator Jack Johnson (R-Brentwood), who sponsored the union-busting legislation under the guise of "allowing teachers to negotiate directly" and take out the middle-man of union representation. They even found a former teacher to talk about her beliefs on union organizing:
ARTHUR: “I’m Frances Arthur and I’m a former public school teacher and now I home school my children.”
Arthur was part of the union in Rutherford County when she taught elementary music there for eight years.
ARTHUR: “I really think that at one time in our nation’s history, there was a use for unions. But today I just don’t believe that any more. I believe they have overstayed their welcome.”
(Listen to the full NPR story for a sense of how Republicans are trying to frame the issue.)
Tea Party groups in Tennessee are being supported by astroturf group Americans for Prosperity, which is also supporting Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker and Ohio Governor John Kasich. The AFP website recently praised state representative Debra Maggart(R-Hendersonville) for her statement that teacher unions were the problem to blame for Tennessee's poor statewide school performance.
Scapegoating is easy. Solutions are harder, unless Tennesseans pull together and take responsibility. There seems to be some hope that progressives in Tennessee will make their voices heard, and that Democratic elected officials are listening.