Tuesday, February 27, 2018

Labor News: West Virginia Educators on Strike



West Virginia's teacher salaries are among the lowest in the nation. According to the West Virginia Education Association, a new teacher with only a bachelor's degree will have a minimum starting salary of about $32,700. Teachers have called upon the state legislature to fund both pay raises and the public employee's health care program.

[Credit AFT-WV PRESIDENT CHRISTINE CAMPBELL]


The 2018-19 benefits plan for public employees would have increased health care premiums on some insurees, mostly due to a provision using total family income to set premiums for family and employee and spouse coverage, according to the Charleston Gazette-Mail. Local teachers also point to West Virginia's falling population and the strong pull for young teachers to move elsewhere, where pay and health subsidies are better. Without changes, they see a future with even fewer educators left in the state.


West Virginia teachers acted to strike on Thursday 22 February 2018 with the strike entering its fourth day on Tuesday 27 February. To be clear, the WV Attorney General Patrick Morrisy claims that teacher strikes and "concerted work stoppages" are illegal in WV, but local AFT leader Christine Campbell explains that "The crisis in public education in this state has come to a head, and teachers and service personnel have reached their breaking point." AFT President Randi Weingarten visited with teachers and walked with the march, in solidarity.

Read more: West Virginia Teachers Launch Statewide Strike
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Texas 2018 Primary Elections


Voting for the 2018 primaries is in full swing, and early polls are open through Friday, March 2 for the March 6 Primaries.

Texas AFT's Committee on Political Education has recommended 26 candidates in contested Republican races and 26 in contested Democratic races based on who they see standing up for public education and educators.

Their endorsements can be seen below, or visit the website here.

Contested Races in March 6 Primaries
Need to know your district and who currently represents you? Check here.
U.S. House of Representatives
(CD = U.S. Congressional District)
Lieutenant Governor
State Board of Education
Texas Senate
(SD = State Senate District)
Texas House of Representatives
(HD = State House District)
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Wednesday, February 21, 2018

Link: Portrait of a Budget Cut



"My office mate once pointed out that there’s no such thing as a budget cut. There are only resource cuts, class cuts, people cuts. Budgets don’t hurt when they get cut. I do."

Last month at Inside Higher Ed, Adjunct Professor Sara Tatyana Bernstein wrote about her experience being a "budget cut" and the subtle dehumanization brought about not just by having her job and livelihood cut, but getting an email informing her of the cut titled "2017-2018 Budget Cuts."

It's an important reminder of the need for solidarity between full time and adjunct faculty, and of the ways that rhetorical choices made by administration can rub salt in a wound.

Read her account, "Portrait of a Budget Cut," here.
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Monday, February 12, 2018

Visit to Ted Cruz's Office

In the latest post, we organized a mini-visit at the office of Senator Rafael Edward "Ted" Cruz in downtown Houston. Three comrades took a nice walk from the Sixth Ward, across Buffalo Bayou, and into the city streets until we arrived at the historic Esperson Building. On the 14th floor, we were buzzed by the aides until we were permitted to come into the office.


The young white aides were very polite, polished, and generous as they offered water as they seated us in a small comfortable meeting room, surrounded with emblems of American patriotism, the senator’s several “Love Me” wall awards and recognitions, and a tidy stack of conservative books. We should note that this visit occurred the morning after the Senate agreement on the budget, which failed to address DACA or immigration in any way, much to the disappointment and anger of many DREAMers. We discussed the senator’s press release and how he obviously disregarded the migration issue, though after the budget deal was reached, Senate Majority Leader McConnell had specifically stated that this budget agreement would permit the Senate to address migration immediately. 

Our discussion points centered on our concerns with our students and our college:
  1. Senator Cruz has not yet provided leadership to demonstrate how our undocumented students are threatened in our communities by the current administration.
  2. Our students are threatened, their families are threatened, and thus the college is threatened for any definition of “success.”
  3. As educators, our priorities are to see student success, but the senator has been largely dis-engaged from the movement to protect DACA or “DREAMers.”
The aides’ only discussion point was that the senator will not accept “amnesty” for migration. Though we mentioned that President Ronald Reagan had signed an enormous amnesty with significant economic benefits, the aides had no response. In fact, both aides were very  uninformed about the Reagan amnesty: “I had just learned about Ronald Reagan …” [! -- NOTE: While understanding that aides are not responsible (or not?) to understand all recent political history, we found this odd that very enthusiastic supporters of the GOP narrative are apparently clueless about those recent policies; certainly the Senator is more informed, and we know that. But this does also reflect that even “informed” citizens are truly clueless about the broken migration system in the U.S., as we’ve attempted to discuss in the Advocate.]


Our conversation continued for about 20 minutes. We emphasized that the Senator must lead this discussion to protect our communities. We emphasized, too, that our students are immediately threatened and few if any institutions are challenging this inertia of silence. Again, the aides were very polite, very friendly, very uninformed. They emphasized that they would take notes of our visit and “tally” our position, forward the tally to their Washington office, and every night the senator would look at the “tally.”


We asked what was more effective -- a call, a visit, a letter -- and the aides said that they were all equal [this response is contrast with other discussions, and we need to understand this more]. We left the office, impressed with ourselves, found a coffee shop in the tunnels, and discussed additional strategies to be more informed and more assertive with our voices, our citizenship, and our educational resources. The morning was very positive, even if frustrating.



In another time, we’d like to discuss the point of “democracy” in this system, and if our visit was in fact practicing good “citizenship,” but for now, we felt that we did something -- we have rights that some others do not have. We exercised our rights. Let us celebrate these small things.
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Tuesday, February 6, 2018

AFT Call for Action: A "Clean" DREAM Act

In the most recent issue of The Advocate, we called for an action at the downtown office of Senator Ted Cruz on Friday, February 9 to discuss the ways that a “clean” DREAM Act affects our students. The nature of this conversation may differ radically based on the actions taken in Congress to keep the government open past Thursday, February 8.

When Democratic leadership compromised with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to reopen the government on January 22, they agreed to continue funding through February 8 with a promise to vote on some version of a DREAM Act. As we approach Thursday, congress has yet to hold this vote, and it remains unclear what kind of legislation might be under consideration or even whether the government will be funded/open on Friday. Current likely bills, like the bipartisan USA Act, have come under fire from immigrants rights groups for combining the promise of a pathway to citizenship for Dreamers with increased funding that many believe will result in more deportations and militarization of the US-Mexico border.

As we are considering the importance of a DREAM Act/Renewal of DACA for many of our students, it’s equally important to remember students who have undocumented family members or who are themselves undocumented. A “clean” DREAM Act is one that would renew and expand DACA without potentially harming other migrants.



It’s difficult to guess exactly what kind of political situation we’ll wake up to on Friday, February 9, but we understand the climate and the needs of our students well. You can inform yourself more on this issue by reading our past articles on DACA and immigration [1, 2, 3], read here for a discussion of why a DREAM Act is important for the Texas economy, and look here and here for posts from Dreamers about the kind of immigration reform they support.

We’ll meet in front of Ted Cruz’s office at 10am on Friday, February 9 to discuss these issues. After meeting Cruz’s aides, we will gather for sandwiches nearby in solidarity.


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