Polls Could Suggest Militants are Winning War vs NYC Mayor

The United Federation of Teachers (UFT) basks in the glory of polls showing more public trust in the UFT than in New York City's Department of Education.
Has the UFT leadership ever considered that those that did the ground-breaking work to expose the DOE's lies and policy outrages have been the dissidents outside the Unity clique controlling the union?
The union is winning the war of public opinion; and the dissidents are probably the ones that spurred this turning of the tide.

The wrath of school communities: At a Feb. 9 PEP meeting at Brooklyn Tech HS, over 2,000 teachers, students, parents and supporters from 23 closing schools packed the room to the rafters, putting the city on notice that it is failing its communities.

A round-up of the mayor's F rating in the public opinion polls, as reported in New York newspapers:
See in the NY Times (http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/02/08/poll-finds-strong-disapproval-of-mayors-handling-of-schools/) re Quinnipiac poll: http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/02/08/poll-finds-strong-disapproval-of-mayors-handling-of-schools/
in Daily News: http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/education/city-voters-trust-teachers-union-mayor-poll-article-1.1018778

NYC Rubber Room reporter, drawing from a January 17, 2012 New York Post story: "Mayor Mike Booed...NYC Just Doesn't Like Him (With Good Reason): He’s Mayor Boo!berg"

Students revolting vs Walcott at Bronx School meeting, from the Daily News:

School organizers were forced to abruptly end a meeting at a Bronx high school Tuesday night when it was interrupted by angry students, causing Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott to leave. Students at Evander Childs in Williamsbridge jumped from their seats, yelling about the city’s “failed education policies.” The students disrupted the meeting about a half-hour after it began, saying it was payback for a meeting last week at Herbert H. Lehman High School, where students were only allowed 30 seconds to speak about their closing school. “They don’t even care about what we say,” said student Jesse Aponter, a junior at Lehman. After a five-minute attempt to calm the rowdy crowd, the meeting was adjourned and Walcott left.

Read more: "Dennis Walcott leaves meeting at Bronx high school after angry students interrupt him: Students yelled about city’s 'failed education policies'," Daily News, February 1, 2012.

Protest in defense of teachers, at Mayor Bloomberg's E 79th Street house!

STOP THE HARASSMENT OF TEACHERS!!!

RALLY AGAINST HARASSMENT OF TEACHERS!
Stop Harassment of Teachers - Justice for The Bronx Science Twenty
Picket at Mayor Bloomberg's house
- June 10th, 4:30pm -
79th St. and 5th Ave., SW Corner

All over the city, teachers experience harassment from supervisors and principals. The time to protest is long overdue! The UFT Chapter at the Bronx High School of Science is organizing a a picket of Mayor Bloomberg's home against administrative harassment at their school and the DOE's refusal to abide by the decision of an independent arbitrator that the harassment must be remedied and ended.
Two years ago, twenty math teachers at the school filed a complaint against the harassment and abuse at the hands of their supervisor. Their claim has been upheld by a neutral arbitrator in a recent fact-finding decision, but the schools chancellor Joel Klein has outrageously decided to ignore the fact-finder's report and take no action.

The Department of Education's disregard of the fact-finding decision will only lead to increasing tension at the school, further demoralization of teachers, and a worsening learning environment for students. So the UFT Chapter is taking their case to Mr. Klein's boss, Mr. Bloomberg.

Please join us to show solidarity in the face of harassment of newer teachers, veteran educators, and union activists. The DOE and the national media would like to have the public believe that teachers are only disciplined in order to improve educational outcomes, but this fact-finder's report exposes that good teachers have fallen victim to supervisors who abused their power.

WE ARE ALL AT RISK. IT IS OUR JOBS!!!

Organizers' workshop ("Troublemakers School")

We are beset by onerous workplaces, undemocratic unions and politicians that do not heed the full wishes of the people. It is always helpful to build one's skills by listening to the words of more experienced organizers.

This current economic crisis and the stalling by some Democratic politicians against redistributive change (e.g., New York's Governor David Paterson) make activism all the more urgent.

Saturday, March 21, Labor Notes, the labor magazine oriented towards addressing autonomous (i.e., bottom-up, workplace-based) union activism, is hosting a "Troublemakers School" in New York City, at the Murphy Institute, 25 W 43rd Street, from 9:00 AM to 3:00 PM.

The opening session theme is "The Economic Crisis and Working New Yorkers."

Click here for the pdf flyer on the event.