December 9th is the Day of Action to Reclaim the Promise of Public Education: http://t.co/m4hlAgtUPs #reclaimit
— AFT (@AFTunion) November 30, 2013
My response:
@AFTunion @gailDrich Start w/ not taking $11 million in Gates Foundation cash into AFT coffers http://t.co/Ut8GINitDA
— realitybasededucator (@perdidostschool) November 30, 2013
I added another tweet asking just what the AFT leadership promised to the Gates Foundation in exchange for all of that cash (as a commenter on a Common Core story earlier noted, Gates Foundation money ALWAYS comes with strings attached), but it really was a rhetorical question.
We know what Randi and Company promised in exchange - undying fealty to the Common Core, tacit agreement to not fight too hard to overturn teacher evaluations tied to test scores, and other concessions to the corporate education reform movement.
An important component to fighting the corporate reform agenda is calling the union leadership on their lies, deceptions and propaganda.
Sure, Bill Gates, Eli Broad, the Walton Family and a host of lesser education reform luminaries helped bring about the mess that we have now and sure, they did it by buying off many of the politicians in both parties to promote their agenda.
But they got a lot of help from the union leadership - from Randi at the AFT to Mikey at the UFT to Iannuzzi at the NYSUT to Dennis at the NEA.
They got help from union locals from New Haven to Baltimore to Newark.
Other than Karen Lewis and the CORE braintrust running CTU and some of the locals fighting the Common Core mess here in NY State, most of the union leadership has sold out.
A Day of Action to Reclaim the Promise of Education cannot be authentic and productive without calling Weingarten, Mulgrew, Iannuzzi, Van Roekel and the other union sell-outs on their horse@#$# that helped steal the promise of public education in the first place.
Yes, how can the AFT fight with both hands behind its back...one with its fingers crossed hoping teachers don't look too deeply into their privatization connections, and the other hand stuffed with Gates Foundation cash.
ReplyDeleteHow can you tell when Randi and Mikey are lying?...Their lips are moving in front of the rank and file.
How can you tell they're telling the truth?...They're talking with Gates or Bloomberg or Cuomo or Tisch in a backroom.
Excellent points, Pogue. Going to use this for a later post.
DeleteWe are all sold out in Newark. What are we going to get back? Help me! I am confused.
ReplyDeleteThe Newark union sold teachers out and the first thing to do is make sure that union head there KNOWS he pays politically next election. Of course, that's years away now and like the D.C. union heads (or the NY, for that matter), I'm sure there will be wingnut/deformer welfare waiting for him if he's voted out.
DeleteJust to be accurate -- Chicago union also got money to support common core so they are walking a fine line. Insiders tell me they used the money to hire some great people who can do a lot more for the union so it is not all going down the drain.
ReplyDeleteIt's a badly written sentence I have there, Norm. I meant that CTU has been actively fighting ed deform, not the Common Core.
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