AJ Duffy Union Scab

The Workers on the S. P. line to strike sent out a call;
But Casey Jones, the engineer, he wouldn't strike at all;
His boiler it was leaking, and its drivers on the bum,
And his engine and its bearings, they were all out of plumb.

Casey Jones kept his junk pile running;
Casey Jones was working double time;
Casey Jones got a wooden medal,
For being good and faithful on the S.P. line.

The workers said to Casey: "Won't you help us win this strike ? "
But Casey said: "Let me alone, you'd better take a hike."
Then Casey's wheezy engine ran right off the worn-out track,
And Casey hit the river with an awful crack.

Casey Jones hit the river bottom;
Casey Jones broke his blooming spine;
Casey Jones was an Angeleno,
He took a trip to heaven on the S. P. line.

When Casey Jones got up to heaven to the Pearly Gate,
He said: "I'm Casey Jones, the guy that pulled the S. P. freight."
"You're just the man," said Peter, "our musicians went on strike;
You can get a job a-scabbing any time you like."

Casey Jones got a job in heaven;
Casey Jones was doing mighty fine;
Casey Jones went scabbing on the angels,
Just like he did to workers on the S. P. line.

They got together and they said it wasn't fair
For Casey Jones to go around a-scabbing everywhere.
The Angel Union No. 23 they sure were there,
And they promptly fired Casey down the Golden Stair.

Casey Jones went to Hell a-flying;
Casey Jones, the Devil said, "Oh fine;
Casey Jones, get busy shoveling sulfur
That's what you get for scabbing on the S.P. Line."

Casey Jones—Union Scab,

By Joe HIll

Joe Hill wrote Casey Jones as a parody about those workers who want to please their bosses so badly that they undermine safety and working conditions for themselves and all of their colleagues. Casey Jones could be any one of those teachers who skip union meetings because they conflict with a school club meeting, or who refuse to join a picket because they are scared of conflict, or who graciously accepts extra responsibilities and work, even when it violates their contract.

Casey Jones could also be A.J. Duffy, the former president of the nation’s second largest teachers’ union local, United Teachers of Los Angeles, who wants to make it harder for teachers to obtain tenure at the charter school(s) he hopes to open next year.

As boss of UTLA, Duffy fought against charter schools. Yet according to the Los Angeles Times, Duffy wants to open one or more charter schools in Los Angeles by fall of 2012. As union boss, he also opposed attacks on tenure. Now he intends to join the union busting Ed Deformers in their attempts to whittle away at teachers’ due process protections by weakening tenure for his own future employees.

Duffy wants to make it harder to earn tenure and to lengthen the time it takes to get there. He wants teachers to have to continually prove they are effective in order to keep their tenure. And he wants to make it easier to fire teachers. “I would make it 10 days if I could,” he said, in reference to the length of time it takes to dismiss teachers, suggesting that he doesn’t give a damn about due process.

Duffy is a founding board member of Apple Academy Charter Public Schools and will soon become its executive director. The academy’s charter proposal will be submitted for review and possible approval by LAUSD in the coming weeks. Considering LAUSD’s love of charter schools (they have by far the most of any district in the country) it seems likely Duffy will soon become a boss.

LAUSD Changes Course: Revoke Crescendo's Charter!

Yesterday I wrote that the Los Angeles Board of Education was considering allowing Crescendo Charters to continue running its six schools in LAUSD, despite the fact that their boss had directed teachers and principals to help students cheat on state standardized exams. Perhaps due to public outrage, or possibly due to budget desperation, the Board voted yesterday to shut down the schools. (By closing the charter schools, LAUSD can take the campuses back and start running them as part of LAUSD, receiving state funding for each of their students that had gone directly to the Crescendo company.)

The original decision to keep the schools open was based on their high test scores and the sense that they had taken adequate steps to reform their naughty ways. However, the LA School Board ultimately recognized that those test scores were useless as indicators of school progress, considering that students had been given the tests in advance to study before taking the exams for real. Why it took the school board so long to recognize this obvious bias is an indication of its own incompetence and lack of integrity. Perhaps they, too, should have their credentials revoked and be forced to vacate the premises.

Revocation of charters is a relatively rare occurrence, especially for LAUSD, one of the most charter-friendly districts in the country. The board voted 6 to 1 in favor of the revocation, with only Marguerite Poindexter LaMotte dissenting. She continued to cling to the delusion that the improved test scores were an indication of academic success.

In another pathetic move by United Teachers of Los Angeles (UTLA), outgoing union president A.J. Duffy called for the schools to stay open “for the kids” (and the teachers, who recently joined UTLA). Duffy correctly acknowledged the risks Crescendo teachers took to blow the whistle on their bosses. However, allowing the schools to remain in the hands of Crescendo is neither a service to students nor their teachers. If converted back to district-run schools, the teachers should stay on as members of the union, with all the contractual rights and protections of their colleagues in LAUSD.

UTLA Presidential Election Headed to Runoff

Veteran UTLA leader (and Duffy crony) Julie Washington finished first in the race for president of United Teachers Los Angeles, but did not win enough votes to avoid a runoff. Washington, the outgoing vice president, won 44% of the vote. Warren Fletcher was second, with 37.3%. Turn out for the election was abysmal, with only 17% of members returning ballots, perhaps an indication of overall teacher disillusionment with the union.

Washington is seen by many LA teachers as a UTLA insider and part of the problem with the entrenched UTLA bureaucracy. LA teachers are facing a continuation of mass conversions of their schools to private charters, as well as teacher furloughs, mass layoffs, and attacks on seniority and collective bargaining. The Duffy/Weingarten administration, while making militant public statements against these attacks on teachers and students, did very little to mobilize teachers to take effective actions against these attacks. A Washington victory is seen by many as a continuation of UTLA impotence and irrelevance.