Today in Labor History—October 19

October 19, 1858 –B.O. [Benjamin Orange] Flower (1858-1918) was born on this date. His study of slum conditions in Boston led to new laws to help the poor.

October 19, 1889 – The first nationwide school strike against corporal punishment began on this date in Hawick, Roxborough, Scotland and quickly spread across the lowlands then to Tyneside and then to London, Bristol & Cardiff .

October 18, 1987 – The "Black Monday" stock market crash began on this date, with the Dow Jones index dropping a record 508 points — 22.6% — after hitting a record high of 2722.42 on August 25. European, Japanese, & Canadian stock markets were also dramatically affected.

(All from the Daily Bleed)

Today in Labor History—September 9

September 9, 1891 – The first strike by African-American plantation workers occurred on this date in Georgia & Arkansas. They were fighting for wages of $1.00 a day. They lost the strike. (From the Daily Bleed)

Soldiers marching back from bullring, Etaples, where officers routinely bullied them

 September 9, 1918 – Scottish & Anzac troops at the Etaples army base launched a successful five day mutiny against harsh treatment and bad conditions by attacking the military police and daily demonstrations. (From theDaily Bleed)

MA Militia Attempting to Gain Control of Boston Police Strike

 September 9, 1919 - Boston police walked off the job during the strike wave that was spreading across the country. The police had affiliated with the American Federation of Labor, prompting the police commissioner to suspend 19 of them for their organizing efforts, prompting other to go on strike. Massachusetts Governor Calvin Coolidge announced that none of the strikers would be rehired and he called in the state police to crush the strike. An entirely new police force was ultimately created from  unemployed veterans of World War I. (From Workday Minnesota)

September 9, 1943 – 60 striking Filipino workers were run out of Yakima, Washington by state police and vigilantes. (From the Daily Bleed)

September 9, 1968 – In a press conference, Mayor Daley admitted what we’ve known all along: "The policeman isn't there to create disorder, the policeman is there to preserve disorder." (From the Daily Bleed)

September 9, 1971 – The Attica prison riot began near Buffalo, New York. Nine prison guards were held hostage, dying along with 31 of their captors when 1,500 state police and other law-enforcement officers stormed the complex shooting indiscriminately. (From the Daily Bleed)

September 9, 1981 – The Sandinista government in Nicaragua banned all strikes. (From the Daily Bleed)

Boston Teachers Reject Uncompensated Longer School Day

The Boston Teachers Union (BTU) and the Boston school district have reached an impasse after 21 months of bargaining, the Boston Herald reported this week. The next step is mediation. Should that fail to bring the two sides to an agreement over the teachers’ contract, the union could call for a strike.

Superintendent Carol Johnson blamed the impasse on the failure of the two sides to find a “middle” ground. However, Johnson hadn’t even bothered to show up for the majority of bargaining sessions, which is the reason BTU President Richard Stutman said the union filed the impasse.

Furthermore, her claim that the two sides have failed to find a middle ground is based on the fantasy that both sides had reasonable and realistic demands in the first place. In reality, the district wants teachers to accept a longer working day without extra compensation, a ridiculous and unreasonable demand. Teachers were asking for a 10.3% pay increase even without the lengthened work day, which quite reasonable considering their pay has been stagnant over the past few years. Their demand for additional compensation for a longer work day ought to be seen as a very generous compromise since it accepts the unreasonable demand that they work longer hours.

However, the district claims it does not have the money to support this. Thus, the only reasonable “middle ground” would be to drop their demand for a longer work day until they have the resources to “fairly” compensate teachers or simply drop the demand.

Longer School Days are Bad for Teachers AND Students

I use the term “fairly” in quotes because there is no fair way to overwork someone. Even extra pay cannot justify compelling a person to work longer and harder than is safe or effective. It is important to consider that teachers are already expected to do far more in the workday than is realistically possible. A typical secondary school teacher, for example, is expected to work 7 ½ to 8 ½ hours per day. In that workday, 5-6 hours are spent in the classroom teaching. In the remaining time they are expected to design and write curriculum; set up and break down lab, art and other projects and activities; contact parents; meet with colleagues and collaborate; write and grade exams and quizzes; grade essays, term papers and lab reports; keep up with administrative paperwork; address discipline issues; as well as a host of other teaching and bureaucratic responsibilities.

While lengthening the work day could provide more time for these responsibilities, in reality the longer school day movement is about increasing the instructional minutes for students, not easing the work burden on teachers. Thus, teachers are expected to use that additional time to teach an extra class, take on additional collaborative or school reform responsibilities, or provide additional remediation and support for students, rather than fulfilling existing responsibilities.

Additionally, the act of teaching itself is tremendously tiring and stressful. In no other profession is an individual expected to deal with 150-180 different personalities in 45-90 minute spurts, understand each student’s individual needs, tailor services to support these diverse needs, and provide support and empathy for those coming to school hungry, depressed, anxious, frightened, bullied, sick and angry.

In order to maintain sanity, patience and effectiveness, teachers need down time in between classes and at the end of the day. Lengthening the school day without hiring more teachers will increase the likelihood of teacher burnout and reduce teachers’ effectiveness in the classroom. Overworked, burned out workers are more likely to make mistakes. It is harder to notice when a student is struggling, sick or anxious. One reason that bullying often goes unnoticed by teachers is that large class sizes and overwhelming workloads prevent them from being aware of every student interaction that occurs in and near the classroom. Increasing the length of the school day will only worsen this.

Boston Teachers Mock Longer School Day With Stunt Plane

(Modified from image from Flickr, by dustpuppy)

Boston’s mayor, Thomas M. Menino, has accused the Boston Teachers Union (BTU) of engaging in a publicity stunt by flying a plane over City Hall in mockery of the city’s plan to lengthen the teachers’ workday. According to the Boston Herald, the plane carried a banner proclaiming that City Hall would now be open until 6:00 pm (a half-hour longer than it currently is). The union also produced fliers and newspaper ads stating that City Hall’s 720 employees “have agreed to work an extended day without any additional compensation.”

Calling the union’s action a stunt exposes the hypocrisy of Ed Deform efforts. BTU wants to ensure that its members aren’t forced to work longer hours without compensation. This is a reasonable and conservative desire. The longer school day fad (already well under way in Chicago and other cities) could be called a stunt. Supporters argue that it is a necessary “reform” for improving student performance, yet there is little evidence to show that it will improve test scores or other, more meaningful measures of student learning. Furthermore, like all the other reforms du jour, it completely ignores the primary cause of low student achievement: poverty.

There are of course putative benefits to a longer school day. Providing more class time might help some students catch up when they are behind in academic skills like reading and math. Longer class periods can also allow teachers to teach at a more relaxed pace, address student questions more thoroughly, take advantage of “teachable moments,” or go deeper into content. More time in class also means less time to get into trouble at home or on the streets. But an extra 30-60 minutes a day is unlikely to put much of a dent in the achievement gap. It will do nothing, for example, to provide food, housing and healthcare to students who are lacking these things. It cannot reverse the damage caused by malnutrition, iron-deficiency anemia, lead poisoning, exposure to second smoke, and other environmental insults that cause cognitive impairment and learning disabilities for so many lower income children. It will not provide enriching extracurricular activities during summer, like travel abroad, camp, or art classes. It will not reduce absenteeism due to untreated illnesses or provide reading to children when they are infants and toddlers.

Furthermore, it is pedagogically unsound to impose longer work hours on teachers. Longer hours mean that teachers will be more tired, increasing burn out and attrition, while also decreasing the energy they have for helping students in class. They will have less time and energy for grading papers and exams, thus encouraging the use of Scantrons and multiple choice assessments, while decreasing their assignment of essays and lab reports. Teachers will have less time and energy to design, set up and manage complex student-centered activities, labs, and projects.

It is also unreasonable and unfair to impose increased work hours on teachers without their consent or reasonable compensation. It is, in effect, a public sector version of the factory speed up, squeezing more work out of teachers, without a raise, except here there is no tangible increase in profits on the horizon. The mayor has offered a 5% increase over four years—1.25% per year—which is not likely to cover the increased cost of living in that time and which provides nothing for the extra hours of work. The BTU is asking for a 10% increase over the next three years, with no increase in work hours, which would cover the increased cost of living over that time period, plus help recover some of the losses in earning power teachers suffered over the prior three years.

Today in Labor History—September 9

September 9, 1891 – The first strike by African-American plantation workers occurred on this date in Georgia & Arkansas. They were fighting for wages of $1.00 a day. They lost the strike. (From the Daily Bleed)

Soldiers marching back from bullring, Etaples, where officers routinely bullied them

 September 9, 1918 – Scottish & Anzac troops at the Etaples army base launched a successful five day mutiny against harsh treatment and bad conditions by attacking the military police and daily demonstrations. (From the Daily Bleed)

MA Militia Attempting to Gain Control of Boston Police Strike

 September 9, 1919 - Boston police walked off the job during the strike wave that was spreading across the country. The police had affiliated with the American Federation of Labor, prompting the police commissioner to suspend 19 of them for their organizing efforts, prompting other to go on strike. Massachusetts Governor Calvin Coolidge announced that none of the strikers would be rehired and he called in the state police to crush the strike. An entirely new police force was ultimately created from  unemployed veterans of World War I. (From Workday Minnesota)

September 9, 1943 – 60 striking Filipino workers were run out of Yakima, Washington by state police and vigilantes. (From the Daily Bleed)

September 9, 1968 – In a press conference, Mayor Daley admitted what we’ve known all along: "The policeman isn't there to create disorder, the policeman is there to preserve disorder." (From the Daily Bleed)

September 9, 1971 – The Attica prison riot began near Buffalo, New York. Nine prison guards were held hostage, dying along with 31 of their captors when 1,500 state police and other law-enforcement officers stormed the complex shooting indiscriminately. (From the Daily Bleed)

September 9, 1981 – The Sandinista government in Nicaragua banned all strikes. (From the Daily Bleed)