Detroit Wild Cat Strike Shuts Down 2 School Districts

They say Michigan’s new Right to Work (RTW) law is now a done deal. That didn’t stop thousands of teachers and other union members from taking the day off to protest at the state capital this week. In Detroit, so many teachers called in sick that two school districts, (Taylor Public Schools and Warren Consolidated Schools), were closed for the day, according to Detroit News. Detroit Public Schools (DPS) remained open, though Detroit Federation of Teachers (DFT) President Keith Johnson did urge members to go to Lansing.

The state’s new RTW bills would make it illegal to require employees to join a union or pay union dues as a condition of employment. This would significantly reduce unions’ ability to raise funds to support their members, while allowing freeloaders to reap the benefits of union-negotiated contracts without providing any material support for this service. RTW states have lower wages and lower union membership than other states.

Pundits and many union activists are accepting the new RTW laws as a fait accompli. However, the fact that two unions were able to easily shut down their districts with wild cat sick outs demonstrates the power teachers and other workers actually have to force a reversal of the laws. While it may be illegal for teachers to strike in this situation, the law cannot stop teachers from exercising their rights to take days off for medical or personal necessities. Such actions can be organized informally and done on a rotating basis (i.e., rolling sick outs) to minimize the loss of individual sick days, while maximizing the impact.

On the other hand, workers need to get over their fear of breaking the law. Civil disobedience has a long and important history in this country, especially in the labor movement. Strikes and unions have both been illegal in the past, but workers still formed unions and continued to engage in job actions, often getting arrested and beaten in the process, and occasionally getting killed or deported. Breaking unjust laws (e.g., any restriction on the right to strike) in the name of improving personal and collective liberties, as well as working and living conditions, is both necessary and just.

Detroit: Fire ‘Em All & Let God Sort It Out Later

Over 4,100 Detroit Public Schools teachers received layoff notices this month, according to the Detroit affiliate of NPR. They will each have to reapply next month in order to have a chance at a job in the district next year. Furthermore, new state law now prohibits Michigan school districts from rehiring or laying off teachers based solely on seniority. In Detroit, the decision will be based on evaluations.

Such mass firings are not uncommon in school districts and have become even more prevalent with the budget crises of the past few years. Ed Codes generally require districts to send out pink slips toward the end of spring semester, even though revenues are uncertain until the following fall. Thus, school districts typically send out far more layoff notices than necessary and have to scramble to rehire some of the laid off teachers in the fall.

Detroit Public Schools (DPS) has the added problem of declining enrollment due to a shrinking city population and growing number of charter schools. Despite these factors, DPS still saw an enrollment spike last September, forcing the district to hire back all but 400 teachers and will likely face a similar scenario this coming fall.

Detroit Federation of Teachers (DFT) President Keith Johnson said "they are doing this again like they did last year and it's going to be chaos again in September... I'm preparing for battle." Of course, coming from Johnson, who has repeatedly maintained a collaborationist relationship with DPS (see here, here and here), Detroit teachers should be very nervous. Johnson’s approach to battle will likely involve some gentle pleading and followed by concessions that will trade pink slips for increased class sizes, longer working hours, and wage and benefits cuts.

Detroit’s Continuing School Problems

Robert Bobb, now in the final months of his contract as state-appointed emergency financial manager for Detroit Public Schools (DPS), has failed to close the district’s budget deficit, which currently stands at $327 million. He has shuttered dozens of schools and privatized many others. He has also proposed closing half of DPS’ remaining schools (which would raise class sizes to 62) or privatizing 41 within the next six months. The Detroit Free Press says that this would make DPS the 2^nd largest chartering district in the nation. However, many charter operators believe it is impossible to achieve Bobb’s ambitious goal within his 6 month timeframe.

DPS plans to release the list of schools slated for privatization within the next week and will choose charter operators within a month. The Detroit Free Press says that KIPP, Edison and Green Dot are not interested in DPS, but White Hat and Leona (both for-profit) are interested. It is indeed unlikely that White Hat and Leona, alone, could take over 41 schools and have them all up and running by fall. Furthermore, the charter plan is opposed by teachers who would lose their contracts and union protections, and possibly even their jobs in the conversions. DFT President Keith Johnson says the conversions won’t happen under his watch, but there have already been dozens of charter conversions under his watch, as well as numerous cuts to teachers’ pay, benefits and working conditions. Detroit teachers should not count on Johnson to look after their interests.

If the charter plan does not fly, Governor Rick Snyder could simply shut down DPS entirely under Michigan’s new financial martial law legislation, thus nullifying all existing contracts with teachers and support staff, and place the district in the hands of a new financial manager. This would allow Detroit to create a new district from the ground up with all new contracts offering much lower wages and benefits. While this would not instantaneously achieve the Bobb/Duncan/Broad goal of privatizing all the schools, it would certainly weaken the union and bring them a step closer.

Steve Conn Suspended From Detroit Teachers Union

Steve Conn, who continues to maintain that he won the recent presidential election for the Detroit Federation of Teachers (DFT), has been suspended from the union, along with three of his colleagues. He was suspended for disrupting the swearing in ceremony for his rival, Keith Johnson, who won the contested union election with less than a 100 votes. Hundreds of valid ballots were thrown out in the election, ballots that Conn and many others believe were unjustly invalidated. Conn asked for a recount, lost, and then won his appeal.

The suspension has no effect on Conn’s teaching assignment or pay or benefits. However, it does ban him from holding any union positions for six months, and he will not be allowed to attend any union meetings. Johnson asserts that he will remain in office and that Conn has no chance of replacing him.

Conn has often criticized the leadership of the teachers unions, calling for their removal. He has also demanded an end to NCLB and RTTT, demands that do not sit well with a union leadership that is more interested in appearing reasonable to the ruling elite so as to maintain friendly relations with them, than they are with helping teachers or students. As a consequence, he has gotten no support from the DFT parent organization, AFT.

Meanwhile, Detroit is preparing to close half of its remaining schools, massively lay off teachers, and increase class sizes to 60 students for high school classes. Keith Johnson has not only done little to resist these attacks, he has worked together with DPS administration to undermine teacher pay and working conditions.

Detroit to Shutter Half Its Schools—Class Sizes of 60

Robert Bobb, financial manager for Detroit Public Schools (DPS), has been given permission by the state of Michigan to close 70 more schools, bringing high school class sizes up to 60 students per class. This would amount to shutting down half of the city’s remaining public schools. (60 schools were already closed over the past two years.) The state superintendent, Michael Flanagan, gave the green light Monday, so long as the plan is implemented immediately.

Bob Bobb asserts that his plan is necessary to close a large DPS budget hole. However, considering the catastrophic consequences of the cuts, a more likely explanation is that Bobb is deliberately destroying DPS as a viable entity to make way for privacy hawks to swoop in and scoop up the rubble.  Arne Duncan once called Detroit ground zero in the fight for education reform, which, coming from Duncan, was certainly a call for a massive wave of privatization. In 2008, a slate of Rhee-supported pro-charter school teachers ran in DFT elections.

The rush toward privatization is not limited to the creation of more charter schools. Bobb has also steamrollered through a plan to outsource custodial services to the union-busting French firm Sodexo, $43.9 million plan that would crush AFSCME Local 347 and force maintenance workers to give up their pensions and job security.

DPS teachers have seen their pay slashed $10,000 per year for the past two years, in an agreement made with their union, the Detroit Federation of Teachers (DFT). This was just part of a sell-out contract made with the collaboration of the AFT and its President Randi Weingarten, seen by many as the worst teacher contract ever. In this contract, DFT President Keith Johnson gave away seniority rights, merit pay, and slashed wages and benefits.

Johnson is currently serving as president of AFT, after recent elections that were marred by corruption. Johnson claimed victory despite accusations of vote fraud, and hundreds of uncounted ballots. Challenger Steve Conn claims that he won the election by 40 votes and demanded a hand recount, which the union refused, in violation of its own rules. Johnson is now attempting to expel Conn from the union.