With about 100 CTA chapters currently at impasse in contract negotiations, teachers across the state are using large public rallies, the Internet and media glare to put the heat on school districts to settle now.
Fairfield-Suisun teachers stage a five-mile-long picket line.
Angry teachers in Fairfield staged a five-mile-long picket line, chapters in Livermore and Alameda held huge rallies, and Chino educators went public with their strong "no confidence" vote against their superintendent, then marched by the hundreds through city streets.
CTA's officers and directors are showing solidarity by demanding double-digit raises for teachers at rallies and in front of school boards. Thanks to new state funding pouring into school districts statewide, more than 240 CTA chapters have won raises of 10 percent or better for teachers this year.
Two massive rallies and a picket line that stretched for five miles galvanized community support for the 1,254-member Fairfield-Suisun Unified Teachers Association (F-SUTA).
CTA President Wayne Johnson rallies F-SUTA members.
"It's made a tremendous difference," says Liz Priest, president of F-SUTA. "What we did has really involved the community.
Now the community is calling us and wants to help us put pressure on the school district. And the muscle of CTA has made a huge difference as well. The pressure is really on, and parents are contacting us directly to get the real story."
A school district proposal to weaken teachers' due process rights - and their ability to counter unfounded allegations - continues to anger teachers in Fairfield and in nearby Suisun City who are represented by the F-SUTA chapter. Teachers are fighting back.
Teachers have voted overwhelmingly to allow their chapter leaders to call a strike if necessary.
When the school district publicized its side on its Web site, teachers told the media and the public about their own Web site [www.fsuta.org] and even set it up so anyone can subscribe and get automatic e-mail updates about their fight.
More than 20 newspapers, television and radio stations covered the teachers' Feb. 20 picket line that stretched for five miles through Fairfield. More media coverage was generated by a March 15 rally in Fairfield where CTA President Wayne Johnson drew applause from teachers as he chastised the Fairfield-Suisun Unified School District superintendent.
"Your superintendent has placed this due process right, or elimination of this due process right, on the table," Johnson said, according to a front-page story in the local newspaper, Reporter. "It's not bargaining in good faith. It is basically trying to take away your dignity. It's insulting."
He warned the district to pay teachers more or face the grim fact that "we're going to run out of teachers."
He told teachers, "You have to hold on and not let some superintendent … force this down your throat. Don't give up and don't give in - you're going to win."
Following is a sampling of what other teachers are fighting for, and how they are waging their battles.
In Livermore, the school board and superintendent backed down soon after a show of force by teachers. On March 20, the school board approved solid salary increases for the 784 members of the Livermore Education Association (LEA) a 10 percent hike retroactive to July 1, 2000, and a 4 percent hike for the next school year.
Johnson spoke to hundreds of Livermore teachers at a rally in late February before speaking directly to school board members that night about teachers deserving the raises they were seeking. Nevertheless, district officials credited a state mediator with resolving the conflict.
"Baloney," says Joyce Keeler, president of LEA. "Teachers made the difference. And Wayne's coming here lifted the teachers' morale tremendously. We won."
Keeler made sure the local media covered Johnson's visit, knew about other protests, and could get the facts from the teachers' point of view on the LEA Web site [home. pacbell.net/livlea].
In Alameda, Johnson also inspired about 500 teachers, parents and other supporters who turned out for a March 7 rally at the Alameda school district office. Before television news cameras, he urged teachers to continue fighting for double-digit raises.
"What's wrong in Alameda?" he asked the rally crowd taking on the school district, which was only offering teachers a 4.5 percent raise. "The money was sent down (from Sacramento). They choose to spend it irresponsibly."
The money is there for fair raises, declares Margie Stanley, president of the 650-member Alameda Education Association.
Chino President Don Bridge (second from left) and CTA Secretary-Treasurer David A. Sanchez (right) strategize with NEA Board member Jim Himelhoch and Hacienda-LaPuente President Sergio Martinez during the Chino rally.
"California's state budget has provided school districts with significant increases in funding," she notes. "But this district is not utilizing those new funds to help teachers catch up and stop the inflationary erosion of their pay. The message to the community and its teachers is that the teachers are not a top priority."
Fed up with contract talks, the 1,500 members of Associated Chino Teachers were scheduled to vote in late March to authorize their leaders to call a strike if need be.
This comes after the San Bernardino County teachers went public with a strong "no confidence" vote against the superintendent of the Chino Valley Unified School District. Their March 15 rally highlighted their demand for a raise of 11.14 percent - and included a show of solidarity delivered in a speech by CTA Secretary-Treasurer David A. Sanchez.
"Hear this loud and clear!" Sanchez told cheering teachers. "Teachers are the program! You are the heart and soul of public education for your school district's 30,000 students. Yet the district's salary offer - a weak package laced with take-backs - remains below the average increase won by teachers in nearby districts."
"The money is there," Sanchez added. "Teachers like you marched by the thousands to Sacramento last spring to secure the millions and millions of dollars in new education funding sent to all school districts."
After Sanchez's speech outside city hall, some 600 Chino teachers marched a half mile through city streets to the school district offices to demand fairness in negotiations, which have been stalled for several months. The rally and march were covered by the Los Angeles Times, the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin and other media outlets.
"This was one of the best rallies we've ever had in Chino," says Don Bridge, president of Associated Chino Teachers. "We've never been at this point in this school district before. We're preparing for the next step. We keep hoping the district will come to its senses."
Mike Myslinski
