MA Gov. Patrick to AFT: Chill Out, But Keep Those Donations Coming!
Yesterday, Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick issued a letter to the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) expressing his appreciation for unions and his deep, heart-felt belief that unions are an important and necessary part of our society. Perhaps he is scared that his state’s unions will go rogue on him, despite their well-established history of collaboration. Maybe he’s just fishing for campaign contributions early. Or possibly he’s trying in his own pathetic way to help bolster rank and file support for what should be a dying institution: collaborationist, bureaucratic unionism.
Patrick's Email to State Employees (From the AFT - American Federation of Teachers Facebook page, on Saturday, February 26)
Dear Colleague,
“The actions against public sector employees in Wisconsin have dominated recent news and troubled us all. As you consider Wisconsin's approach to its budget and fiscal crisis, I want to reiterate a few of the values that guide us here.”
That is to say, we’re not Wisconsin, so please don’t do anything rash, like shut down our schools and government offices. Please, please, please, play nice with us. We’re on your side (as long as you keep making generous campaign contributions and do our dirty work by enforcing our rollbacks on your members).
You can read the rest of Patrick's letter (and my commentary)at
http://modeducation.blogspot.com/2011/02/v-behaviorurldefaultvmlo.htmlModern School
http://modeducation.blogspot.com/