Union head Weingarten mocks teachers who walk out protesting Gates' speech.

[madfloridian]

Run time: 08:53 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x6Ezri0pVOg   Posted on YouTube: July 11, 2010 By YouTube Member: GEMNYC1 Views on YouTube: 509   Posted on DU: July 16, 2010 By DU Member: madfloridian Views on DU: 1637

 
There is Bill Gates who does not like teachers' unions at all, sitting on stage at the AFT convention.... while the union head, Randi Weingarten, mocks the teachers who are walking out in protest. She mocks them from the stage.

It is an ugly scene. Mocking teachers who protest a man who is attempting to buy his way into public education. I should not say "attempting"....he has done it.

The mocking starts about 50 seconds in.

Randi came from the culture of the Broad Superintendents Academy, another man who has bought his way into public education. She was on the staff of the Broad Academy.

Now she mocks teachers who don't appreciate Bill Gates being asked to speak to the union he is attempting to marginalize.

From Fred Klonsky's blog about the speech.

What the man didn't say in Seattle.

There’s a Youtube video, hand-held and shakey, of AFT delegates walking out of the convention hall in Seattle. Those walking out were protesting the invitation given to Bill Gates to speak at their convention. It was a relatively small protest. Others in the hall protested by sitting on their hands when The Man was introduced.

Understand that the AFT delegate selection process pretty much ensures that most of the delegates in the hall support whatever the leadership says. But the video zooms in on a group of older women, members of the AFT, and veteran teachers I would assume. They are standing and chanting, “Na, na, hey, hey. Goodbye” to those walking out.

It wasn’t pretty. It was egged on by AFT President Randi Weingarten. She later explained her behavior by saying it was “The New York in me.”

I don’t know. In spite of the stereotype, I know at least a couple of very polite New Yorkers. It was kind of sad, really.

It was sad indeed.

I find mocking teachers disgusting. I get mocked when I point out that the dreams of Bush and Gingrich are now rapidly being fulfilled under this administration.

It reminds me of how the conservative wing of the party mocked those of us who opposed the Iraq War.

But a week later Bill Gates denounced teachers' pensions. I wonder if those teachers are still cheering. From the Aspen Ideas Festival:

Bill Gates, who has devoted much of his time to education since stepping down from full-time work with the company in 2006. Undermining public education, he said, is a system that channels too much money to pensions for retired teachers. He predicts that state and local governments will have to lay off 100,000 active teachers in the next couple of years. “I’m very much against that,” said Mr. Gates who noted that many of the teachers who lose their jobs will be younger, more motivated teachers at the bottom of the seniority system.

He blames teachers' unions for the layoffs because of teachers' pensions.

Cheer on, you teachers. :shrug:

[LisaM]

1. My dad is a retired teacher

He well deserves the money he is now enjoying in retiremement. He worked had all those years, including many extra jobs to make ends meet - he coached football, two tennis teams, and taught summer recreation, not to mention summer school, most of it to the non-accolades of uneducated parents. Oh, and he has a Master's Degree.

FUCK YOU, Bill Gates.

[madfloridian]

4. Your dad deserves his retirement....I very much agree.

And I deserved mine as well.

TPTB are not only union busting and public school busting, they are pension busting as well.

And we can't even get them to notice our outcries.

[teknomanzer]

9. Seems to me people don't realize the amount of work teachers do.

Teaching is not your typical 9 to 5 job. People don't see what teachers do outside the classroom as part of their normal work, let alone what they do that goes above and beyond. This is a job that takes real dedication. I'm so sick of teachers getting the blame for the state of our outdated educational system.

[FedUp_Queer]

36. Damn straight.

I have a friend who's a teacher. Here is a person who has had a student throw a desk at her, who goes to work at 7am and leaves work at 7pm, grades papers and does lesson plans until 12am or 1am. The problem, plain and simple, is absentee parents who want the school to babysit, serve as counselors and surrogate parents. Sorry, but parents just don't take interest in their kids like they should. I remember my Mom wanted to go to parent-teacher conferences, even when I was doing well because she wanted to meet all of my teachers...doesn't happen any more.

[LisaM]

2. PS - because retired teachers are the problem

not billionaires who don't pay personal income tax in the state where they live.

[MichiganVote]

3. So I gather "building Ideas together" does not include everyone. Bushism.

[Starry Messenger]

5. I think proud2blib said those women were actually a group of health workers

The ones who were mocking the teachers. I still think it was stupid of Randi not to shut down the mockery. She obviously egged it on. Whatever she is getting out of supporting Gates is not worth selling members of the union down the river. I hope opposition to her keeps growing and I will do what I can to support it.

[madfloridian]

6. Randi egging on health workers mocking teachers...what a mess.

That video was appalling.

[Starry Messenger]

10. I found the thread.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=219x26699#26722


I was appalled too. I'm a relatively new teacher and member of AFT and I've been thinking about getting more involved locally. Seeing what is going on nationally was kind of eyeopening. I don't know if I'm discouraged or not, but at least I'm more informed of the major issues now.

[madfloridian]

16. Infiltrating...

the unions, the administrations of districts, the Dept of Education. It is filled with Gates and Broad loyalists.

That's how they get the job done.

[sulphurdunn]

32. The NEA is not full of Broad loyalists.

It opposes them vigorously, and it is not being seduced by such people to bend over and like it.

[sulphurdunn]

31. The AFT has sold out

to the slow privatization of public education. Get out now. Join the NEA. :headbang:

[LiberalFighter]

7. They need to remove their president either now or at their next election.

[Starry Messenger]

11. BAMN and other groups are organizing opposition.

Here's a write-up from Danny Weil:

http://dailycensored.com/2010/07/13/attending-the-aft-convention-in-seattle-and-protesting-with-bamn-and-othes-the-horrific-policies-of-race-to-the-top/

To begin with, the climate of fear amongst teachers seemed so palpable you could cut it with a knife. Joyce Schon, lawyer for BAMN repeatedly told teachers as she worked the BAMN table not to be fearful, that we could beat the privatizers if we just shook off the fear that has been implanted into the core curriculum of daily life in America.

Secondly, it was obvious that many teachers, whether they said it or not, supported the work of BAMN, Economic Opportunity Now and many other organizations and coalitions that stood up to the AFT leadership and the horrific policies of Race to the Top. I spoke inside the convention and outside with dozens and dozens of teachers who agreed that the policies promoted by Weingarten and the AFT leadership, was a miserable betrayal of union principles.

Thirdly, it was apparent and obvious to many of us that the ‘set-up’ with Gates’ presentation and Duncan’s snake in the grass visit at Aviation High School had been orchestrated by the rancid Weingarten. The happenstance of Duncan’s visit thirty minutes away from the downtown Seattle convention and Gates’ invitation to speak were designed to crown the union leadership with legitimacy and promote the policies of privatization of education as if there was no alternative. Their ‘visits’ were thinly cloaked reminders that they are always there, they are always aware of their opposition and fully behind the policies of Randi Weingarten allowed to be implemented in Washington D.C. with her pal, Chancellor Michelle Rhee and now headed to a city near you.

Finally, it was evident that opposition does exist to the policies being promoted by the corporatists in concert with the Obama administration. The hard work and courage of BAMN and Detroit and Chicago teachers, to name just a handful of the amazing oppositional contingents, paid off. Teachers know that they do not have to be imprisoned in the panoptic eye of the new testing regimes; nor do they need to accept merit pay, loss of seniority, loss of tenure, and attacks on their professionalism.

It's long, so I had a hard time deciding what to excerpt. I hope you get a chance to check it out. :)

[madfloridian]

13. Thanks for sharing that. I will read it all.

Weil has done some good work.

[Starry Messenger]

14. You're welcome madflordian!

Thank you for all of your hard work on this. I really appreciate it!

[flyarm]

22. they can't wait till next election..they need to call a Special Election and remove that traitor!eom

[erodriguez]

27. Weingarten got about 93% of the vote

The same caucus has been in control of the aft since its inception. They are good at controlling any information that gets to their members.
Since most teachers have a limited amount of time with work and family and such, they tend to take the info at face value. After all, union reps are supposed to be working for them. Only recently are people beginning to wake up.

However, it's already too late. The AFT leadership has sold out its members. Just look at Wash. DC and NYC for proof. Job security is dead in DC with the new contract. In NY, the aft and nysut worked hard to pass state legislation that will tie job security to state tests in order to get Race to the Top funds.


If I were in part of a small chapter. I'd be actively be looking into ways to change affiliations to the NEA. They voted no confidence for Race to the top and are looking to exert themselves on a national scale on behalf of their members.

[smoogatz]

8. Right-o, Bill.

We want to recruit the best and brightest to educate our kids, but we want to pay them next to nothing, we will offer them no job security, and we would most of all insist that they retire in poverty, with only social Security and whatever little bit of savings they can scrape together to live on. Even better--maybe we can outsource the whole deal to a video classroom in Bangalore!

[LisaM]

12. Well said.

I may steal that.

Meanwhile, I know someone who worked at Microsoft for THREE YEARS, and retired a millionaire. I know someone else who did nothing there but work in customer support, who also retired before he was fifty and is living in wealth. Is that Gates' model, rather than someone who worked in the same system for 31 years?

There is the whole separate issue of tying up retirement income in the stock market, rather than cash pensions. In fact, the Japanese car companies have a major competitive advantage over US companies, who are paying pensions, but try to get people to understand that.

[JDPriestly]

25. The Japanese have a good government pension system.

We could drastically strengthen Social Security and do away with private pensions. That would be a good idea.

It would stop this movement to scapegoat teachers out of jealousy for their pensions.

[madfloridian]

17. Very good points. Low pay, no job security, and lots of scorn.

That's sad to me. I remember when teachers were respected overall, and the parents demanded their children show respect.

[NJmaverick]

15. The articles you posted makes it seem like the teachers are against Bill Gates

but watching the video and reading the articles with a critical eye, it looks like the opposite is actually the case. In fact now it seems like even the unions are no longer supporting the positions you espouse.

[flyarm]

18. KEEP UP THE GREAT POSTINGS Madfloridian!! Those were delegates there..not "ALL" teachers.

Many Teachers do not know what is going on with the Gates/ Broad /Duncan/Obama sell out of their Jobs and Security!

Those delegates represent Teachers and every single one of them should have walked out..I would replace every single one of those Delegates, because they were not representing who they were elected to represent!

That Union Leader should be fired immediately! If not sooner!

Good damn thing I am not in that Union..I would have eaten her alive! and Spit her carcass out on a dirty sidewalk where it belongs!!

I am passing this info on to all the teachers I know and they are appalled...But they were unaware of all the shit going on with their union and the rotten ( military/ Corporate whores !!) thugs trying to steal their jobs and security and the very thing they live for ..education of public school children!

Thank you again Madfloridian, and all the teachers and posters at DU that do give a damn about Public Education!

Fly.. a Mom of a grown son who went to Public School..who is now going to one of the top 3 MBA Schools in the Nation and who appreciates all the wonderful teachers who taught my son so well!!! And from a 33 year Union Member, now retired ..who's husband was a VP of a very successful Union.

[EFerrari]

19. K&R

[cornermouse]

20. There are several teachers in my family.

If I'd been there I would have walked out on them too. Ms. Weingarten should be fired. She's been duped into thinking that Gates and company will allow her organization to continue to exist. Incredibly naive on her part.

[flyarm]

21. She is not Duped..as a post further up states..she was trained at the Broad Training ctr..

she is an infiltraitor..

Or as I would say..she is a Traitor to her profession! and to her Union..and to her teachers!

The teachers of the Nation should call a special election and fire her ass pronto! Tommorrow isn't soon enough!

She is a utter disgrace as a Union Leader!

And If or when she is fired..I would make damn sure she never left with a pension! Nor severance!

edit to add: from Madfloridian's original Post:

"Randi came from the culture of the Broad Superintendents Academy, another man who has bought his way into public education. She was on the staff of the Broad Academy."

[sulphurdunn]

33. She has not been duped.

I suggest you read her professional biography. She is a corporate fifth columnist, and she knows exactly what she is doing.

[JDPriestly]

23. Who elected Weingarten to her position? Wasn't it teachers?

[JDPriestly]

24. When I saw the teacher who were singing and mocking the leaving

teachers, I asked myself how many of them will still be teaching in public schools once the Gates proposals are in effect. Frankly, the ones I saw did not look like really top teachers. They did not look like the kinds of people that students respond to. Students need and respond to compassion, not the kind of conduct these people were displaying. Further, these teachers did not seem thoughtful in their reactions. They seemed crude. I tend to associate that with ignorance.

[flyarm]

28. to me it was a set up! The Chicago White Sox Baseball fans do that when an opposing Pitcher gets

replaced during a game!

Same song..and same attitude!

So were those people set up to do that..HMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM...I would guess yes!

I thought I was watching the White Sox..not teachers at a Union meeting!

[madfloridian]

29. I have a feeling that the main criterium with "reform"...

will be cheap. I doubt the rest will matter. The business model of saving money will affect schools so drastically. If they beat the testing drum loudly enough to get the students to have a passable grade (to hell with learning)....they will be considered successful. Of course the Gates model would prefer teachers not stay around long as they would get too much money then.

Yeh, call me bitter, I guess. I despise that Bush's agenda is getting done now.

[procopia]

26. So Gates denounced teacher's pensions

In my state, teachers pay into their own pension funds. Is it different in other states?

[sulphurdunn]

34. In Virginia

teachers are part of the state retirement fund and the politicians have been having a heyday cutting benefits and increasing teacher contributions since the economic crash. Of course the system is underfunded to meet projected retirement demands because the same pols have been looting it for decades.

[sumpin]

30. This is disgusting

I thought Bill Gates was a democrat?

[sulphurdunn]

35. Good cop bad cop.

Public education is under a three pronged attack. Most people are unaware of it. One prong is the "privatize the schools immediately using the corporate business model" prong. Another is "use the corporate business model to operate public schools for profit with public money" prong. The last prong (the AFT prong) is: "Use the corporate business model to 'reform' public schools by using various labor busting schemes disguised as accountability measures tied to standardized test scores." The end game of all three is the commodification of public education as a low risk, high return investment for controlling the curriculum to create universally passive, and uncritical pro-corporatist consumers.

[Jefferson23]

37. How sad that more teachers did not walk out, and those who mocked

those who did leave..what do they think Gates has in store for them? Are they aware he gave 4 million dollars to extend mayoral control in NYC?
Because Bloomberg would give him an argument? Yea, right...Gates doesn't have to deal with what the parents may think nor the school board.



This is disturbing, watching Weingarten embracing Gates.


Someone explain to me what achievements have been documented in Chicago under Arne Duncan that he is rewarded with his present job.

I can't find any such evidence, nor can I find any evidence to support Gates claims.



Education in Chicago: Chicago Public Schools Have Improved? Baloney!


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bill-sweetland/education-in-chicago-chic_b_225791.html

on edit for clarity.

[nikto]

38. Gates is si boring...

Using such AN old, even ANCIENT, divide-and-conquer strategy.

If it works, SHAME ON AMERICA.