BY CHUCK GUERRA
DETROIT - At a mass membership meeting on August 30,
Detroit teachers voted by an 80 percent majority to reject
a 10-day contract extension recommended by their union
leadership. On August 31, which would have been the first
day of classes, picket lines went up at all Detroit high
schools and elementary schools. There was no attempt to
hold classes; school officials had told students to stay
home until it became known how many teachers would heed
their appeal to cross the picket line. At the end of the
first day of picketing so few teachers had crossed that
classes were canceled for a second day. The school
district has 172,000 students and 7,200 teachers.
At issue in the fight is the attempt by the state and city governments to "reform" the Detroit schools. Last March, the Michigan state legislature dissolved the elected Detroit school board and replaced it with one appointed by the mayor. In the current dispute, the school board is proposing to give wide power to local principals, lengthen the school year, and institute measures such as merit pay, which ties pay raises at each school to improvements in students' performance on standardized tests.
"People should read the contract before making up their minds on it," said Mark Karaim, a teacher at Northwest High School, referring to media attempts to portray the teachers as selfish. Among the proposals that Karaim found most objectionable was one that would give the school board the authority to close down schools in which students' scores on standardized tests fall below par for two consecutive years. Teachers at such schools would lose their jobs if unable to find another school that wanted them.
Another teacher, who asked to remain anonymous, stated that the demands for improvements on test scores don't take into accounts the conditions that have existed in Detroit for years. Many students at these schools are homeless, undernourished, or face other problems that make it difficult for them to devote themselves to their studies. The schools are underfunded and poorly supplied. Many teachers pay for supplies for their students out of their own pockets. The school board only proposes to set up a committee to look into the question of reducing class size, one of the big concerns of the teachers.
Detroit teachers are taking to the picket lines in face of a Michigan law passed in 1994 that imposes sharp financial penalties on public school employees that go on strike: losing a day's pay plus being fined a day's pay for every day missed. As of the end of the first day of picketing, the authorities had yet to invoke this law.
Chuck Guerra is a member of United Steelworkers of America Local 1299 in Ecorse, Michigan.