BY JANE HARRIS
JERSEY CITY, New Jersey - Some 3,500 striking teachers,
aides, secretaries, and nurses here have defied a judge's
November 20 order to end their strike and return to work. The
unionists' main demand is, as 70 teachers on a picket line at
Snyder High School chanted it, "R-E-S-P-E-C-T," after the
famous Aretha Franklin song.
The same day the judge threatened to fine the Jersey City Education Association $100,000 a day. When the school week started again on November 23, the picket lines were strong. At Public School no. 17, an elementary school, only one person crossed the picket line. And unionists report about 98 percent of the membership has stayed off the job. The teachers walked out November 19. Prior to the strike, several teachers told the Militant money was not the issue. "How do you put dignity in a contract?" one asked. A Jersey City Education Association advertisement in the Jersey Journal explains that the strike is about teachers being "evaluated" 10-15 times a year with surprise visits. Other issues include overcrowded classes, extending the school day, shortening the lunch break with no increase in pay, and forcing teachers for the first time to pay for part of their health benefits. The big-business media has attempted to portray the unionists as money-hungry. But the pickets' fight for dignity is clear to anyone who walks by.
The school board has hired scab replacements at $200 a day, their only qualification being that they accept being fingerprinted. After one day, the board found itself unable to keep the high schools open. Students at McNair-Academic organized a peaceful walkout in support of their teachers by 10:00 a.m. the first day - despite the principal's attempt to lure them in by showing the film Titanic.
Jane Harris is a member of the United Transportation Union.