Lois Weiner encourages teachers to fight back against neoliberalism and build a democratic union

[tonysam]

movement

Weiner was in Chicago a couple of days ago. Substance News reports:

Lois Weiner began her comments by noting that the international teacher union movement began with Margaret Haley in Chicago. She noted that the Chicago Teachers Union was Local 1 of the American Federation of Teachers because CTU was the first teacher union in the USA. She commended Haley for insisting that the ideal of education “places humanity above machines.” At the same time, she noted that Haley, although a pioneer in teacher union organizing, was also out of touch with the growing problems of segregation in places like Chicago, which began undergoing massive migration from the South during and after World War II.

The gist of Dr. Weiner's talk centered on a World Bank report that claimed teacher unions represent the "biggest threat to global prosperity" in the world. Weiner asserted that the World Bank’s assertion was an excuse to de-professionalize teachers: “they want a revolving door because a revolving door is cheaper.” Ultimately, she stated, “the World Bank’s aim is to make schools no different from Walmart.”

She also explained that standardized testing, as a means to gauge achievement and accountability, is now largely tied to teacher evaluation. Race to the Top, the federal initiative led by the U.S. Department of Education under former Chicago Schools CEO Arne Duncan, aims to tie test scores to teacher evaluation. Weiner insisted that the true aim is not student excellence but a way to “get rid of a salary schedule based on experience and education,” so as to not “put other money into the salary schedule.”

Another objective of the recent attacks on teacher unions, she said, is to get rid of collective bargaining because “we do it together and it contradicts their ideology .”

And WHERE are our politicians and media? Trying to implement this "utopia," of course.

[Grand Taurean]

1. Exactly!

[snot]

2. K&R'd

[troubledamerican]

3. Really WRONG subject title on this post. Should be

"World Bank report that claimed teacher unions represent the "biggest threat to global prosperity"

What you've done is "bury the lede"

[tonysam]

4. That was a paraphrase of the ultralong title in the piece.

The article isn't about the World Bank, though I see your point. The article was about Lois Weiner talking about the World Bank's involvement in school privatization efforts all over the world.

She's practically the only one out there talking about this.

[Hannah Bell]

5. kik

[tonysam]

6. Her remarks are probably the most important of our time

because it goes to the heart of what is behind this relentless push to privatize education and deskill teaching.