Saturday, March 27, 2010


March 27, 2010

Statement by Randi Weingarten,

President, American Federation of Teachers,

On the Recess Appointments of Craig Becker and Mark Pearce

To the National Labor Relations Board


President Barack Obama today made 15 recess appointments, including two key appointments to the National Labor Relations Board which for months had been blocked from coming to a vote in the United States Senate.

WASHINGTON—President Obama has taken a bold stand to restore functioning and balance to the National Labor Relations Board, and against obstructionists who put business interests and partisan politics above the needs of American workers.

The appointments of Craig Becker and Mark Pearce signal a long-overdue shift—whereby workers, and not just bosses, will receive equal consideration in crucial matters such as labor disputes and elections. While numerous business interests and their allies in the Senate formed an obstructionist alliance to deny a vote on these clearly highly-qualified nominees, hundreds of important matters backed up and could not be adjudicated. The statutes the NLRB enforces are key to supporting basic rights in the workplace and to advancing collective bargaining as a vital component of U.S. public policy.

Giving voice to workers is good for the country. The anti-worker bias of President Bush’s labor appointments effectively deprived American workers and labor unions of fair hearings by the NLRB and other important bodies. We are delighted that the newest appointments to the NLRB are two men who throughout their careers have shown a deep understanding of workers’ concerns and of the fair application of employment and labor law.



Contact:
Celia Lose
202/393-6356

The AFT represents more than 1.4 million pre-K through 12th-grade teachers; paraprofessionals and other school-related personnel; higher education faculty and professional staff; federal, state and local government employees; nurses and healthcare workers; and early childhood educators.


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AFT, 555 New Jersey Ave NW, Washington, DC 20001 United States
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‘Data’ Is Not the Plural of ‘Anecdote’

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"Two AEI reports predicted and then found that states and districts were simply taking about $75 billion in federal funds and using it to backfill their existing budget holes. This isn’t particularly sophisticated policymaking: States and districts had huge deficits due to the recession, the federal government (able to borrow without end despite its own deficits) gave them money via the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), and they used it to pay for what they were already doing."
Posted by Angry at 6:35 AM 0 comments

Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Welcome to CTA's self-proclaimed rally in support of California Educators! These are actually NEA reps at the national conference. But they supported last year's "Pretty Pink" show of ... well pink, with unrelentingly effective attacks on the State's shredding of education and the governor's personal publicity stunt for his run at the US Senate. . Almost 30 in a nice comfortable hotel paid in part by our dues. Of which NEA seems to be exempt from opening to public record. I want to wear pink again. Maybe I'LL make the cover of Time! This is the only publicly known strategy of the ruling aristocracy. We have been watching this come for how many years?

Smile for the CTA website (From which this author has been banned without explanation).
No bunny ears.

Posted by Angry at 9:54 PM 0 comments

Saturday, September 12, 2009

Major mood swing at our public schools

Massachusetts Charter Decisions Made to Rescue Governor from “Political Cul de Sac”

It’s a complex story out of Massachusetts with a simple payoff: The state secretary of education wants charter school authorizations to be based on political considerations, and not on their educational merits.
It begins with reporter Patrick Anderson of the Gloucester Daily Times using a public records request to find a February 5 e-mail from Secretary of Education Paul Reville, Gov. Deval Patrick’s school adviser, to Education Commissioner Mitchell Chester. Gov. Patrick, like many other governors, found religion in charter schools soon after the Obama administration made them a centerpiece of Race to the Top funding. But which charter school applications would be approved, and which rejected, seems to be less of an academic concern and more of a matter of political pressure. Here’s the full text of the e-mail:
Mitchell,
Hope all’s well and warm in AZ. I appreciated our talk today and your openness and flexibility. This situation presents one of those painful dilemmas. In addition to being a no-win situation, it forces us into a political cul de sac where we could be permanently trapped. Our reality is that we have to show some sympathy in this group of charters or we’ll get permanently labeled as hostile and they will cripple us with a number of key moderate allies like the Globe and the Boston Foundation. Frankly, I’d rather fight for the kids in the Waltham situation, but it sounds like you can’t find a solid basis for standing behind that one. I’m not inclined to push Worcester, so that leaves Gloucester. My inclination is to think that you, I and the Governor all need to send at least one positive signal in this batch, and I gather that you think the best candidate is Gloucester. Can you see your way clear to supporting it? Would you want to do the financial trigger even in light of likely stimulus aid?
Thanks for not seeing this as an independence issue. It really is a matter of positioning ourselves so that we can be viable to implement the rest of our agenda. It’s a tough but I think necessary pill to swallow. Let’s discuss some more tomorrow.
Paul
There has been plenty of editorializing about the e-mail itself, so I’ll just add a roundup of links and not add to it myself…
“Editorial: Ed chief’s e-mail kills his, secretary’s and charter’s credibility”
“A political swirl on charter schools”
“Paul Reville must resign”
“Editorial: Charter chess”
…but I’m also intrigued by the press play involved. The story was broken by a small local newspaper, in which the state newspaper of record (the Globe) is mentioned as one of Gov. Patrick’s “key moderate allies” that has to be appeased by approving the Gloucester application. Today, while others are calling for Reville’s head, the Globe published a puff piece headlined, “Seeking calm after charter school storm: Education chief focuses on reform.”
My favorite paragraph was this one:
Ironically, it was Reville who raised the alarm about the politicization of education six years ago, when Governor Mitt Romney proposed restoring the position of education secretary. Placing a gubernatorial appointee in charge of education, as well as other proposed changes, Reville told legislators, could allow political considerations to creep into decisions that should be based on the best interests of children.

Saturday, August 29, 2009

Deflation - American Style


In economics, deflation is a decrease in the general price level of goods and services.[1] Deflation occurs when the inflation rate falls below zero percent, resulting in an increase in the real value of money – a negative inflation rate. This should not be confused with disinflation, a slow-down in the inflation rate (i.e. when the inflation decreases, but still remains positive).[2]Inflation reduces the real value of money over time, conversely, deflation increases the real value of money. Money refers to the functional currency (mostly unstable monetary unit of account) in a national or regional economy.
Currently, mainstream economists generally believe that deflation is a problem in a modern economy because of the danger of a deflationary spiral.[3] Deflation is also linked withrecessions and with the Great Depression. Additionally, deflation also prevents monetary policy from stabilizing the economy because of a mechanism called the liquidity trap. However, historically not all episodes of deflation correspond with periods of poor economic growth,[4] while there are many examples of how strong rise in CPI immediately precedes or accompanies an economic downturn, such as Great Depression, the 1970-80's, and the 2008 economic crash.
Posted by Praetorian at 1:45 AM 0 comments

Sunday, August 23, 2009

"At stake is not only union jurisdiction over hotels and casinos, but control of the only union-owned bank, the Amalgamated Bank, which had $4.47 billion in assets in 2008.[2]
Posted by Praetorian at 9:20 PM 0 comments

Thursday, August 20, 2009