Federalist 1973.9 - SCFT Local 1533

FEDERALISTVol. 12, No.1 LOCAL 1533, CFT, FRESNO September, 1973A NEWSLETTER PUBLISHED BY THE STATE CENTER FEDERATION OF TEACHERSNEW 1533 PRESIDENT REPORTS ON STATE CONVENTIONYour President, Vice President and Regional Representative for the A. F. T. had the opportunityto attend the Thirty-first Annual Convention of the California Federation of Teachers heldin the Los Angeles International Hotel early this summer.I would like to report to you on the highlights of the convention with a brief summary of theremarks of some of the speakers which included David Selden, our National President, RaoulTeilhet, our State President, Senator George Moscone, James Bullard, President of San FranciscoLocal 61 and Presi dent of the Uni ted Teachers Counci I of San Francisco.Senator George Moscone's presentation dealt primari Iy with the necessity for electi ng progressiveleadership to the various government positions from the local to the national level. It ishis belief that Democrats and progressives far outnumber the opposition but have been indifferent inparticipating in the election process."Progressive leadership needs our help, since it is obvious it will not get it from Standard Oil,Blair House, etc. IIThe tragic political events which we have witnessed over the last few months underscoredthe necessity of following Senator Moscone's advice.James Bullard, President of San Francisco Local 61, traced the days when A. F. T. membershad to give a password to each other and secret haridshakes. I am sure his observations will bringmany nostalgic memories to the charter members of our Local 1533.Initially, Local 61 did not participate in deliberations under the Winton Act, perhapsrealizi ng, as we have, the futi li ty of worki ng under an instrument wh ich forces the teacher tonegoti ate from a posi ti on of weakness. Negoti ations cannot be successfu I unti I both parti es areallowed by law to negotiate on equal terms.The San Francisco teachers have closed ranks by forming the United Teachers Council(instead of C.E.C.) with the idea of uniting all the teachers in San Francisco under one banner.The question was presented to Mr. Bullard as to whether this unity with other organizationswould destroy the identity of A.F.T. He answered that this did not represent a merger but ratheran attempt to bri ng all teachers together in all matters of mutual concern.David Selden also dwelt on the necessity for uniting the various teachers organizations andmentioned that the question of a national merger between the N.E.A. and A.F.T. will be decidedat the next national convention, perhaps in Portland.He emphasized that a merger should not be only in the interest of the A.F.T. but moreimportant, in the interest of teachers.It is his opinion that far too many teachers join the union only when in trouble, which inhis judgment is neither morally correct nor very smart.(conti nued on page 2 • . )

At present teachers are 10th in size in the AFT-CIa organization, but if the merger withN.E.A. becomes a reality, we would become the #1 organization in the nation.It is his opinion, however, that we cannot follow all the policies of the present organization(Meany & Co .)Raoul Teilhet, in his State of the Union message, informed the convention that our membershiphas increased in California by 36%. I may add, parenthetically, that in our district-the increasehas been about the same as that of the rest of the State and with promises of further increases.With the increase cited above we have achieved an in~rease in political power, essential toput into action the objectives of our organization. Incidentally, we want to thank the membershipfor voting in favor of increasing our dues, since a sizable portion of these funds will go intothe AFT's political action treasury.He believes in the decentralization of the Administration of the Union, since, In hisopinion, it is impractical to run an organization from the top.As to the question of mergers he has no objections as long as other organizations are willingto commit themselves to collective bargaining, binding arbitration and be willing to strike, as alast result.It is President Tei lhets opinion that the prejudice of equating union with the working manhas to be overcome among professional people. liThe strong has to protect the weak. IIHe further suggested the necessity for initiating a "moke a friend" campaign instead ofantagonizing the other teachers! organizations and recommended that we move toward the centerof the political spectrum.Our goal is to create a democratic organization controlled by the classroom teachers, whose'knowledge and expertise has been ignored in the formulation of policies affecting not only theteachers but the program as well.Space does not permit us to inject all the information and philosophical thoughts presentedat the convention, but there is no doubt that teachers have finally entered a new phase whichultimately will lead to a position whereby we will be able to make meaningful contributions to oursystem and program, a right that has been denied us for all too long.Finally, we would like to invite all members of the administration, .ond especially ourSuperintendent, Dr. Chapman, and our Business Manager, Mr. K. Wheeler, to use our publishingfacilities to communicate directly with the faculty, hopefully, with the idea of improving ourlines of communication.Many of our difficulties in the past could easily be traced to the lack of effective communicationbetween the administration and the faculty with the predictable result of increasinglydeteriorating faculty morale. We shall work toward improvement of our relationship, as long aswe are treated with the respect due to professionals who have devoted their lives to the improvementof the educati onal process in our Di stri ct.O.C.-2-

{'\lEA VOTES TO CONSIDER MERGER WITH AFTAll teachers in the United States will belong to the same organization in the near future.That was the decision reached at the annual NEA convention this summer. That is all the UnitedStates except California.After the NEA decision the president-elect of the CTA held a press conference and denouncedthe proposed merger in no uncertain terms. However, does he speak for the rank and fi Ieof CTA members? We doubt it. We have respect for our separated brethren who are not consultedon such matters. An attempted merger was tried in southern California only to be broken up byBurlingame officialdom and the leaders of the CTA who were trying to bring it off, driven out ofthe state. Then why does the CTA leadership fight a merger which will benefit all teachers?It is simply a matter of economics. As we pointed out in the lost issue of The Federalist,the high salaries paid to officialdom, a budget based on a supposed 140,000 members which isactually shy of that number, means actually less services in the end for the membership. A mergerwould eliminate some of this fat from the budget.OK, so you can't bring yourself to join a union yet -- but you believe in eventual merger -may we give you a suggestion? Why not refuse to join any? Can you use an extra $80 or so? Afew more steaks on the table?Don't worry, we can put you on to good auto insurance and charter flights with either anomi nal or no charge at all. Can anythi ng be fairer than that?AN OPEN LETTERDearStu,******1 September 1973Forgive the impudence of this letter, but I have just returned to my duties at SCCCD andhave learned that my salary adjustment wi II be approximately 4.86% more than last year, andthere is again all manner of concern over weekly student contact hours, night school classes aspart of my regu lar load, etc., etc.And to save my sanity I have to think of something cheerful, I dream of you now retired atabout $25,000 a year, perhaps basking on an island of the South Pacific or fishing in the wilds ofCanada. Actually I am going backwards in my earn1ng power as the rise in the cost of living isdouble the percentage of salary adjustment I received. I have a good many more years to waitunti I retirement, my chi Idren have yet to fi nish school.I keep wondering why you offered me only a one per cent adjustment in the first place. Wasit your last gesture of contempt for me and my colleagues? Was it because you despised such facultyorganizations as the Senate or the CEC who attempted to promote a voice of democracy throughnegotiations?We were told after the one per cent offer, "We have to wait to see what the state does. II Itseems we have always been told in the spring to wait and see "what the state does."But the question comes to mind of an inconsistency, for did you wait to see what the statedoes in setting the salaries of the two new administrators? Whenever a veteran teacher retires andis replaced by one with less experience, the district actually benefits for several years by paying alesser salary to the newcomer. However, I notice the same does not apply in the hiring of newadmi nistrators, who actually cost more. In the case of the new superi ntendent, some four per centmore. Could you explain the rationale underlying such calculations?But then, perhaps, I should take a more positive attitude. The new superintendent may beworth more. Perhaps he is more enlightened and would have considered offering his facultya one per cent cost of living adjustment an insult, and perhaps he believes in negotiating in goodfaith despite the weaknesses in the Winton Act. At least this is my hope.In closing, there is one thing I would thank you for and that is helping us in our recruitmentprogram of Local 1533. Perhaps it was the cavalier treatment at a public meeting of Mr. Moran,chairman of the CEC, by your assistant and the chairman of the board. Whatever the cause, it hadthe reaction of persuading a number of faculty members to join our union. And we are indebted toyou. With another year like 1972-73 we would indeed be ready for collective bargaining when itarrives.Yours,I . M. Cansado