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Via Workers World News Service
Reprinted from the Oct. 26, 2000
issue of Workers World newspaper
-------------------------BUFFALO, N.Y.
Teachers to tackle Taylor law
By Kevin PoChedley
Member, Buffalo Teachers Fed.
Buffalo, N.Y.Philip Rumore, president of the Buffalo Teachers Federation, announced in an Oct. 6 jailhouse interview with the Buffalo News that his union plans to mount a campaign to alter the state's anti-worker Taylor law.
The unfair and unconstitutional Taylor law prohibits teachers and other public service workers from withholding their labor under penalty of fines--two days' pay for each day on the strike.
Rumore was jailed for 10 days and fined $1,000 for defying a state court injunction that barred the teachers' strike against the Buffalo school system.
"You have to give us a way of bringing closure to a contract," Rumore told the Buffalo News. "The law is just not balanced. [School districts] don't have to bargain in good faith. They just do whatever they want.
"Without the strike, negotiations would probably still be focused on an earlier district contract offer that the union found unacceptable," Rumore concluded.
The Buffalo Teachers Federation won the battle for a fair contract against the Buffalo Board of Education. Teachers overwhelmingly ratified that contract at a general membership meeting on Sept. 22.
The teachers will receive raises every six months for the next four years with increases totaling 13.5 percent--more that twice the amount the board had offered earlier in negotiations.
The school district will also be required to restore art, music and physical education classes to the lower elementary grades and continue those classes at least until the contract ends in 2004.
The district and the union will form a committee to recommend ways to reduce the size of classes that include children with special education needs.
The Board of Education stonewalled the teachers for two weeks into the school year by demanding cutbacks in programs, health-care cuts, merit pay, increased hours of service, subcontracting and below-par pay increases. In addition, the union charged that the Board of Education bargained in bad faith.
In response, the Teachers were forced to strike. They closed the school system on two separate days despite potential fines and jail sentences imposed by the Taylor law.
The strike forced the Public Employee Relations Board--a New York State agency--to make proposals for reconcilation. At first management rejected the PERB proposal. But they eventually had to agree to it because of the solidarity between the teachers and the strike support from the community.
Two polls reported in the Buffalo News confirmed that the community not only supported the teachers in their bid for a fair contract but supported their right to strike as well.
The right to strike
How can a law deny workers the basic right to withhold their labor in the face of intransigent bargaining and bad faith negotiations by management? What power would workers have if they couldn't withhold their labor? The strike is the labor unions' strongest weapon in the struggle for a fair and decent contract.
The Taylor law imposes a two-day pay penalty for each day public-sector workers are on strike. In addition, it mandates potential jail time and fines the union. And it gives the employer an unfair bargaining advantage by attempting to intimidate workers at the negotiating table.
This unfair law must be done away with.
Now that the job action has ended and the Board of Education has been forced into a fair contract, at least for now, the question remains as to how public employees should deal with the Taylor law in the future.
Rumore said his union would press for binding arbitration in future stalled contract talks.
Union members and the communities must be thoroughly educated as to the anti-worker nature of the Taylor law. The rank-and-file, who have been victimized by this repressive legislation, must have the opportunity to discuss how to proceed.
It is clear that bridges must be built between labor organizations and the community at large. Union members must demonstrate that the community's interests are linked to those of public employees. Public school teachers know that smaller classes and expanded programs taught by qualified teachers are safer and healthier for all students.
Working and learning conditions are in the interests of the children, the community and the teachers. The struggle for a fair and decent contract ultimately means an increase in the quality of public education.
This article is copyright under a Creative Commons License.
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