Struggle over N.Y. budget cuts is microcosm of national
cuts
By G. Dunkel
Julia Martinez and Margaret Espinosa got pink
slips this month. Their job, which pays $20,000 a year, is to
help disabled children go to school. During the Sept. 11, 2001,
attacks on the World Trade Center, as debris rained down, they
pushed the children in their wheelchairs as far as possible,
then carried them on their backs and ran. They and the children
survived.
Martinez and Espinosa are two of 1,800 workers who New York
City Schools Chan cellor Joel Klein fired this month. They join
tens of thousands who have been laid off from education, health
care, sanitation and other public services all over the country
in the past two years.
According to the National Governors' Association, every
single state is suffering from a major budget crisis. The
shortfall for fiscal year 2003, which in most states ends in
July, is expected to be about $30 billion. The shortfall for
2004 is projected to be $82 billion.
The drop in states' revenue has been major. While the Bush
administration justifies its huge tax cuts for the wealthiest
by promoting the illusion that jobs will "trickle down" to the
poor and unemployed, it is pushing major increases in the cost
of Medicaid, education testing and security on the states. The
states in turn push the cuts and costs down to the cities and
towns.
In the 1990s, states tried lowering their tax rates to
encourage investment and economic development during boom
times. From 1995 to 2001, states cut taxes by $33.1 billion,
which is slightly more than their current deficit.
New York Gov. George Pataki proposed cuts in education and
aid to New York City to close a $11.5 billion hole in his
budget. Michael Bloomberg, the billionaire mayor, raised
real-estate taxes 18.5 percent. This wasn't enough to close the
gap, so he threatened to lay off 30,000 workers for starters
and also impose major cuts in other expenses, including
education.
Pataki's cuts to education, while harsh for the city, would
have been devastating to poor rural areas of the state.
So the New York State United Teachers, a joint council that
includes all the local affiliates of both teachers' unions, the
American Federation of Teachers and the National Education
Assoc., held a rally May 3 in Albany. It was the biggest demon
stration in the state capital's history.
Fifty thousand union members and their supporters protested.
Joining them were a number of other education-related
organizations, like Parent-Teacher Asso ciations, student
governments and community organizations.
A few days after the protest, the state legislature decided
to override Pataki's budget and restore most of the education
cuts and aid to New York City.
About two-thirds of the tax increases they passed will come
from a surcharge on incomes over $150,000, with the rest coming
from an increase in sales taxes.
This was the second, and biggest, union-led demonstration
against financial austerity in New York this century. Given the
nationwide climate of budget cutbacks, there should be many
more.
Reprinted from the May 22, 2003, issue of
Workers World newspaper
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
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