Teachers and Community Defeat Stealth OUSD School Closure and Layoff Plan

By Michael Sebastian

On Tuesday February 28, with only 24 hours notice, OUSD board president Mike Hutchinson called a special meeting to consider resolutions relating to “Budget Adjustments” and a “Classified Employee Reduction in Work Force.” These resolutions, which Hutchinson negotiated in private with the district superintendent in the midst of teacher contract talks, would have cut 100 classified positions (translators, social workers, restorative justice counselors), enacted a district-wide hiring freeze, and merged ten schools in the district. Rapid-response organizing by Oakland teachers and the community helped defeat both resolutions, with candidates endorsed by the Oakland Education Association (OEA), Bachelor, Brouhard, and Williams, voting against. Board member Thompson joined Board President Hutchinson in the votes, while board member Davis abstained. 

Tuesday’s emergency meeting comes on the heels of the recent victory reversing planned school closures. Hutchinson had supported that earlier resolution, but angered many when he joined the superintendent in bringing forward the latest austerity proposal. At a time when OUSD has ample funding, the community loudly rejected the idea of cutting resources, schools, and jobs for the district instead of directing that funding to meet the needs of our students, as demanded by OEA.

OEA has presented the district with a list of common good demands to strengthen Oakland’s public schools and protect students as they bargain for a new contract. The resolutions presented on Tuesday are viewed as pitting teachers against other staff employees in order to unfairly strengthen the district’s hand at the bargaining table. “Tuesday’s proposal, cutting mainly from SEIU and AFSCME jobs within the district, was meant to create false antagonism between workers and weaken support for teachers and their demands,” said Lexi Ross, who co-chairs East Bay DSA’s OEA solidarity group. “OUSD has received $54 million in new state funding this year. Allocating that funding to fulfill teacher’s demands and cutting from the bloated administrative budget would eliminate any need for the cuts presented on Tuesday.” 

The magnitude of OUSD’s administrative expenditures has been a major point of contention. Comparing Oakland’s administrative budget to Santa Ana Unified, a district with 10,000 more students, Oakland spends $20 million more on administrative salaries. Instead of cutting needed jobs and resources from our schools, the district could “chop from the top”, cut the administrative bloat and be able to provide the common good demands that OEA is bargaining for.

At the meeting, community members voiced unanimous opposition to the cuts. Most public comments expressed dismay and exasperation that the district continues to fight to defund our schools when there are safety and resource issues district wide. Many mentioned the egregious amount that OUSD spends on administrative positions and its central office. Shane Ruiz, co-chair of East Bay DSA had this warning for board members voting in support of this budget at Tuesday’s meeting: “Networks are forming, people are watching, and come November people will be held accountable.”

The district’s efforts to pit educators against other essential school workers, and its claims that a long-deserved raise for teachers must come at the cost of layoffs, school closures or mergers may run afoul of state labor laws. Last year, OEA filed an unfair labor practice charge with the California Public Employee Relations Board (PERB) when Budget and Finance Director Lisa Grant Dawson sent an email stating that the district would have to close and merge 12 schools to give teachers a raise. 

In a recent Oaklandside article, followed by a Facebook live stream, Mike Hutchinson stated: “Unfortunately for our budget, it’s a zero-sum game. In order for us to create resources to prioritize new and different things, we have to create those resources by making budget adjustments.” On his Facebook live stream Hutchinson also claimed that he was going to deliver an “historic” raise for teachers, but unless the budget with layoffs was approved the district wouldn’t have the money for those raises. Statements like these could set up an impasse similar to the unfair labor practice charge that OEA filed last year. 

The current round of contract negotiations have apparently stalled, with the district not meeting with OEA, the teachers’ union, since February 15, due to a lack of new proposals to bargain over. With little to show for months of negotiations with the district, OEA and its sister union, United Teachers of Los Angeles, are planning to walk out of “PD” or professional development sessions to attend simultaneous community rallies.

The community is invited to join educators at the Lake Merritt Amphitheater on Wednesday, March 15 from 2pm-6pm to demand that OUSD bargain in good faith.

 The contract covering over 30,000 workers through the Professional Staff Congress of CUNY expired late last month, and members of the union are joining with CUNY students, alumni, and the NYC community to fight for a new contract that will not only improve working conditions for CUNY’s faculty and staff but also move toward a more equitable, just, and vibrant public university system in the largest city in the country. On tonight’s show, we speak with rank and file organizers Zoe and Evan on how PSC members are organizing for raises, justice, and community in a contract that reflects The People’s CUNY.
 

View upcoming actions and ways to support PSC-CUNY in their contract struggle at https://linktr.ee/psc.cuny.

Atlanta DSA and YDSA GT Call on Norfolk Southern to Fully Fund East Palestine Cleanup, Compensate Residents and Meet Railroad Workers’ Demands!

For centuries, railroad companies like Norfolk Southern have prioritized profits for the capitalist class over the health and safety of their workers and the general public. Railroad workers endure notoriously brutal workplace conditions, are often expected to work on-call around the clock, and frequently suffer fatal accidents due to overwork and exhaustion. Meanwhile, as profits for billionaire shareholders rise, companies like Norfolk Southern continue to lobby in favor of industry deregulation and cutting corners – resulting in the slashing of maintenance, staffing, and equipment inspections as average train sizes increase – proving they see railroad workers as expendable.

In response to this exploitation, a majority of railroad workers nationwide rose up this past fall to reject an inadequate union contract which excluded crucial demands like sick leave and an end to Precision Scheduled Railroading. While workers prepared to strike, U.S. government officials invoked the antiquated Railroad Labor Act (RLA) to deny over 100,000 railroad workers the right to strike and tyrannically impose the unacceptable contract. Atlanta DSA and YDSA GT stand in full solidarity with the railroad workers, who continue to fight for better working conditions and reject Congress’s blatant labor rights violations.

Decades of deregulation have culminated in the derailment of multiple trains over the last month – including the horrendous incident on February 3rd during which a Northfolk Southern 32N train carrying toxic chemicals derailed in East Palestine, Ohio, leading to a fire and subsequent evacuation of thousands of residents. This derailment was neither an “accident” nor “unavoidable”, as the Northfolk Southern executives would have you believe. On the contrary, this violent wreck – which endangered working people, contaminated drinking water, and even led to mass death of local wildlife – was the direct result of capitalist deregulation, attacks on workers’ rights, and the valuation of profits over the environment and human life. 

Atlanta DSA and YDSA GT join Railroad Workers United in calling for the immediate action of regulatory agencies and Congress to rein in Class One railroad corporations and pass legislation to place railroads under public ownership.

Additionally, we demand the following of Norfolk Southern, which is headquartered in Atlanta: 

1. Fund a massive clean up effort in the area around East Palestine to ensure no further damage is done to human health and the surrounding environment and watershed. 
2. Fully compensate every resident of the East Palestine area harmed by the derailment.
3. End the harmful business model known as Precision Scheduled Railroading, and ensure sufficient staffing in all crafts, with all trains operating crews of two people minimum.
4. Implement adequate maintenance and inspections of locomotives and rail cars, tracks and signals, wayside detectors, and cap train length and weight at a reasonable level.
5. Concede to the demands of railroad workers – guaranteeing them training, sick leave, adequate time off work, and an end to draconian attendance policies.
6. Terminate all lobbying practices aimed at abolishing or blocking safety rules and regulations that will help make the railroad safer.
7. Divest from the Atlanta Police Foundation and withdraw all support from the Atlanta police facility known as Cop City.

Further, we call on the Georgia Institute of Technology to cut ties with Norfolk Southern and its Board of Directors until it meets the above demands and ceases its attack on workers’ rights, destruction of the environment, and violence towards working people.

(A note from Troy DSA: Joining the Troy Partnership for Black Lives, we have signed onto this letter expressing our collective outrage at Troy Police killing a community member in a car crash last week and TPD’s ongoing history of reckless, dangerous behavior—this is police violence. The full text of the statement is included below.)

We, the Troy Partnership for Black Lives, join our community in outrage to learn that another life has been lost due to the reckless driving of a Troy Police officer. Our deepest condolences and support go out to his family, friends, colleagues, and community. When will this City hold the Troy Police Department accountable for the violence they perpetuate on the very community they are supposed to protect and serve?   

Troy is not any different than Memphis or Atlanta where police officers have murdered Black and Brown people. On Wednesday, February 22nd just before 1:00 a.m., a Troy Police officer crashed into the car of a valued community member and father of newborn twins. The Troy Police Department has a history of failing to respect the lives of our community and neighbors, especially the lives of Black and Brown community members. This murder indicates that the Troy Police Department has not changed the practices and culture that have led to the loss of life in the past. Just like other times when Troy police have violated the rights and the lives of our community members, the first response of city and police officials is denial of responsibility, often including false information, before a thorough investigation can be completed. This was the response that began the cover-up of the police murder of Edson Thevenin in 2016 by the Troy Police, Rensselaer County DA, the Troy City Council, and Mayor Madden. 

The Troy Police officer was reportedly traveling at high speed through a dangerous intersection. Regardless of the outcome of the investigation, the officer acted with depraved indifference because his job as an officer and his responsibility as a human being was to do whatever was necessary in order not to harm or kill anyone with the lethal weapon of his car. The severity of the crash shows the sheer negligence of the officer, who drove with absolutely no concern for the safety of residents or the laws of New York State for emergency personnel. Unfortunately, this is not isolated behavior on the part of the TPD. 

Troy PD has a history of reckless accidents:

• February 22, 2023 – Hoosick and 15th St – TPD killed a local father and respected worker
• February 2023 – TPD entered an intersection speeding without a siren or slowing and nearly hit a car with a mother and her infant
• October 2021 – Middleburg St and 6th Ave – TPD ran a red light and totaled a car in the intersection
• June 2021 – 5th Avenue in Lansingburgh – TPD ran a red light and totaled a car in the intersection, but ticketed the driver for failure to yield
• January 2020 – TPD ran a red light totaling a work van in an intersection that sent the small business owner and father to Albany Medical Center with serious expenses, missed work, and a ticket for failing to yield to an officer despite video surveillance showing that TPD failed to slow while approaching a blind intersection
• July 2009 – a 5-year-old boy was killed by a TPD officer driving an unmarked SUV in South Troy 

Long-standing community demands for deep changes in Troy policing policy and practices have been ignored by Mayor Madden, the Troy City Council, Troy Police, and the Rensselaer County DA for years. Troy needs accountability and transparency led by those who are directly impacted by police violence and negligence. This includes: 

• an end to over-policing of Black and Brown communities, 
• an end to harassment of Black and Brown youth, 
• community-based alternatives to law enforcement in response to mental health and other crises, 
• investments in resources for our communities instead of more investment in police – for example, getting the lead out of the water of all Troy households while prioritizing the most vulnerable households.

Instead of listening to the voices of community leaders, the city has offered us public relations campaigns to protect the Troy Police and City rather than the lives in our community. Just this month, the New York Civil Liberties Union won a lawsuit against the Troy Police Department for refusing to provide police officers’ disciplinary records as required by a recent reform to New York State law. 

We do not want a kinder, gentler face on police violence. We do not want our taxes to fund TPD’s $19.5 million dollar budget. We want our children and families to be safe and community well-being to be prioritized by the entire city. We want Black Life to matter by divesting from police and investing in the support systems the community actually needs. 

Signed,

Troy for Black Lives
Democratic Socialists of America, Troy Chapter
Community Rising Project
Equality For Troy
Members of Ad Hoc Troy
Troy Area Labor Council AFL-CIO

Abortion providers across the country are bracing this week for a decision expected soon out of a Texas federal court which will immediately block access nationwide to one of the two medications commonly used for medication abortions. As the anti-abortion lobby and their allies in the United States government attempt to deal yet another blow to this fundamental human right, organizers here in New York state are continuing the struggle to ensure abortions remain safe and accessible for all. On tonight’s show, we are live with Nix from Reproductive Justice Collective and Marian from NYC-DSA’s Socialist Feminist working group to discuss the upcoming decision and what it means for abortion providers and patients. We’ll also hear about their efforts to ensure abortion access in NY state and how you can get involved with this crucial struggle.

Visit https://reprojusticecolumbia.org/abortion-pills to learn more about the campaign to ensure access to abortion on college campuses, then text NYCREPRO to 50409 to ask your elected officials to sign on the New York state legislation. Follow @NYCSocFem on Twitter for updates on NYC-DSA's Socialist Feminist Working Group.