Memo to New Yorkers: Watch What Cuomo Does, Not What He Pretends To Do

New York lost a labor legend this week with the death of Thomas Kavunedus, one of the few who many can thank for keeping contracts current whenever ass clowns from Albany decide to wreak havoc on middle class workers. 

Kavunedus, a retired member of the Lakeland Federation of Teachers (LFT), spent 16 days in jail in 1977 during the longest teachers strike in state history. Most credit Kavunedus and seven other imprisoned members of the LFT for helping to bring the Triborough Amendment to New York State--a law which maintains salaries and job protections for workers if and when contracts expire.

Without the Triborough Amendment, lives and livelihoods could be shredded along with hard-fought contracts, with people held at the mercy of politicians and plutocrats who've made a sport of blaming economic downturns on "greedy" public servants.  

While the passage of his draconian teacher and school evaluation plan puts Governor Andrew Cuomo on the warpath against the Triborough Amendment, many unions outside of education do not seem to care...yet.

Union leaders of all stripes should seethe at Cuomo's blatant disregard for local, collectively-bargained work rules via his asinine "reforms" imposed on school districts across the state.

In addition to teachers, Cuomo's plan also subjects nurses, custodians, and cafeteria workers--to name a few--to even more job insecurity and uncertainty, as schools in receivership will likely be run by proteges of Wisconsin Governor and Cuomo's brother-from-another-mother Scott Walker.

Worst of all, Cuomo Core will wield standardized tests to pollute and uproot bountiful learning environments for our kids and communities.        

Speaking of labor leaders who should care, consider Patrick "Blood on the Steps of City Hall" Lynch, President of the Patrolman's Benevolent Association (PBA).

Though thousands of New York City cops list teachers as family members, Lynch recently awarded Cuomo the PBA's "Man of the Year" award. It seems Lynch condones Cuomo's destruction of public education as long as Cuomo throws him a plastic bone now and again.

For example, Cuomo says cops should be paid more while while doing absolutely nothing about it. In fact, Cuomo has worked harder to pay public servants less than he has to pay them more. 

Consider also Cuomo's proposal to raise the minimum wage, yet another reason to watch what Cuomo does, and not what he pretends to do.

With a $15 minimum enacted for fast-food workers by another Cuomission, the Fight for Fifteen is over for Cuomo; he can now claim that at least fast-food workers got a raise if and when his proposal goes down in a hail of more tax cuts for his billionaire buddies.

Cuomo's playing with house money on the minimum wage, after all, and his donors will still benefit while McDonald's cashiers are replaced by iPads.

The death of Thomas Kavunedus should remind us--yet again--of where we've been, and where we're headed.

Labor needs leaders like Kavunedus--now more than ever--to fight for its life and legacy. 

                                                      

A Letter to NYSUT Leaders from Educators for Howie Hawkins

Below is a letter from Educators for Howie Hawkins offering guidance to NYSUT locals who support Hawkins but may be reluctant to endorse him officially.

As the letter notes, educators cannot afford to sit out this election. NYSUT leaders have the ability to galvanize their members against a governor whose policies are eroding the foundation of public education.

Howie Hawkins will bring solvency and sanity back to our schools.

Please read and share widely.   


Dear Local President,

For educators and teacher union members, THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT GOVERNOR’S RACE IN THE HISTORY OF NEW YORK STATE.   

Luckily, there is one candidate who is running for governor this year who is truly pro-education and pro-labor and that candidate is Howie Hawkins.

Ideally, we are asking that you and your NYSUT local take the bold step of endorsing the Hawkins/Jones ticket.  Already many locals have done this and more are on the way. 

We do understand, however, that not every local will be able to endorse Howie.  With such a short time remaining between now and Election Day, we realize that some of you are hesitant to move in that direction.

This letter then, offers you an alternative.   Attached you will find a clear, concise, and comprehensive contrast between all three candidates on the most important issues to educators, parents, students, and schools.  As a local president you have the right and responsibility to educate your membership. Certainly, a local president can preface such an email to their membership in one of two ways.

 Approach 1:  “Dear Member,  As you know, public education and issues that impact each of you will be on the ballot this November in a governor’s race that will determine the next four years of education policy and funding in New York State.  I think we all could agree that the last four years have not been good for our schools.  To help you make an informed decision in the governor’s race, I am attaching a comparison of records for you to consider.  I encourage you to read these, share them with friends and family, and most importantly VOTE on November 4.  Thank you.”

-OR-

Approach 2:  “Dear Member, As you know, public education and issues that impact each of you will be on the ballot this November in a governor’s race that will determine the next four years of education policy and funding in New York State.  I think we all could agree that the last four years have not been good for our schools.  While the (name of your teachers association) is not making a formal endorsement at this time, I can tell you that after studying the records of each candidate, I will be voting for Howie Hawkins, whose platform is exactly what we need now in public education. Attached please find a comparison of records for you to consider. You may or may not come to the same decision as I have, but however you decide, I encourage you to read these, share them with friends and family, and most importantly VOTE on November 4.  Thank you.”

If you have any questions, feel free to contact Lee Cutler, Education Outreach Coordinator for the Howie Hawkins campaign, at cutlerlee4@gmail.com or at 518-229-5111.

Thank you,

Educators for Howie Hawkins

                                  Contrasting Candidates for NY Governor

	Astorino	Cuomo	Hawkins
Teacher Tenure	Opposes  Sees it as a way to allow ineffective teachers to stay in the classroom	Wishy-Washy “Any change to the current law would have to be carefully reviewed"	Supports "Tenure establishes and preserves a highly qualified teacher workforce in our schools.”
Triborough Amendment	Opposes “I support changing the Triborough Amendment, which now keeps public-employee-union contracts in effect even after they expire. “	Wishy-Washy Silent right now but has used buzz phrases like support of “mandate relief”, which is seen as code for elimination of Triborough	Supports Supports the right of public workers to strike and he would maintain the Triborough Amendment, which extends existing contracts when they end if there is not an agreement.
Common Core	Opposes Would replace CC with “In-State Standards,” although unclear who would design these.	Supports	Opposes   He believes we need standards, but educators should design them, not private contractors with lucrative contracts
Property Tax Cap and Freeze	Supports Concept Would take it a step further: “My plan will give New York one of the lowest tax rates in the Northeast, making New York much more competitive than it has been in over a generation.”	Supports A legislative accomplishment he is proud of	Opposes “We need to end the property tax cap and the Gap Elimination Adjustment, which have balanced the state budget on the backs of our children by cutting state aid to schools for the last five years.”
End of the Gap Elimination Adjustment	Has not addressed This	Opposes Any Change	Supports Immediate End
Charter Schools	Supports	Supports “You are not alone.  We will save Charter Schools!” - April 3, 2014 at Charter School Rally, Albany, N.Y.	Opposes
Reduction of State Tests	Supports, but little offered in what kind of reduction would occur under his leadership	Supports, but has done little or nothing to reduce tests	Supports:   “We should let the local teachers and parents and school boards make the decisions about standards, curriculum and assessment.”

 

Hitting Cuomo's Left with a Left

                                                  Just like Foreman, Cuomo's vulnerable on his left 

 

Forty years ago this October, Muhammad Ali relied on right-hand jabs and the ropes to recapture the heavyweight title from George Foreman in Zaire, Africa. Ali goaded Foreman into punching himself out while pummeling the champion's left with a series of right-hand leads. Though powerful and unexpected, right-hand leads also exposed Ali to retaliatory left hooks from the 25-year-old Foreman, but the 32-year-old Ali—recently removed from boxing exile—had little to lose except his pride. Foreman fell in the eighth, and Ali flew home from the Rumble in his Forefathers' Jungle to a country which had also tried to put him in chains for evading the Vietnam draft, a conviction which the Supreme Court overturned in 1971.

Fordham law professor Zephyr Teachout was an even bigger underdog than Ali in her recent Democratic primary battle against New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, running on the passions of populists versus the purse strings of plutocrats. Unlike Ali, however, Teachout bruised her opponent's left with left-hand leads, questioning Cuomo's propensity for quid pro quo, trickle-down economics, and his unwillingness (a la Ernie Terrell) to utter her name in public.  Cuomo is likely still asking what a zephyr is.

Cuomo floated like sludge and slunk like a slug when Teachout walked within a handshake’s length of the Lobbyist for the Students at a Labor Day parade in midtown Manhattan.  The man who called political debates a “disservice to democracy” brazenly turned his back on Teachout, evidently in desperate need of a hug from New York City mayor and part-time progressive Bill DeBlasio. Teachout, whose campaign was outspent nearly 40 to 1, took 34% of the vote on primary night and won over half the counties in the state, a clear rebuke of a Democrat who likes to feed the rich so they can shit on the poor.

With the governor of the nation's third-largest state refusing to articulate his visions in public or even say his opponents' names, the future of American democracy looks bleak. Corporate money has lulled many voters into both apathy and cynicism, continually casting their ballots for candidates who are ascending to power on rungs made out of $1,000 bills.

Rather than bowing before the devils they know, voters must comb the moral high ground for more candidates like Teachout, unafraid to confront issues of social, economic, and planetary justice.

 

Cuomo will only skip around these issues should he ever agree to debate his Republican challenger Rob Astorino, however.  Unlike Foreman, Cuomo will easily block Astorino's right-hand leads with a limp left glove. What Cuomo cannot defend, however, are blows to his left from the left, and Green Party gubernatorial candidate Howie Hawkins and his running mate Brian Jones remain the only candidates who can engender the transparent, 3-dimensional debate New Yorkers deserve.

Thus far throughout the campaign, voters across the state have been subjected to discussions on unicorns and the faux Women's Equality Party, and that's just the way Cuomo wants it.

Hawkins will ask and answer the questions both political parties and the corporate-controlled media ignore like metastatic tumors.

Teachers and workers across the nation have an obligation to vote for issues over parties.  After all, parties will only erode if their members don't understand or care to understand the issues.

Howie Hawkins and Brian Jones line up with New York's workers on the issues that matter, leaving no doubt with whom their loyalties lie.

What teacher would pull the lever for Astorino over Hawkins, for example, when Astorino wants to make Cuomo's insolvency-inducing tax cap permanent, while Hawkins wants to repeal it?

Rather than demonizing public sector unions—a tactic of Republicans and Democrats alike—Hawkins wants to expand the public workforce to meet a community's needs, reducing class sizes instead of millionaires' taxes by hiring more teachers. Teachers should support the hiring of more teachers.

On the issue of tenure—which Cuomo has prodded and poked through his disastrous APPR—Astorino wants to open due-process up for bargaining by offering teachers "renewable contracts." As a former public school teacher himself, candidate for Lieutenant Governor Brian Jones understands the need for fairness in a system that could easily be overrun by nepotism and self-serving administrators and school boards.

Hawkins will also defend and expand workplace justice with a $15 minimum wage while upholding the Triborough Amendment and Scaffold Law, which Astorino wants to reform and repeal, respectively. The Triborough Amendment protects workers from bosses ripping up their contracts during an impasse, while the Scaffold Law protects workers from bosses ripping apart their scaffolds.  Much like his stance on fracking, Cuomo has been ambivalent on these issues, perhaps waiting for the right-sized donation before whipping his Republican-controlled state senate into a fight against the will of workers everywhere.


Cuomo has governed like a Republican throughout his first term, feigning to his left on issues like gay marriage and gun rights. Unlike Ali, Cuomo did not realize how his own reliance on right-hand leads could open up his left to jabs from the left.  Howie Hawkins is the only candidate who can lead this barrage, and therefore must be allowed in the ring to debate Cuomo.

And if by the will of common sense this happens, will Cuomo even address him by his proper name?