November, 2009
Dear Colleague,
In “Man of La Mancha,” the Broadway musical adaption of Cervantes’ classic Don Quixote, the hero sings that his mission is “to fight for the right, without question or pause; to be willing to march into hell for a heavenly cause.”
Don Quixote was a lone individual, while the Louisiana Federation of Teachers is a union whose strength derives from the combined power of thousands of members. Yet our mission is the same — to fight for the right.
That fight is wide-ranging, and covers many issues. Recently, LFT went to bat for hundreds of Filipino teachers who were brought here to fill positions in areas of need. The company that recruited these teachers violated state and federal laws, and exploited, threatened and intimidated the teachers. What happened to these individuals was flat out wrong. It was un-American and unacceptable.
LFT and the American Federation of Teachers filed complaints with law enforcement and labor agencies. We are working to break the illegal contracts imposed on these teachers by their recruiter, and to reimburse them for their losses. The Federation’s fight for fairness has drawn national and international coverage.
On another front, LFT is now fighting to make sure that future generations of educators are comfortable and secure in retirement. One scheme floated in Baton Rouge would end guaranteed teacher and school employee pensions, and replace them with accounts pegged to the fluctuations of the stock market.
That would be good for stock brokers and market managers, but bad for you — just look at what happened to 401(k) accounts recently.
The coming months will see even more attacks on public education. School takeovers that leave teachers without basic rights like tenure, retirement, health insurance or job security. An expansion of charter schools to include “virtual schools” in which children’s classes are all provided at home via the Internet. Teacher pay and evaluations based solely on standardized test scores. Privatization of support services, which erodes the living standard of school staff.
It’s not just what we’re against — what we are for also counts. Things like adequate funding for our schools, fair treatment of educators and real accountability for educational and political leaders.Simply put, we are here to fight for what is right, and for what we know works for the children we serve. By staying true to our core values, we make it possible for you to experience the real joy of teaching.
Sincerely yours,
Steve Monaghan