AFT Pres Weingarten Supports Charters, Merit Pay, Green Dot Schools and Attacks UTLA during 2010 Visit to SF: “I started a Green Dot school in New York”!

Posted by: Danny Weil Posted date: July 06, 2012 In: Business, Education, Media | comment : 0 Comments

In the following video (http://blip.tv/laborvideo/aft-pres-weingarten-supports-good-charters-merit-pay-and-attacks-utla-during-visit-to-sf-3538770, you can see what American Federation of Teachers, (AFT) President, Randi Weingarten had to say back in 2010 when asked what plan and strategy AFT had to fight privatization.
The video is important for it sheds some history as to where we are and how we got here.
In this video you will see Weingarten as President of AFT advocate for merit pay, and yes, even defend charter schools.  She also defends the “motives” Arne Duncan and the Department of Education, states that charters could be good for labor relations and even good for instruction.   She applauds the corrupt EMO, Green Dot Public Schools (recently the subject of a lawsuit for unconstitutional denial of freedom of speech: http://www.dailycensored.com/2012/06/17/los-angeles) and even criticizes local UTLA for standing against the further proliferation of charter schools in an effort to save the public commons.
It is also telling that when asked if there is or has been any education by the union leadership for their membership around the issue of privatization, Weingarten never answers.  That’s because there isn’t any nor has there been and she knows it.  For Weingarten supports privatization or the ‘public-private partnership’, as it is being sold by Wall Street.
Randi Weingarten is a reminder of the ‘Munich Agreement’ (http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/397522/Munich-Agreement) crowd who has capitulated with the privatizers on Wall Street while telling her membership “she doesn’t agree with marketplace reforms” (http://blip.tv/laborvideo/aft-pres-weingarten-supports-good-charters-merit-pay-and-attacks-utla-during-visit-to-sf-353877).
The AFT leadership has sold out their members for the privatized agenda of the Obama administration, Race to the Top. 
The union has even started the American Federation Of Teachers Educational Foundation, a convenient 501 C (3) shell organization which has received $5 million from the Department of Education (http://www.aft.org/newspubs/press/2010/080510b.cfm) and the $1 million from privatizers, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (http://www.gatesfoundation.org/grants-2011/pages/american-federation-of-teachers-educational-foundation-opp1033412.aspx).  It’s basically a legally created institutional parking lot designed to park private and public funds.
We also mustn’t forget to mention the ‘other’ open secret society AFT has set up to get their hands on even more corporate funds (http://www.aft.org/issues/schoolreform/csi/funding.cfm).  Most of this is surreptitiously done and members are scarcely aware.  If they are, they are led to believe that this is all for the sake of protecting public education when it is obviously part of a hostile takeover by privatizers that have been going on for years.
The following was reported on July 6, 2012 in Education Week and will give you an idea of the whole rancid state of educational affairs and corporate and union bedfellow ties:
“The American Federation of Teachers and British publishing firm TSL Education have invested $10 million together in an online repository of lesson plans, tools, and supports aligned to the Common Core State Standards. The union hopes it will become the premier destination for teachers seeking to align their instruction with the new student expectations” (http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/teacherbeat/2012/06/aft_tech_company.html).
It is certainly obvious that Randi Weingarten has aligned herself not only with the political forces in the Department of Education under Duncan, but she is now selling out the union by partnering AFT with for-profit service providers and most members have no idea, even though they subsidize all of this with their dues.
Diane Ravitch reported July 1^st on her blog that:
“The school leaders of New York City, Newark, Chicago, and Washington, D.C., convened a meeting to tell publishers that they would not buy their textbooks unless they were closely aligned with the Common Core standards (http://dianeravitch.net/2012/07/01/one-of-the-strangest-stories-of-the-day/).
This of course is monopolistic collusion, illegal extortion and shows to what extent the textbook cartel will go in using duress to extort cities and schools.  These are some of the same companies that Weingarten’s AFT Foundation is taking funds from (http://www.dailycensored.com/2012/06/18/the-financial).   So, how can this be?
Ravitch goes on to shed a bit more light:
“I note that Jason Zimba, the author of the math standards, attended the event. Zimba is–or was until a few weeks ago–a member of the small board of directors of Michelle Rhee’s StudentsFirst. The other members were David Coleman, the architect of the Common Core standards, and a third person who works for David Coleman. Coleman, recently named to be president of the College Board, created an assessment company called the “Grow Network” which was sold to McGraw-Hill in 2005, for a rumored $81 million” (ibid).
The AFT leadership is in bed with the same people who threaten public education.  This is hard to swallow but even harder to ignore in face of evidence.  The whole thing is disgraceful and is why teacher unions are losing ground to privatization all over the country.
An overpaid executive leadership coupled with a passive dues paying membership has left AFT with the likes of Randi Weingarten as president and new institutional ties with for-profit entities that threaten the entirety of public education and our students.  Most of this is and has been done behind the backs of teachers who work day and night with kids while their leadership wines and dines with transnational textbook companies, disgraceful politicians, members of Wall Street and the corporate elites.
It is time that the rank and file of the American Federation of Teachers realizes that their leadership is not only overpaid but that they are selling out their constituencies — students, parents and teachers — for a ‘seat at the Wall Street table in an effort and agreement to ‘dismantle public education as we know it’, as Bill Clinton might say.
As teachers, students and citizens we don’t want a seat at the corporate table, we want a new table!  As rank and file union members it is time teachers demand and force our unions to have day long teach-ins on privatization, Wall Street influence in education, financialization, the secretive deals and phony foundations that are being set up by AFT leadership in conjunction with seedy politicians and the private corporations and phony philanthropy-pirates that fund them.  We want full disclosure and lantern lit transparency so we can steer the direction of our profession.
If teacher unions cannot even educate their members, if they continue to sell out their rank and file to charter charlatans, if they move the privatization ball closer and closer to full blown vouchers, if they continue to collude with corporate educational cartels and if they capitulate with the corporate enemies that look to turn education into a $400 billion dollar financial scam on Wall Street then let’s get rid of them and replace them with people who will fight for everything public.
The following video was done with Weingarten in 2010 and once you see it, you can compare it with the reality that has set in now in 2012, both in your own life, the lives of your children and the health of the nation.  Weingarten’s well rehearsed rhetoric and sophistry can now be seen in light of the actual policies that AFT has endorsed and engaged in.
http://blip.tv/laborvideo/aft-pres-weingarten-supports-good-charters-merit-pay-and-attacks-utla-during-visit-to-sf-3538770
AFT Pres Weingarten On The Crisis In Education, Privatization & The Obama Administration -As part of a national tour, American Federation of Teachers president Randi Weingarten visited San Francisco on April 20, 2010. There are 1.4 million members in the AFT.
http://www.aft.org/fight4america/ S
She made some brief comments and then was interviewed. Weingarten discussed the affects of charters schools including Green Dots, merit pay, cutting the school year and the policies of President Obama and Education Secretary Arnie Duncan. She also attacked the UTLA for it’s opposition to charter schools. Production of Labor Video Project P.O. Box 720027 San Francisco, CA 94172 laborvideo.blip.tv www.laborvideo.org (415)282-1908 Further Videos On Education From The Labor Video Project LA Students & UTLA Teachers Speak Out On Privatization-No More Give Aways, Save Our Schools! http://blip.tv/file/3213579 Public Education, Privatization and Labor UCB East Bay Forum – Part1 With Gerson,Wright & Brown http://blip.tv/file/3104983 UTR, UTLA, OEA Teachers Speak Out On Privatization Of Public Education http://blip.tv/file/3089609 Public Education, Privatization and Labor – Part 2 With Brechin and Missé http://blip.tv/file/3108721 Public Education, Privatization and Labor UCB East Bay Forum – Part1 With Gerson,Wright & Brown http://blip.tv/file/3104983 Video SF State Students Occupy Business Building To Protest Fee Increases & Defend Public Education http://blip.tv/file/2954787 Richmond UTR-CTA Teachers Protest CTA Push For Privatization http://blip.tv/file/2933715 Richmond UTR-CTA Teachers Speak On Contract Fight, Privatization & Rigged Union Vote http://blip.tv/file/2878250 Richmond UTR-CTA Teachers Picket Scab Training In Berkeley http://blip.tv/file/2678555 UC Berkeley One Day Mass Walkout, Strike & Rallies To Defend Education-Workers And Students Speak Out http://blip.tv/file/2654485 “Solidarity, What Is A Public University” A Poem For The UCB Sep 24,2009 Strike/Walkout http://blip.tv/file/2643965 YouTube – Shut It Down! UC Berkeley Walkout & Mass Rally by Staff, Students & Faculty http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L4h7fOPO5Cg&feature=channel_page The Lessons Of The UCB Sep 24, 2009 Mass Strike/Walk-out: UCB SWAT Member Blanca Misse http://blip.tv/file/2657153 Blanca Misse UCB UAW-AGSE2865& SWAT Member Speaks At UCB Strike/Walk-Out 9/24/2009 and “Solidarity What Is A Public University” http://blip.tv/file/2645883 UC Berkeley One Day Mass Walkout, Strike & Rallies To Defend Education-Workers and Students Speak Out http://blip.tv/file/2654485 OEA Leader Jack Gerson Supports Strike Action By All CTA Teachers In California http://blip.tv/file/2652793 SFCC/SFSU Speakout Against Buget Cuts At SFCC Mission Campus 9/23/2009 http://blip.tv/file/2639414 Video SFSU Students & Faculty Protest Budget Cuts http://blip.tv/file/2548024AFT Pres Weingarten On The Crisis In Education, Privatization & The Obama Administration -As part of a national tour, American Federation of Teachers president Randi Weingarten visited San Francisco on April 20, 2010. There are 1.4 million members in the AFT. http://www.aft.org/fight4america/ She made some brief comments and then was interviewed. Weingarten discussed the affects of charters schools including Green Dots, merit pay, cutting the school year and the policies of President Obama and Education Secretary Arnie Duncan. She also attacked the UTLA for it’s opposition to charter schools. Production of Labor Video Project P.O. Box 720027 San Francisco, CA 94172 laborvideo.blip.tv www.laborvideo.org (415)282-1908 Further Videos On Education From The Labor Video Project LA Students & UTLA Teachers Speak Out On Privatization-No More Give Aways, Save Our Schools! http://blip.tv/file/3213579 Public Education, Privatization and Labor UCB East Bay Forum – Part1 With Gerson,Wright & Brown http://blip.tv/file/3104983 UTR, UTLA, OEA Teachers Speak Out On Privatization Of Public Education http://blip.tv/file/3089609 Public Education, Privatization and Labor – Part 2 With Brechin and Missé http://blip.tv/file/3108721 Public Education, Privatization and Labor UCB East Bay Forum – Part1 With Gerson,Wright & Brown http://blip.tv/file/3104983 Video SF State Students Occupy Business Building To Protest Fee Increases & Defend Public Education http://blip.tv/file/2954787 Richmond UTR-CTA Teachers Protest CTA Push For Privatization http://blip.tv/file/2933715 Richmond UTR-CTA Teachers Speak On Contract Fight, Privatization & Rigged Union Vote http://blip.tv/file/2878250 Richmond UTR-CTA Teachers Picket Scab Training In Berkeley http://blip.tv/file/2678555 UC Berkeley One Day Mass Walkout, Strike & Rallies To Defend Education-Workers And Students Speak Out http://blip.tv/file/2654485 “Solidarity, What Is A Public University” A Poem For The UCB Sep 24,2009 Strike/Walkout http://blip.tv/file/2643965 YouTube – Shut It Down! UC Berkeley Walkout & Mass Rally by Staff, Students & Faculty http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L4h7fOPO5Cg&feature=channel_page The Lessons Of The UCB Sep 24, 2009 Mass Strike/Walk-out: UCB SWAT Member Blanca Misse http://blip.tv/file/2657153 Blanca Misse UCB UAW-AGSE2865& SWAT Member Speaks At UCB Strike/Walk-Out 9/24/2009 and “Solidarity What Is A Public University” http://blip.tv/file/2645883 UC Berkeley One Day Mass Walkout, Strike & Rallies To Defend Education-Workers and Students Speak Out http://blip.tv/file/2654485 OEA Leader Jack Gerson Supports Strike Action By All CTA Teachers In California http://blip.tv/file/2652793 SFCC/SFSU Speakout Against Buget Cuts At SFCC Mission Campus 9/23/2009 http://blip.tv/file/2639414 Video SFSU Students & Faculty Protest Budget Cuts http://blip.tv/file/2548024AFT Pres Weingarten On The Crisis In Education, Privatization & The Obama Administration -As part of a national tour, American Federation of Teachers president Randi Weingarten visited San Francisco on April 20, 2010. There are 1.4 million members in the AFT. http://www.aft.org/fight4america/ She made some brief comments and then was interviewed. Weingarten discussed the affects of charters schools including Green Dots, merit pay, cutting the school year and the policies of President Obama and Education Secretary Arnie Duncan. She also attacked the UTLA for it’s opposition to charter schools. Production of Labor Video Project P.O. Box 720027 San Francisco, CA 94172 laborvideo.blip.tv www.laborvideo.org (415)282-1908 Further Videos On Education From The Labor Video Project LA Students & UTLA Teachers Speak Out On Privatization-No More Give Aways, Save Our Schools! http://blip.tv/file/3213579 Public Education, Privatization and Labor UCB East Bay Forum – Part1 With Gerson,Wright & Brown http://blip.tv/file/3104983 UTR, UTLA, OEA Teachers Speak Out On Privatization Of Public Education http://blip.tv/file/3089609 Public Education, Privatization and Labor – Part 2 With Brechin and Missé http://blip.tv/file/3108721 Public Education, Privatization and Labor UCB East Bay Forum – Part1 With Gerson,Wright & Brown http://blip.tv/file/3104983 Video SF State Students Occupy Business Building To Protest Fee Increases & Defend Public Education http://blip.tv/file/2954787 Richmond UTR-CTA Teachers Protest CTA Push For Privatization http://blip.tv/file/2933715 Richmond UTR-CTA Teachers Speak On Contract Fight, Privatization & Rigged Union Vote http://blip.tv/file/2878250 Richmond UTR-CTA Teachers Picket Scab Training In Berkeley http://blip.tv/file/2678555 UC Berkeley One Day Mass Walkout, Strike & Rallies To Defend Education-Workers And Students Speak Out http://blip.tv/file/2654485 “Solidarity, What Is A Public University” A Poem For The UCB Sep 24,2009 Strike/Walkout http://blip.tv/file/2643965 YouTube – Shut It Down! UC Berkeley Walkout & Mass Rally by Staff, Students & Faculty http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L4h7fOPO5Cg&feature=channel_page The Lessons Of The UCB Sep 24, 2009 Mass Strike/Walk-out: UCB SWAT Member Blanca Misse http://blip.tv/file/2657153 Blanca Misse UCB UAW-AGSE2865& SWAT Member Speaks At UCB Strike/Walk-Out 9/24/2009 and “Solidarity What Is A Public University” http://blip.tv/file/2645883 UC Berkeley One Day Mass Walkout, Strike & Rallies To Defend Education-Workers and Students Speak Out http://blip.tv/file/2654485 OEA Leader Jack Gerson Supports Strike Action By All CTA Teachers In California http://blip.tv/file/2652793 SFCC/SFSU Speakout Against Buget Cuts At SFCC Mission Campus 9/23/2009 http://blip.tv/file/2639414 Video SFSU Students & Faculty Protest Budget Cuts http://blip.tv/file/2548024AFT Pres Weingarten On The Crisis In Education, Privatization & The Obama Administration -As part of a national tour, American Federation of Teachers president Randi Weingarten visited San Francisco on April 20, 2010. There are 1.4 million members in the AFT. http://www.aft.org/fight4america/ She made some brief comments and then was interviewed. Weingarten discussed the affects of charters schools including Green Dots, merit pay, cutting the school year and the policies of President Obama and Education Secretary Arnie Duncan. She also attacked the UTLA for it’s opposition to charter schools. Production of Labor Video Project P.O. Box 720027 San Francisco, CA 94172 laborvideo.blip.tv www.laborvideo.org (415)282-1908 Further Videos On Education From The Labor Video Project LA Students & UTLA Teachers Speak Out On Privatization-No More Give Aways, Save Our Schools! http://blip.tv/file/3213579 Public Education, Privatization and Labor UCB East Bay Forum – Part1 With Gerson,Wright & Brown http://blip.tv/file/3104983 UTR, UTLA, OEA Teachers Speak Out On Privatization Of Public Education http://blip.tv/file/3089609 Public Education, Privatization and Labor – Part 2 With Brechin and Missé http://blip.tv/file/3108721 Public Education, Privatization and Labor UCB East Bay Forum – Part1 With Gerson,Wright & Brown http://blip.tv/file/3104983 Video SF State Students Occupy Business Building To Protest Fee Increases & Defend Public Education http://blip.tv/file/2954787 Richmond UTR-CTA Teachers Protest CTA Push For Privatization http://blip.tv/file/2933715 Richmond UTR-CTA Teachers Speak On Contract Fight, Privatization & Rigged Union Vote http://blip.tv/file/2878250 Richmond UTR-CTA Teachers Picket Scab Training In Berkeley http://blip.tv/file/2678555 UC Berkeley One Day Mass Walkout, Strike & Rallies To Defend Education-Workers And Students Speak Out http://blip.tv/file/2654485 “Solidarity, What Is A Public University” A Poem For The UCB Sep 24,2009 Strike/Walkout http://blip.tv/file/2643965 YouTube – Shut It Down! UC Berkeley Walkout & Mass Rally by Staff, Students & Faculty http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L4h7fOPO5Cg&feature=channel_page The Lessons Of The UCB Sep 24, 2009 Mass Strike/Walk-out: UCB SWAT Member Blanca Misse http://blip.tv/file/2657153 Blanca Misse UCB UAW-AGSE2865& SWAT Member Speaks At UCB Strike/Walk-Out 9/24/2009 and “Solidarity What Is A Public University” http://blip.tv/file/2645883 UC Berkeley One Day Mass Walkout, Strike & Rallies To Defend Education-Workers and Students Speak Out http://blip.tv/file/2654485 OEA Leader Jack Gerson Supports Strike Action By All CTA Teachers In California http://blip.tv/file/2652793 SFCC/SFSU Speakout Against Buget Cuts At SFCC Mission Campus 9/23/2009 http://blip.tv/file/2639414 Video SFSU Students & Faculty Protest Budget Cuts http://blip.tv/file/2548024From April 20, 2010
http://blip.tv/laborvideo/aft-pres-weingarten-supports-good-charters-merit-pay-and-attacks-utla-during-visit-to-sf-353877
AFT Pres Weingarten On The Crisis In Education, Privatization & The Obama Administration -As part of a national tour, American Federation of Teachers president Randi Weingarten visited San Francisco on April 20, 2010. There are 1.4 million members in the AFT.
http://www.aft.org/fight4america/
She made some brief comments and then was interviewed. Weingarten discussed the affects of charters schools including Green Dots, merit pay, cutting the school year and the policies of President Obama and Education Secretary Arnie Duncan. She also attacked the UTLA for it’s opposition to charter schools. Production of Labor Video Project P.O. Box 720027 San Francisco, CA 94172
laborvideo.blip.tv www.laborvideo.org (415)282-1908
Further Videos On Education From The Labor Video Project LA Students & UTLA Teachers Speak Out On Privatization-No More Give Aways, Save Our Schools! http://blip.tv/file/3213579
Public Education, Privatization and Labor UCB East Bay Forum – Part1 With Gerson,Wright & Brown http://blip.tv/file/3104983
UTR, UTLA, OEA Teachers Speak Out On Privatization Of Public Education http://blip.tv/file/3089609
Public Education, Privatization and Labor – Part 2 With Brechin and Missé http://blip.tv/file/3108721 Public Education, Privatization and Labor UCB East Bay Forum – Part1 With Gerson,Wright & Brown http://blip.tv/file/3104983 Video SF State Students Occupy Business Building To Protest Fee Increases & Defend Public Education http://blip.tv/file/2954787 Richmond UTR-CTA Teachers Protest CTA Push For Privatization http://blip.tv/file/2933715 Richmond UTR-CTA Teachers Speak On Contract Fight, Privatization & Rigged Union Vote http://blip.tv/file/2878250 Richmond UTR-CTA Teachers Picket Scab Training In Berkeley
http://blip.tv/file/2678555
UC Berkeley One Day Mass Walkout, Strike & Rallies To Defend Education-Workers And Students Speak Out http://blip.tv/file/2654485 “Solidarity, What Is A Public University” A Poem For The UCB Sep 24,2009 Strike/Walkout http://blip.tv/file/2643965 YouTube – Shut It Down! UC Berkeley Walkout & Mass Rally by Staff, Students & Faculty http://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=L4h7fOPO5Cg&feature=channel_page
The Lessons Of The UCB Sep 24, 2009 Mass Strike/Walk-out: UCB SWAT Member Blanca Misse
http://blip.tv/file/2657153 Blanca Misse UCB UAW-AGSE2865& SWAT Member Speaks At UCB Strike/Walk-Out 9/24/2009 and “Solidarity What Is A Public University” http://blip.tv/file/2645883 UC Berkeley One Day Mass Walkout, Strike & Rallies To Defend Education-Workers and Students Speak Out http://blip.tv/file/2654485 OEA Leader Jack Gerson Supports Strike Action By All CTA Teachers In California http://blip.tv/file/2652793 SFCC/SFSU Speakout Against Buget Cuts At SFCC Mission Campus 9/23/2009 http://blip.tv/file/2639414 Video SFSU Students & Faculty Protest Budget Cuts http://blip.tv/file/2548024 AFT Pres Weingarten On The Crisis In Education, Privatization & The Obama Administration -As part of a national tour, American Federation of Teachers president Randi Weingarten visited San Francisco on April 20, 2010. There are 1.4 million members in the AFT. AFT Pres Weingarten On The Crisis In Education, Privatization & The Obama Administration -As part of a national tour, American Federation of Teachers president Randi Weingarten visited San Francisco on April 20, 2010. There are 1.4 million members in the AFT.