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“An Educator's Commitment”: Professionalism and Civil Rights in the 1960s

in Uncivil Rights: Teachers, Unions, and Race in the Battle for School Equity

This chapter elaborates upon the simultaneous changes in unionists' conceptions of teachers' rights and black New Yorkers' strategies to improve their neighborhood schools. This culminated in the ... More

This chapter elaborates upon the simultaneous changes in unionists' conceptions of teachers' rights and black New Yorkers' strategies to improve their neighborhood schools. This culminated in the 1968 Ocean Hill-Brownsville strikes. The members of the Teachers Union in 1963 voted to join the United Federation of Teachers (UFT) because during the immediate post-cold war era their marginalized position left them without influence of their own. The downfall of a radical union in which teachers could fight for race progress serves as an especially powerful indicator of teachers' relationship to the civil rights movement at a time when the movement was most visible and powerful. The black parents and activists being tired of broken premises of integration fought for greater community control over who taught and what was taught in minority schools. The relations between teachers and the minority communities they served were irreparably damaged by 1970.Less

The Triumph of the United Federation of Teachers and the Defeat of Social Unionism

Clarence Taylor

in Reds at the Blackboard: Communism, Civil Rights, and the New York City Teachers Union

This chapter examines an important chapter in American history: the fight between the New York City Teachers Union (TU) and the United Federation of Teachers (UFT) to determine which brand of teacher ... More

This chapter examines an important chapter in American history: the fight between the New York City Teachers Union (TU) and the United Federation of Teachers (UFT) to determine which brand of teacher unionism would prevail. The formation of the UFT in 1960 helped move teacher unionism in a new direction. The UFT's militancy led to dramatic improvements in teacher salaries and working conditions, catapulting it into a leadership position unmatched by other teacher organizations. In fact, in return for its willingness to confront the New York City Board of Education, the UFT would become the sole collective bargaining agent for New York City's 40,000 public school teachers, ending the reign of the TU. Although the TU had long supported collective bargaining, it was the Teachers Guild that succeeded in winning this right for New York City teachers. On November 7, 1960, the first teachers' strike in New York City history was initiated by UFT. On December 16, 1961 UFT became the sole collective bargaining agent for New York City public school teachers.Less

Dropping Dead: Teachers, the New York City Fiscal Crisis, and Austerity

Jon Shelton

in Teacher Strike!: Public Education and the Making of a New American Political Order

This chapter documents the New York City fiscal crisis of 1975. The city’s drastic position had been caused by its robust promise of social welfare state coupled with national economic downturn and ... More

This chapter documents the New York City fiscal crisis of 1975. The city’s drastic position had been caused by its robust promise of social welfare state coupled with national economic downturn and deindustrialization. Free market ideologues who opposed social democracy, however, blamed teacher unions and recipients of “welfare” (Aid to Families with Dependent Children). Many middle- and working-class whites in New York City joined in popularizing this explanation, and by the time the federal government bailed out the city in late 1975, the “commonsense” narrative was that the city’s “unproductive” citizens had caused the crisis. The most dramatic confrontation over the city’s path toward austerity occurred when President Albert Shanker led a United Federation of Teachers strike in September 1975.Less

Introduction

in Uncivil Rights: Teachers, Unions, and Race in the Battle for School Equity

It is essential to understand the connection between teacher professionalism and civil rights to grasp fully the what is central to the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) legislation that not only has an ... More

It is essential to understand the connection between teacher professionalism and civil rights to grasp fully the what is central to the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) legislation that not only has an impact on the shape of public education in the United States, but also has influenced federal government intervention in public education since 1960. This book looks at the historical relationship between two social movements and these are studied separately, that is, the struggle of teachers for professional agency and the curiosity for an equal education by black Americans. The Teachers Guild and the United Federation of Teachers (UFT) developed a strategy towards that which was focused on insulating teachers from the demands of civil rights. This book thus, attempts to examine the union agendas formed by leaders and the ways in which teachers influence these agendas.Less

Teacher Power, Black Power, and the fracturing of Labor Liberalism

Jon Shelton

in Teacher Strike!: Public Education and the Making of a New American Political Order

This chapter chronicles the growing conflict between the Black Power movement—an extension of the civil rights movement seeking the formation of black political and community institutions—and ... More

This chapter chronicles the growing conflict between the Black Power movement—an extension of the civil rights movement seeking the formation of black political and community institutions—and unionized public employees in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Beginning with the United Federation of Teachers strike in 1968 over community control in Ocean Hill-Brownsville (New York City), the chapter also shows how two teacher strikes in Newark (1970, 1971) drove apart the Black community and a majority white teacher union. A close examination of letters to the imprisoned President of the American Federation of Teachers shows that critics of both urban black populations and unionized teachers had begun to link the two groups together as “unproductive” threats to law and order and economic prosperity.Less

Conclusion

Clarence Taylor

in Reds at the Blackboard: Communism, Civil Rights, and the New York City Teachers Union

This concluding chapter focuses on the disbandment of the New York City Teachers Union (TU) after losing to the United Federation of Teachers (UFT) in the battle for the right to become sole ... More

This concluding chapter focuses on the disbandment of the New York City Teachers Union (TU) after losing to the United Federation of Teachers (UFT) in the battle for the right to become sole collective bargaining agent for New York City public school teachers. In December 1963, the TU disbanded as an independent union and its members joined the UFT. The final resolution on dissolution was adopted at the January 9, 1964, executive board meeting. On January 17, 1964, the membership voted in favor of disbanding the union. In the eyes of both its critics and the general public, the TU's unwillingness to take a more independent path from the Communist Party of the United States of America (CPUSA) and its public adoption of Party positions confirmed that it was a Communist front. However, TU's downfall can be attributed to the campaign launched by Superintendent of Schools William Jansen, the New York City Board of Education, and a host of anti-Communist forces.Less

Creating a City for Workers: Union Strategies on Child Care in New York City

Susanna F. Schaller, K. C. Wagner, and Mildred E. Warner

in Unions and the City: Negotiating Urban Change

This chapter addresses the duality of labor strategy in the child care sector with one case study of unions campaigning to expand their members' access to child care benefits, paired with a second ... More

This chapter addresses the duality of labor strategy in the child care sector with one case study of unions campaigning to expand their members' access to child care benefits, paired with a second case study of a union organizing a campaign that combined direct organizing of child care providers with public policy development. The first case study tells the story of how a highly feminized union representing health care workers won child care benefits in collective bargaining, subsequently campaigned as part of a multiunion fare benefit, and expanded access to child care for low- and middle-income wage earners. The second case follows a United Federation of Teachers (UFT)-driven labor-community campaign to organize home-based child care providers, which represent a low-wage segment of the child care workforce that has emerged in the context of privatization and voucherization.Less