Friday, April 9, 2010








Mark Twain





If you pick up a starving dog and make him    prosperous, he will not bite you. This is the principal difference between a dog and a man.
Mark Twain
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Sunday, April 4, 2010

"WHERE THE HELL IS DAVID SANCHEZ AND THE CTA"

OUR MISTAKES OF THE PAST HAUNT US STILL

From the Vault: April 13, 1998

This is the EIA Communiqué for April 13, 1998:
+ Opposition to the proposed NEA/AFT merger has grown to the point where the outcome of the July vote is in serious doubt. The secret ballot vote at the NEA Representative Assembly will require a 2/3rds majority to approve the merger. Since the 10 largest NEA state affiliates have more than 50% of the votes, union officials thought it would take only a minor campaign to gain the necessary margin. That strategy now seems to be falling apart. Recent events make it clear that NEA will need landslides in pro-merger states in order to overcome a coalescing opposition.
*The Illinois Education Association (ranked 6th in membership) voted to oppose merger by a 2-1 margin.
*The Iowa State Education Association (ranked 22nd) voted to oppose merger by a nearly 3-1 margin.
*Affiliates from several right-to-work states — most specifically Georgia, Virginia and Iowa — have threatened to disaffiliate from NEA if the merger is approved.
The vote margin in Iowa was particularly galling, since it came after NEA President Bob Chase had addressed ISEA’s delegates. NEA continues to send high officials out to state conventions in an effort to gather support.
One major issue is causing the uproar — affiliation with AFL-CIO. Affiliates in right-to-work states are convinced that the merger will finish them. “In a right to work state, [merger] could cause us a great membership drop,” notes ISEA President Bob Gilchrist. “If members think we are ‘just a union’ they will stop joining and join the Professional Educators of Iowa. They are just waiting to send out a mailing.” Professional Educators of Iowa is one of many alternative teacher associations throughout the nation. These organizations tend to be less partisan, less politically active, and a lot less expensive to join than are NEA/AFT affiliates.
Ironically, an NEA/AFT merger, meant to reduce competition between the two union giants, may engender cutthroat membership wars between affiliates of the merged organization and former NEA affiliates. It’s possible that a teacher union monopoly at the national level could lead to market competition for unions and teacher organizations in a significant number of states.
Others have noted the contradiction between Chase’s push for new unionism and his simultaneous push for affiliation with the symbol of old unionism — the AFL-CIO. Signs of pro-merger anxiety are beginning to show. One NEA publication ran a story with the lead: “An array of right-wing organizations and individuals have stepped up their rhetoric against the proposed unification of NEA and the American Federation of Teachers. One group opposed to public education has sent letters directly to Association members cautioning against merger.” The story prompted the president of an Arizona local affiliate to remark, “I sincerely hope that NEA’s focus does not become to ‘force’ a merger/union just to spite the ‘radical right’… More games, I fear.”
+ Rumors reported by EIA last fall came only half-true. In September, EIA reported that it was “very likely” that an outsider would become the next NEA communications director. The new director, however, comes from neither the Kamber Group nor the White House. Her name is Kate Mattos, previously the managing director of Osgood, O’Donnell and Walsh, a “communications and strategies consulting firm” in Washington, DC. Mattos also spent four years as director of public affairs for AFT. Mattos has worked for three members of Congress and two presidential campaigns (guess which two?).
+ NEA is prominent among those who gave generously to the financially strapped Democratic National Committee in the first quarter of 1998. The union donated $100,500 to the DNC between January and March.
+ U.S District Judge Jeffrey Miller tossed out a lawsuit filed by the Grossmont Education Association (CA). The union claimed the school district had violated its First Amendment rights by refusing to let the union use school mailboxes to distribute a newsletter advocating the recall of a school board member. The California Education Code prohibits use of public funds, equipment or facilities to take sides in elections. The suit could have had wide-ranging repercussions throughout California, because the union claimed this provision of the code was “overly broad and vague.” Judge Miller dismissed that argument entirely.
+ In the early days of this century, many union members gave their blood for their unions. Today in Wisconsin, a union is asking its members to withhold their blood. Laboratory and office employees of the American Red Cross in Madison and Green Bay have been working without a contract since November. Their union — Wisconsin Council 40 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) — urged them to stop donating blood until a new contract is ratified. The Wisconsin AFL-CIO also authorized a statewide boycott of blood donations. The Red Cross claims that the last time this tactic was tried, blood donations increased.
+ Quote of the Week #1: “I think if they get paid $60,000 or $70,000 a year, they should get… in to work.” — Tom Danley, offering his opinion of the illegal Paterson (NJ) teachers’ strike. Danley is a deliveryman for Cream-O-Land dairy. He was greeted with cries of “Scab!” and “Who taught you how to read?” from members of the Paterson Education Association, who were walking a picket line outside P.S. 24.
Quote of the Week #2: “They told me to sign in and stay there. But I ain’t staying there for nothing. I just felt I was wasting my time.” — Joseph Davies, a 15-year-old sophomore at Eastside High School in Paterson. Paterson schools have been under state control since 1991 because of low test scores and poor administration. No word on whether young Mr. Davies opted to spend the day with a grammar book.
Quote of the Week #3: “This is such an unbalanced playing field.” — Paterson Education Association President Peter Tirri, after Judge Amos C. Saunders ordered the teachers back to work. Paterson teachers average $54,689 per year, which is 9% more than the state average. The median income in Paterson is $12,000. More than 80 percent of the teachers do not live in Paterson.
Union officials and district negotiators subsequently reached a tentative agreement. Details were not disclosed.

This is the fight of our professional careers. Are You In or Out?

What's taking so long? This is the fight of our professional careers. Are You In or Out? "Hell has a special level for those who sit by idly during times of great crisis."
Robert Kennedy

The Art of SETTING LIMITS, Its not as easy as it looks.

Art of Setting Limits Setting limits is one of the most powerful tools that professionals have to promote positive behavior change for their clients, students, residents, patients, etc. Knowing there are limits on their behavior helps the individuals in your charge to feel safe. It also helps them learn to make appropriate choices.


There are many ways to go about setting limits, but staff members who use these techniques must keep three things in mind:
Setting a limit is not the same as issuing an ultimatum.
Limits aren’t threats—If you don’t attend group, your weekend privileges will be suspended.

Limits offer choices with consequences—If you attend group and follow the other steps in your plan, you’ll be able to attend all of the special activities this weekend. If you don’t attend group, then you’ll have to stay behind. It’s your decision.
The purpose of limits is to teach, not to punish.
Through limits, people begin to understand that their actions, positive or negative, result in predictable consequences. By giving such choices and consequences, staff members provide a structure for good decision making.
Setting limits is more about listening than talking.
Taking the time to really listen to those in your charge will help you better understand their thoughts and feelings. By listening, you will learn more about what’s important to them, and that will help you set more meaningful limits.
Download The Art of Setting Limits

SYSTEMATIC USE OF CHILD LABOR


CHILD DOMESTIC HELP
by Amanda Kloer

Published February 21, 2010 @ 09:00AM PT
category: Child Labor
Wanted: Domestic worker. Must be willing to cook, clean, work with garbage, and do all other chores as assigned. No contract available, payment based on employer's mood or current financial situation. No days off. Violence, rape, and sexual harassment may be part of the job.

Would you take that job? No way. But for thousands of child domestic workers in Indonesia, this ad doesn't just describe their job, it describes their life.

A recent CARE International survey of over 200 child domestic workers in Indonesia found that 90% of them didn't have a contract with their employer, and thus no way to legally guarantee them a fair wage (or any wage at all) for their work. 65% of them had never had a day off in their whole employment, and 12% had experienced violence. Child domestic workers remain one of the most vulnerable populations to human trafficking and exploitation. And while work and life may look a little grim for the kids who answered CARE's survey, it's likely that the most abused and exploited domestic workers didn't even have the opportunity to take the survey.

In part, child domestic workers have it so much harder than adults because the people who hire children are more likely looking for someone easy to exploit. Think about it -- if you wanted to hire a domestic worker, wouldn't you choose an adult with a stronger body and more life experience to lift and haul and cook than a kid? If you could get them both for the same price, of course you would. But what if the kid was cheaper, free even, because you knew she wouldn't try and leave if you stopped paying her. Or even if you threatened her with death.



Congress Aims to Improve Laws for Runaway, Prostituted Kids

by Amanda Kloer

categories: Child Prostitution, Pimping

Published February 20, 2010 @ 09:00AM PT

The prospects for healthcare reform may be chillier than DC weather, but Democrats in the House and Senate are turning their attention to another warmer but still significant national issue: the increasing number of runaway and throwaway youth who are being forced into prostitution. In response to the growing concerns that desperate, runaway teens will be forced into prostitution in a sluggish economy, Congress is pushing several bills to improve how runaway kids are tracked by the police, fund crucial social services, and prevent teens from being caught in sex trafficking. Here's the gist of what the new legislation is trying to accomplish:

Shelter: Lack of shelter is one of the biggest vulnerabilities of runaway and homeless youth. Pimps will often use an offer of shelter as an entree to a relationship with a child or a straight up trade for sex. In the past couple years, at least 10 states have made legislative efforts to increase the number of shelters, extend shelter options, and change state reporting requirements so that youth shelters have enough time to win trust and provide services before they need to report the runaways to the police. Much of the new federal legislation would make similar increases in the availability and flexibility of shelter options.

Police Reporting: Right now, police are supposed to enter all missing persons into the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) database within two hours of receiving the case. In reality, that reporting doesn't always get done, making it almost impossible for law enforcement to search for missing kids across districts. This hole is a big problem in finding child prostitution victims and their pimps, since pimps will often transport girls from state to state. The new bill would strengthen reporting requirements, as well as facilitate communication between the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and the National Runaway Switchboard

We Must Never Forget These Soldiers, Sailors and Airmen and Women

We Must Never Forget These Soldiers, Sailors and Airmen and Women
Nor the Fool Politicians that used so many American GIs' lives as fodder for the fight over an english noun - "Communism"