{"id":21401,"date":"2018-05-12T23:56:18","date_gmt":"2018-05-13T07:56:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/?p=21401"},"modified":"2018-05-13T00:06:31","modified_gmt":"2018-05-13T08:06:31","slug":"rouge-forum-dispatch-no-war-but-class-war-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.richgibson.com\/blog\/rouge-forum-dispatch-no-war-but-class-war-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Rouge Forum Dispatch: No War But Class War!"},"content":{"rendered":"

We Say Fight Back!<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

www.facebook.com\/1teachervoice\/videos\/2075482319146191\/<\/a><\/p>\n

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Pueblo teachers launch Colorado\u2019s first teachers\u2019 strike in 24 years <\/span><\/h1>\n

Teachers are trying to pressure the district into approving a 2 percent cost-of-living pay increase<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\"Teachers<\/p>\n

PUEBLO \u2014 A sea of teachers and their supporters descended on their district\u2019s administration building Monday afternoon, a wave circling around the block while chanting and holding signs.<\/p>\n

Pueblo teachers stayed out of school on Monday, launching the first teachers\u2019 strike in Colorado in nearly a quarter-century, as they urged Pueblo City Schools District 60 leaders to agree to a 2 percent pay increase and better benefits.<\/p>\n

Teachers from schools across the city said they don\u2019t want the strike to last forever. But they\u2019ll stick it out until the district agrees to the raise recommended by a third-party fact-finder.<\/p>\n

\u201cI got into teaching because I understand its value to society,\u201d East High School teacher Michael Lonsberry said. \u201cYou can\u2019t have a solid chance at a successful, productive and satisfying life without education.\u201d<\/p>\n

Teachers carried signs and chanted \u201cPueblo schools are under attack. What do we do? Stand up. Fight back,\u201d and \u201cGet up, get down, Pueblo is a union town!\u201d Earlier in the day, pink from the shirts teachers wore dotted the city as groups stood outside of closed schools, next to busy intersections and in front of at least one library.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, school parking lots sat mostly empty. The district closed all schools Monday. Leaders are looking to see which schools they\u2019ll be able to open as the week progresses.\u00a0 www.denverpost.com\/2018\/05\/07\/pueblo-teacher-strike\/<\/a><\/p>\n

\"L.A.<\/p>\n

L.A. Unified school bus drivers and teacher assistants are planning a daylong strike<\/h1>\n
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The union that represents 30,000 Los Angeles Unified School District support staff workers is planning a strike on May 15 over what its leaders have called unfair labor practices.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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After more than a year of negotiations, the two sides have been unable to agree on a contract for unionized school bus drivers, custodians, special education assistants, teacher assistants, health aides and cafeteria workers. Union leaders said that while negotiations were underway, the district “made unilateral changes to working conditions” outside of collective bargaining\u00a0 www.latimes.com\/local\/lanow\/la-me-ln-lausd-worker-strike-20180507-story.html<\/a><\/p>\n

Puerto Rico Teachers Strike to Protest Deterioration of Public School System<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

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\nSAN JUAN \u2013 Teachers on Thursday staged a 24-hour strike and paralyzed Puerto Rican public education to protest what they say is a general deterioration of the school system.The strike is a protest against the aim of privatizing employee pensions, a shortage of teachers and the degradation of physical plant, the president of the FMPR union, Rafael Feliciano, told Efe on Thursday.\u201cThere is an effort on the part of the government to dismantle the public school (system) and discredit it,\u201d Feliciano emphasized after participating in a demonstration in San Juan that concluded in front of the Capitol<\/p>\n

The union leader said that the strike is designed to \u201csensitize\u201d people to the aim of privatizing the system, but he added that that is just one of the problems afflicting Puerto Rico\u2019s schools.<\/p>\n

Feliciano said that the government intends to partially privatize the system via Law 7, a measure conceived to reduce the U.S. commonwealth\u2019s serious budget deficit and which already has led to the dismissal of thousands of public employees.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat law favors the dismissal of public employees from schools to hand over the system to private companies,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Feliciano emphasized that another of the aims of Gov. Luis Fortu\u00f1o\u2019s administration is to privatize the retirement system.<\/p>\n

He said that another of the serious problems suffered by the system is a lack of teachers, a situation that affected about 100,000 students in at least one required course.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Massive UC workers’ strike disrupts dining, classes and medical services<\/h1>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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A massive labor strike across the University of California on Monday forced medical centers to reschedule more than 12,000 surgeries, cancer treatments and appointments, and campuses to cancel some classes and limit dining services.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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More than 20,000 members of UC’s largest employee union, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 3299, walked off their jobs on the first day of a three-day strike. They include custodians, gardeners, cooks, truck drivers, lab technicians and nurse aides. www.latimes.com\/local\/education\/la-me-uc-workers-strike-20180507-story.html<\/a><\/p>\n

‘You can feel it when the workers aren\u2019t there.’ Nurses strike with hospital workers<\/h3>\n
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\"Abigael<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

More than 550 nurses and members of the California Nurses Association turned out Wednesday for the second day of the sympathy strike at UC Davis Medical Center.<\/p>\n

The nurses, along with other health care workers in University Professional and Technical Employees-CWA union, joined AFSCME 3299 union members on Tuesday and Wednesday in their strike against stalled contract negotiations with the University of California.<\/p>\n

After more than a year of negotiations, the patient-care and service workers, represented by AFSCME 3299, rejected the university’s last-and-best offer of 3 percent across-the-board wage increases and a prorated, lump-sum payment of $750. AFSCME 3299 negotiators have sought wage increases of 6 percent, a freeze on health care premiums and job security that eliminates contracting out jobs for which its members are trained. Read more here: www.sacbee.com\/news\/local\/health-and-medicine\/article210813989.html#storylink=cpy<\/a><\/p>\n

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Who Is Karl Marx: Meet the Anti-Capitalist Scholar (Yes, this is “Teen Vogue”)<\/h1>\n
The communist scholar’s ideas are more prevalent than you might realize.<\/div>\n
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You may have come across communist memes<\/a> on social media. The man, the meme, the legend behind this trend is Karl Marx, who developed the theory of communism<\/a>, which advocates for workers\u2019 control over their labor (instead of their bosses). The political philosopher turned 200-years-old on May 5, but his ideas can still teach us about the past and present.<\/p>\n

The famed German co-authored The Communist Manifesto<\/em> with fellow scholar Friedrich Engels in 1848, a piece of writing that makes the case for the political theory of socialism<\/a> \u2014 where the community (rather than rich people) have ownership and control over their labor<\/a> \u2014 which later inspired millions of people to resist oppressive political leaders and spark political revolutions all over the world. Although Marx was raised in a middle-class family, he later became a scholar who struggled to make ends meet \u2014 a working-class man, he thought, who could take part in a political revolution. www.teenvogue.com\/story\/who-is-karl-marx<\/a><\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

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A letter to Karl Marx on his 200th birthday<\/h1>\n<\/div>\n
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