Speaking of doing something.....while this message speaks only to
contract items such as pay, etc -- the moment of solidarity that is
expressed here is marvellous and means at the very least that people
from all segments of Hawaii public education are talking to each other
and in general agreement, enough agreement to take action. You can be
sure they are talking about more than pay -- they're talking about their
education system.
This is quite an exciting moment.
Helena
>
> From: Marcus Daniel <marcusd@hawaii.edu>
> Dear Friends and Colleagues --
>
> We desperately need your help. Since Thursday April 5, the University
of
> Hawaii Professional Assembly (affiliated to the NEA), our Faculty
Union,
> and the public school teachers organized by the Hawaii State Teachers
> Association have been on strike against the State of Hawaii, and
there's
> no end in sight. The faculty here have been without a contract for the
> last two years because of the intransigence of Governor Ben Cayetano,
who
> has refused to bargain with the union in good faith and threatened to
> reduce faculty benefits and health coverage by 25%. During the last
two
> and a half years we have received no pay increases, effectively
cutting
> our pay already. Until the end of last week, his negotiator Davis Yogi
> refused to meet at all with union representatives, and then offered to
> LOWER the pay of part-timers employed as Lecturers at the university
to
> $900 a credit hour! It seems clear that Cayetano plans to break the
> Faculty union, demoralize the faculty and clear the ground for what
Davis
> Yogi himself has called an "entrepreneurial university." I don't need
to
> decode this for you. Cayetano is strangling the life out of this
> university, he is betraying the school-children of the state,
especially
> those who can't afford to go to more expensive mainland schools, and
he's
> dealing a fatal blow to the labour movement in Hawaii. He's also
> destroying the Democratic party here and paving the way for a
Republican
> party takeover of the state. (I kid you not, when Republicans start
> shaking hands on picket lines, something very peculiar is afoot!)
>
> Cayetano's actions and policies have deliberately provoked the first
> Education General Strike in American history! All public education in
> Hawaii is at a standstill. Support here is strong. The strike was
> authorized by 99% of public school teachers and 91% of university and
> community college faculty. And the local community here has been
behind
> the striking teachers so far, isolating Cayetano but failing to do
more
> than force him into the appearance of negotiation.
>
> We must have national attention and support and we must have it NOW!
Can
> you please forward this email to as many colleagues and friends as you
> can. Can you please organize expressions of support through your own
> institutions, faculty organizations, professional associations or
unions.
> These can be sent to us at www.uhpa.org. Can you please organize
official
> and personal expressions of protest directed at the Governor of the
state,
> letting him know how damaging this strike will be to higher education
in
> Hawaii, and to the prosperity of the Hawaiian economy.
>
> Amazing things have happened so far! For a start, we have proved that
> professors can organize pickets, and turn out en masse to support a
strike
> like this. But we need all the help we can get, if we are to have any
> chance of winning this strike.
>
> Here is the Governor's address and phone number:
>
> Governor Benjamin Cayetano
> Governor's Residence
> Washington Place
> Honolulu, Hawaii 96813
>
> Tel # (808) 587-2598 (Residence)
> (808) 586-0034 (Office)
>
> Thanks,
>
> Marcus Daniel
>
> *****************************************************************
> Dept. of History
> University of Hawaii
> Email: marcusd@hawaii.edu
attached mail follows:
Seth Wigderson wrote:
>
> From: Marcus Daniel <marcusd@hawaii.edu>
> Dear Friends and Colleagues --
>
> We desperately need your help. Since Thursday April 5, the University of
> Hawaii Professional Assembly (affiliated to the NEA), our Faculty Union,
> and the public school teachers organized by the Hawaii State Teachers
> Association have been on strike against the State of Hawaii, and there's
> no end in sight. The faculty here have been without a contract for the
> last two years because of the intransigence of Governor Ben Cayetano, who
> has refused to bargain with the union in good faith and threatened to
> reduce faculty benefits and health coverage by 25%. During the last two
> and a half years we have received no pay increases, effectively cutting
> our pay already. Until the end of last week, his negotiator Davis Yogi
> refused to meet at all with union representatives, and then offered to
> LOWER the pay of part-timers employed as Lecturers at the university to
> $900 a credit hour! It seems clear that Cayetano plans to break the
> Faculty union, demoralize the faculty and clear the ground for what Davis
> Yogi himself has called an "entrepreneurial university." I don't need to
> decode this for you. Cayetano is strangling the life out of this
> university, he is betraying the school-children of the state, especially
> those who can't afford to go to more expensive mainland schools, and he's
> dealing a fatal blow to the labour movement in Hawaii. He's also
> destroying the Democratic party here and paving the way for a Republican
> party takeover of the state. (I kid you not, when Republicans start
> shaking hands on picket lines, something very peculiar is afoot!)
>
> Cayetano's actions and policies have deliberately provoked the first
> Education General Strike in American history! All public education in
> Hawaii is at a standstill. Support here is strong. The strike was
> authorized by 99% of public school teachers and 91% of university and
> community college faculty. And the local community here has been behind
> the striking teachers so far, isolating Cayetano but failing to do more
> than force him into the appearance of negotiation.
>
> We must have national attention and support and we must have it NOW! Can
> you please forward this email to as many colleagues and friends as you
> can. Can you please organize expressions of support through your own
> institutions, faculty organizations, professional associations or unions.
> These can be sent to us at www.uhpa.org. Can you please organize official
> and personal expressions of protest directed at the Governor of the state,
> letting him know how damaging this strike will be to higher education in
> Hawaii, and to the prosperity of the Hawaiian economy.
>
> Amazing things have happened so far! For a start, we have proved that
> professors can organize pickets, and turn out en masse to support a strike
> like this. But we need all the help we can get, if we are to have any
> chance of winning this strike.
>
> Here is the Governor's address and phone number:
>
> Governor Benjamin Cayetano
> Governor's Residence
> Washington Place
> Honolulu, Hawaii 96813
>
> Tel # (808) 587-2598 (Residence)
> (808) 586-0034 (Office)
>
> Thanks,
>
> Marcus Daniel
>
> *****************************************************************
> Dept. of History
> University of Hawaii
> Email: marcusd@hawaii.edu
-- Joe Berry 1453 W. Flournoy, #3F Chicago, IL 60607 Phone/fax: 312-733-2172 Email <joeberry@igc.org>Please note that I discovered a virus (WM.Cap.A) on my computer (an iMAC) on 2/5/01. I do not know how long it had been present. I have dealt with it so this message is clean. However, please use the most up to date Norton anti-virus or similar product on any messages, files or discs you may have received from me in the past. Sorry about this. It was an unpleasant surprise for me too. Macs now can have viruses too, unlike in the past when they were asumed to be clean.
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Tue May 01 2001 - 01:01:50 PDT