St. Paul Teachers – Union Advocate

Teachers look beyond ‘cookie-cutter’ signs and banners with community art build

November 8, 2017 by Union Advocate

A flier for the community art build shows some of the artist-submitted designs volunteers will screen print this weekend.

Teachers in St. Paul are throwing out the playbook in contract negotiations with the district this year.

Banners, signs and posters in the union’s storage closet are on the way out, too.

Educators, parents, students and community stakeholders will work together on new, artist-designed signs and banners this weekend at a “community art build” co-hosted by the St. Paul Federation of Teachers and its sister local in Minneapolis. Organizers hope the event will provide momentum – and unique visuals – for contract campaigns on both sides of the Mississippi.

The public is welcome to participate in the art build, which will take place Friday afternoon through Sunday at the Minneapolis Federation of Teachers’ offices, 67 Eighth Ave. NE, Minneapolis. (View the event page on Facebook to learn more or sign up for a shift.)

Shortly after the school year began, SPFT and MFT put out a call to local artists seeking designs that would evoke support for public education. A committee of educators selected a handful of submissions, which volunteers this weekend will screen print onto signs and paint on large banners – and even a parachute, for those looking down on a rally from above.

Sam Yelk, an art teacher at Linwood Monroe Arts Plus school in St. Paul, served on the committee. He said the submissions, particularly from student artists, left him “impressed and pleasantly surprised.”

“In a class of 28 sixth-graders, there might be 28 different ideas,” Yelk said. “Any time I’ve given an assignment to students, whatever the level, they always come back with such powerful imagery and ideas. It’s a breath of fresh air.”

Such creativity is in keeping with the spirit of SPFT’s groundbreaking contract campaign.

Rather than focusing on wages, benefits and work rules, St. Paul teachers want the district to partner with their union in pressuring corporations and large, tax-exempt organizations to pay their fair share toward closing a projected budget shortfall of $27 million.

“We have a different set of proposals than have really ever been put forth before,” SPFT organizer Mike Asmus said. “We’re trying to facilitate a conversation that’s different, and the art build gives us an opportunity to make something different from the cookie-cutter signs and banners you normally see at union rallies.”

The idea stems from an event held by public school teachers in Milwaukee last year, and at least one Milwaukee teacher will travel to Minneapolis to share advice and show solidarity.

Yelk said he envisions a powerful, positive event that brings together families who share a belief in the promise of public schools.

“We’ll be there to have fun and to express our shared hopes,” he said. “This is what’s right for our families and our students; this is what we should be doing.”

“It’s a bunch of people getting together to do artwork. I’ve never seen that turn into a brawl.”

Filed Under: Community, Union Events Tagged With: art, free events, Minneapolis Federation of Teachers, property taxes, SPFT, St. Paul Public Schools, St. Paul Teachers, teachers

Erik Brandt: An open letter to Macalester College (and its peers)

July 5, 2017 by Union Advocate

Erik Brandt is an English teacher in the St. Paul Public Schools.

I’d like to tell you about my long-time colleague, Amy. Over the last 20 years at Harding High School in St. Paul, I have watched Amy work tirelessly with thousands of our fantastic students – nearly all of whom are low-income, minority, first generation to attend college – to help them navigate the college acceptance and enrollment process, which, as you well know, is not a transparent procedure for any non-English speaking, poor, immigrant family. She has helped raise millions of dollars of scholarship funds to help these students afford higher education. With her connections and persistence, she has forged relationships with schools like yours and has helped get our students to college, where they have thrived. This is the good part of the story.

Undoubtedly, as an attentive neighbor, you have heard about the budget shortfall in the St. Paul Public Schools that has led to reductions all over the district, including at Harding. Guess who got cut at my school? It’s tragic: Amy will not be returning to Harding after 22 years of service. Amy’s equivalents at several other St. Paul high schools have also been cut.

So, why should you care, Macalester? This doesn’t really seem like your problem, but it is – on many levels. You need the brilliant, diverse students who come out of the St. Paul Public Schools. They enrich your campus and enliven the nature of the dialogue that happens in your classrooms. The truth is, however, that these students rarely make it to you without someone like Amy advocating for them within our schools.

Now, I know that the good people of Macalester believe in making the world a better place. That is certainly the image you sell to the public, and, having graduated from Mac myself, I believe there is truth in it. I know that you want to do something to help because it’s in your nature.

Well, guess what? There is something you can do, and it’s very easy – and it’s something that the public probably isn’t even aware of … and probably something you’d like them not to know about.

Regardless, here it is: Pay your property taxes.

Or at least make a PILOT (Payment in Lieu of Taxes), like other colleges or businesses do in dozens of cities around the U.S.

You benefit from all of the resources afforded by property taxes but pay none of them while your school sits on one of the most valuable un-taxed pieces of land in the city. Your staff members live in St. Paul and send their children to our schools, but you provide no financial support for the schools. This is not like you, Macalester. You believe in responsibility and civic duty.

Our students want to attend your college, but without people like Amy, they won’t know how to make it happen. If you and your peers (yeah, I’m talking to you, St. Thomas, Hamline, St. Kate’s) contributed your fair share of property taxes, we wouldn’t be laying off desperately needed staff in our public schools or questioning whether or not we can afford enough firefighters and police officers for our city.

C’mon Mac. Be a good neighbor. It’s the right thing to do.

– Brandt is a National Board Certified English teacher in the St. Paul Public Schools and a member of St. Paul Federation of Teachers Local 28. Twice a finalist for Minnesota’s Teacher of the Year award, Brandt resides in St. Paul.

Filed Under: Labor Voices Tagged With: Macalester, property taxes, SPFT, St. Paul Public Schools, St. Paul Teachers

Denise Rodriguez: ‘Our contract is the most powerful tool we have’

June 9, 2017 by Union Advocate

SPFT President Denise Rodriguez will retire June 12.

When she and her friends played school as kids, Denise Rodriguez was always the teacher. As a teenager she dreamed of teaching Spanish at Harding High School, just like her favorite teacher.

Now Rodriguez, president of the St. Paul Federation of Teachers for the last three years, is set to retire June 12 after 39 years living out her dreams – some old, some new – in the St. Paul Public Schools. (Nick Faber, currently serving as vice president of the local, has been elected to succeed Rodriguez as president.)

“Denise has been a great leader and an influential ally to organizations like ours,” St. Paul Regional Labor Federation President Bobby Kasper said. “She is a true friend.”

UA: What sparked your interest in teaching?

DR: “In high school they said maybe I should think of being something else because there were too many teachers at that time. But I knew what I wanted to be. I wanted to return to Harding High School and be a Spanish teacher. And I did.”

UA: Was it a dream come true?

DR: “Yes, it was. It’s where I always wanted to be. I liked to be able to have the students feel excited about what I was excited about – about Spanish. I love seeing how their faces change when they really get something, when it really makes sense to them.”

UA: How did you become active in SPFT?

DR: “About 19 years ago, our building steward asked me to be a steward. It just goes to show that when we do our union work, we can’t underestimate the importance of talking to people face to face…

I would come to the union offices in the evening after teaching all day and would be so exhausted, but my work here energized me. I found my second passion in life.”

UA: SPFT members have expanded the scope of issues their union negotiates. How effective has it been?

DR: “It’s called bargaining for the common good. It’s a way of organizing along with the community and using contract negotiations to bargain for a set of demands that make a more equitable learning environment for our students. Our contract is the most powerful tool we have to improve our students’ learning conditions.

“Four years ago we got some things we’ve never gotten before – contract language around smaller class sizes, getting the district to commit to having more (support staff), a 25 percent reduction in testing… We’ve also elevated and incorporated racial equity into the work of our union. We’ve organized parents to increase our collective power. This is the work that has really energized me.”

UA: Is it fair to say St. Paul teachers are on the cutting edge in this approach to bargaining?

DR: “They are, and I’m very proud of them. After we settled the contract in 2013, we started to get invited to visit (unions) across the country to talk about the work we’re doing. Now we’ve started the St. Paul Institute, where we train members from around the country in how to use their contract negotiations to bargain for the benefit of the community.”

UA: What trends have you seen emerge in education that you’re concerned about – and is union activism an effective way to address them?

DR: “Public education is facing unprecedented threats. Unions are being attacked. Teachers in some states have lost the right to collectively bargain, so it’s more important than ever to stand together with the community, to show our districts and our school boards what we want for our schools, what we want for our students.”

UA: What’s the next step for you?

DR: “Hopefully I’ll be able to come back and continue some of this work with the St. Paul Institute. I have a grandson who’s going to play football in college on a full-ride scholarship, so hopefully I will be able to watch him too.”

UA: And what’s next for SPFT?

DR: “Right now there are all these budget cuts and budget deficits. People say there’s no money. Well, scarcity is a myth. We have enough money in this state to fully fund our public schools. In St. Paul we want to look at corporations who are not paying their fair share in taxes – and look at all of the different non-profit property owners that really are making profits.”

UA: We learned a lot about non-profits during the Allina nurses’ strike, didn’t we?

DR: “That’s exactly it. They have billions in offshore accounts. The money is there. Now it’s time to start to call on them to pay their fair share.”

Filed Under: Labor Voices Tagged With: Denise Rodriguez, SPFT, St. Paul Teachers

Dreading Trump? Turn your anger into action at four Twin Cities inauguration protests

January 13, 2017 by Union Advocate

We’re a week away from seeing former reality-TV boss Donald Trump – a megalomaniac with a track record of not paying his employees, fanning the flames of bigotry and making “locker-room talk” about sexual assault – assume the highest office in the land.

Whether the impending Trump presidency scares the hell out of you or makes your blood boil, one thing is certain. You are not alone.

Trump’s approval ratings are historically low for an incoming president, and his inauguration will spark protests, marches and collective action from coast to coast.

In the Twin Cities, labor unions have endorsed several planned events, including a show of solidarity with students at an all-immigrant school in St. Paul and a one-day strike by Minneapolis janitors who work at Home Depot. (The retailer’s founder is a major Trump donor.)

Here’s a rundown of inauguration events on our radar. Our comments section is a great place to share anything else Trump-related that’s in the works locally.

Thursday, Jan. 19

• Members of St. Paul Federation of Teachers Local 28 will lead a rally outside LEAP High School, which serves students new to the U.S. Parents, students and community members will join teachers in calling for public schools to serve as “sanctuaries” that protect students from bullying, racism and deportation.

The “Rally to Protect Our Students and Our Public Schools” will start at 3:45 pm. outside LEAP High School, 631 Albert St. N.

Friday, Jan. 20

• In the early-morning hours of Inauguration Day, janitors who clean Home Depot stores in the Twin Cities will go on strike, protesting not only the poverty wages paid by their cleaning-contractor employer, but Trump’s anti-worker agenda as well.

Striking workers are members of the Twin Cities worker center CTUL. Join them on the picket line beginning at 5:30 a.m. at the Quarry store, 1520 New Brighton Blvd., Minneapolis.

• Friday afternoon, organizers plan to march in opposition to Trump’s “racisit agenda,” from the intersection of Lake Street and Nicollet Avenue to Minneapolis City Hall. The “Resist from Day 1” march will begin at 2 p.m., with plans to reach City Hall by 5 p.m.

Several unions and labor organizations have endorsed the action, including AFSCME Council 5, SEIU Local 26 and the St. Paul Regional Labor Federation.

Saturday, Jan. 21

• In solidarity with the Women’s March on Washington happening the same day, activists will stage the “Women’s March Minnesota” in St. Paul, culminating with a rally on the Capitol grounds. The Minnesota Association of Professional Employees and IATSE Local 13 are co-sponsors of the march, set to launch at 11 a.m. from St. Paul College.

Filed Under: Politics Tagged With: CTUL, Donald Trump, immigrant workers, inauguration, janitors, March on Washington, protest, sanctuary schools, SPFT, St. Paul Teachers, women workers

Janitors, teachers protest Kohl’s during back-to-school rush

August 23, 2016 by Union Advocate

Janitors and their supporters march along County Road B2 in Roseville, near Rosedale Mall.

Looking to build on recent victories at Target and Best Buy, retail janitors in the Twin Cities put the pressure on Kohl’s Saturday – during the busy back-to-school shopping season – to do right by the workers who clean its stores.

Janitors brought busloads of supporters, including union teachers, nurses and construction workers, to Kohl’s locations across the metro area Aug. 20, a day of action that culminated with a march to the Roseville store that briefly shut down traffic on County Road B2.

Kohl’s janitors, who are organizing with the Twin Cities worker center CTUL, have been pushing Kohl’s to address concerns about its Twin Cities cleaning contractor, Kimco, for more than two years. They want the retailer to join Target and Best Buy in signing onto a policy ensuring the chain’s cleaning contractors treat workers fairly.

Esteban Miranda cleans the Kohl’s in Blaine.

Kimco employees at the march described working long hours for low wages, with no voice on the job.

Esteban Miranda, a two-year Kimco employee who cleans the Kohl’s in Blaine, earns minimum wage and receives no paid sick days or holidays. He has to work multiple jobs to help support his family of four.

“We’re fighting for a Responsible Contractor Policy so that they will listen to our voices,” Miranda said. “That’s why we’re here, and we’re going to keep up the fight.”

Standing shoulder to shoulder with Miranda during the march in Roseville were several members of St. Paul Federation of Teachers Local 28. SPFT President Denise Rodriguez called it a “cruel irony” that Kohl’s rakes in 15 percent of its profits during the back-to-school shopping season, while many of the janitors who clean its stores can’t afford new clothes for their children.

St. Paul Federation of Teachers Vice President Nick Faber speaks at a rally outside Kohl’s in Roseville.

When parents work multiple jobs or lack access to earned sick and safe time, SPFT Vice President Nick Faber added, it creates barriers to success for their children.

“We see older brothers and sisters not coming to school because they have to stay home with younger siblings who are sick,” Faber said. “We see students who can’t concentrate because they’re hungry. We see students who can’t concentrate because they haven’t slept.

“Kohl’s needs to recognize the importance of their janitors in creating an inviting climate for spending money, and they should be ready to share it with those janitors.”

CTUL, a Spanish acronym for Center for Workers United in the Struggle, reached a historic agreement with Target two years ago in which the retailer agreed to do business with contractors that do not force janitors to work seven days a week, allow formation of safety committees made up of at least 50 percent workers and provide protections for workers to join a union without fear of retaliation.

Best Buy agreed to a similar policy in June.

Filed Under: Union Events Tagged With: CTUL, janitors, Kimco, Kohl's, low-wage workers, Responsible Contractor, retail cleaning, SPFT, St. Paul Teachers

TruStone Financial workers enlist teachers’ help to fight union busting

November 3, 2015 by Union Advocate

OPEIU Local 12 members, officers and supporters joined informational picketing outside the grand opening of TruStone’s Burnsville branch Nov. 6.

TruStone Financial has opened two new suburban branches in the last three months, but the credit union isn’t just upgrading its facilities. Workers accuse TruStone of using the relocation process as an opportunity to splinter their union.

TruStone opened a new branch in Burnsville last Monday, two days after shuttering its nearby Apple Valley location, where tellers, personal bankers, loan assistants and other employees were members of Office and Professional Employees Local 12.

Many of those employees now work at the Burnsville location, but according to TruStone, they’re no longer covered by Local 12’s contract.

Supporters stage informational picketing outside TruStone’s Burnsville branch, which opened with non-union staff two days after TruStone closed a union facility in nearby Apple Valley.

A similar scenario played out in August with branches in the Golden Valley-Plymouth area.

OPEIU Local 12’s Traci Murphy said TruStone made a “unilateral decision” to exclude workers at the new branches from the collective bargaining agreement – a decision that violates federal labor law, the union alleges in a complaint filed with the National Labor Relations Board last week.

“We have had no attempts from our members to decertify the union or anything like that,” Murphy said. “TruStone is not bargaining in good faith – they haven’t been for a while – and they’re taking any opportunity they can to weaken the union whenever they see a chance.”

The allegations come as something of a surprise, considering TruStone’s membership base – people who work in education – includes thousands of union members and retirees.

TruStone was chartered in 1939 as the Minneapolis Federation of Teachers Credit Union, and it became Teacher Federal Credit Union in 1988. According to its website, TruStone “welcomes members who work in, or are associated with, the education community,” in addition to “other groups near our branch locations.”

Local 12 has represented TruStone employees since 1979. The credit union, in fact, initiated the organizing process, according to Murphy, “because it was the teachers’ credit union and, as union members, they wanted to have interaction with employees who were also union members.”

In a written statement, TruStone said management “respects and has a long, positive working relationship with OPEIU Local 12” but disagrees with the local’s allegations, adding that it remains “the only teacher-based credit union in Minnesota with union employees.”

As the NLRB process drags on, Local 12 anticipates TruStone will continue the practice of closing union branches and opening non-union branches nearby – unless the credit union’s members push back.

Already, at least one teachers union, the St. Paul Federation of Teachers Local 28, has made members aware of Local 12’s allegations.

SPFT President Denise Rodriguez said she raised the issue at a membership meeting this fall. Local 28 does its banking through TruStone, and Rodriguez said leadership would continue to monitor the dispute.

“I definitely take it seriously when we have fellow union brothers and sisters come to us with concerns that there’s anti-union stuff going on at a place teachers are doing business with,” Rodriguez said. “I want members to have the information they need to make an informed decision if they want to continue to bank with TruStone.”

Filed Under: Organizing, Union Events Tagged With: NLRB, OPEIU Local 12, SPFT, St. Paul Teachers, teachers, TruStone Financial, union busting

Four for Change: Meet the Labor-endorsed St. Paul school board candidates

November 2, 2015 by Union Advocate

Maddy Lee, a senior at Harding High School in St. Paul, asks candidates for school board a question about the district’s discipline policies during a forum at the East Side Freedom Library. St. Paul Federation of Teachers Local 28 sponsored the event, attended by all four labor-endorsed candidates for the board: (L to R) Jon Schumacher, Mary Vanderwert, Steve Marchese and Zuki Ellis.

Four candidates for four open seats on the St. Paul school board have been endorsed by the St. Paul Federation of Teachers and the St. Paul Regional Labor Federation, AFL-CIO. Here are brief profiles of the candidates that appeared in The Union Advocate’s Election Guide in advance of the Nov. 3 election.

Zuki Ellis

• Union background: Former member, Bakery Workers Local 22. Her husband is a Minnesota Association of Professional Employees (MAPE) trustee.

• Best teacher she’s ever had: Ms. Betty Richardson, high-school English. “She wouldn’t let me get away with doing anything halfway, she challenged me and she introduced me to authors that I had never heard of,” Ellis said. “We had great conversations about books, and she made me feel like I was the smartest person in the room. I adored her and appreciated that nudge that she gave me to work hard.”

• On what it means to be labor endorsed: “It says to me that the vision of success, growth and empowerment that I have for all students of the St. Paul schools is supported by the men and women of this city who would like to see their children reach those same goals. Labor continues to be the backbone of our country, and it is wonderful knowing that the message I conveyed during this campaign is resonating with those who are connected and not connected with unions.”

Steve Marchese

• Union background: Former AFSCME member while living in New York.

• Best teacher he’s ever had: Judy Alcaly, sixth grade. “She was originally from England and brought a whole different approach to how she taught,” Marchese said. “She gave me the opportunity to learn more about the world and a chance to do creative projects, like plan a lesson or do a radio broadcast of world events. She was creative, thoughtful and sophisticated in her approach.”

• On what it means to be labor endorsed: “As the son of a long-time Teamsters truck driver, I am very proud to have labor support. I know what unions have done for my family, enabling my father to make a living wage to provide for us.

“People coming together to work for a common goal is what has motivated my campaign for school board. This is the work unions do every day. We need to think about the community and how we support the workers who both work in our schools and send their children to our schools.”

Jon Schumacher

• Union background: Member, SAG/AFTRA – Twin Cities Local, 30 years

• Best teacher he’s ever had: Ms. DeSart, junior-high French. “She brought joy, energy and clarity while challenging us to think and travel outside of our own cultures,” Schumacher said.

• On what it means to be labor endorsed: “Community is the core of everything we do. Building community around our public schools is critical to their success. Unions represent the best of community. They guarantee living-wage jobs and working conditions that give their members and families stability. That allows them to contribute to our communities with their time, talent and financial support.

“Receiving labor endorsements means that I can continue to build relationships with these strong and engaged community members to find ways to make our schools pathways to success for all our kids.”

Mary Vanderwert

• Union background: Former member, AFSCME and MAPE.

• Best teacher she’s ever had: Bill Albrecht, third and fourth grades. “Because it was a very small school in a very small rural community, we could do frequent field trips to explore in nature,” Vanderwert said. “We seined for fish, hunted for arrow heads, had sledding outings and played soccer before school in the back yard. He showed me that learning was exciting, that nature was so very interesting and that we need to combine fun and music with whatever we do to keep our energy up. We learned the academic basics we needed but so much more about life and the world.”

• On what it means to be labor endorsed: “Unions have made our country productive, innovative, just and safe. In this time of anti-union rhetoric, we need to remember that our workers are the backbone of our economy and most of them parents of the children in our schools. They must be treated with respect and their work valued with fair wages. I have been impressed with the willingness of our unions to work not only in our schools but with our schools to provide opportunities for students to explore careers in the Trades. I hope we can work together to help our students with interest to be able to gain the skills they need to move into the higher education or other training they need to be active workers and members of the unions that will move our community forward.”

Filed Under: Politics Tagged With: Caucus for Change, Election 2015, labor endorsed, school board, SPFT, St. Paul Board of Education, St. Paul RLF, St. Paul Schools, St. Paul Teachers

In new report, St. Paul teachers give ‘cookie-cutter’ policies a failing grade

August 7, 2015 by Union Advocate

Panelists at the SPFT event yesterday included (L to R) Michael Diedrich, Caitlin Reid, Zuki Ellis, Steve Marchese. SPFT political organizer Patrick Burke moderated.

Panelists at the East Side Freedom Library yesterday included (L to R) Michael Diedrich, Caitlin Reid, Zuki Ellis, Steve Marchese. SPFT political organizer Patrick Burke moderated.

There is no one-size-fits-all solution for improving under-performing schools, according to a report issued yesterday by the St. Paul Federation of Teachers. To achieve lasting improvement, district leaders must engage a school’s surrounding community and address the unique, underlying challenges in students’ neighborhoods, homes and lives.

That’s the conclusion policy researcher Michael Diedrich, author of the SPFT report, reached after a deep analysis of efforts to turn around one under-performing school in the St. Paul district, Frogtown’s Maxfield Elementary.

Diedrich discussed his report, “Capacity, Context and Community: Learning from School Improvement Policy at Maxfield Elementary,” at the East Side Freedom Library yesterday with teachers, union activists and two labor-endorsed candidates for school board, Zuki Ellis and Steve Marchese.

The panel also included Maxfield Elementary teacher Caitlin Reid, who began teaching at the school shortly before it received a three-year federal School Improvement Grant (SIG) to address “widespread misbehavior” resulting from “layers of dysfunction” inside and outside the building, according to Diedrich’s report.

The additional funding from 2010 to 2013 allowed Maxfield to add teachers and support professionals, invest in technology and extend students’ learning time. “Incidents of misbehavior dropped, and the responses to the remaining incidents were more thorough and constructive,” Diedrich’s report said.

With more support staff, students received more individual or small-group attention for everything from reinforcing a lesson to addressing misbehavior. But when the three-year grant ran out, Reid said, many of those support professionals disappeared.

“We saw a lot of cuts early on after the SIG,” she said. “The biggest cuts that affected us were some of the staff who did math and reading support.”

Now behavior issues are on the rise at Maxfield again, and the school has been designated a “priority school” under the Minnesota Measurements Rating system. The SIG, Diedrich said, “didn’t work very well for producing long-term change” at Maxfield.

Report author Michael Diedrich, a former English teacher at Brooklyn Center High School, is an education policy researcher.

Why not? And what can the district learn from ongoing attempts to turn Maxfield around? Panelists laid out three key responses during their discussion yesterday.

• Underlying factors behind a school’s performance matter, and policymakers who ignore those unique factors will most likely fail.

“We don’t want another cookie-cutter solution because it’s not going to work,” Reid said. “We’re not the same as every other school” that is under-performing.

Ellis said she hopes to change the St. Paul Public Schools’ approach if elected to the board. Rather than handing down policy directives without seeking input from “any parent or any teacher in that building,” Ellis said she would engage teachers, parents and community stakeholders “more thoughtfully and effectively,” asking them, “What do you need and how can we support that?”

• Engaging parents and involving the school’s community are critical to improving student performance.

“Public schools are meant to serve their communities,” Diedrich said. “One of the best ways we do that is by involving the community in making our school better.”

Reid said several Maxfield teachers have visited students’ homes as part of the union’s Parent Teacher Home Visit Project, and it’s led to greater parental investment in Maxfield’s programming. “We’re building that community of parents and teachers working together to address issues,” she said. “For me, it’s been career changing.”

• There are no quick fixes for under-performing schools, and sweeping, new policy directives every three or four years make it hard to tell what’s working and what’s not.

“That shifting of gears every three years, it’s hard on the staff, it’s hard on the kids, it’s hard on the communities,” Marchese said, adding that the school board should be “setting standards for what is expected across the system,” but giving school stakeholders flexibility in crafting – and sticking with – a plan to meet those standards.

Diedrich added: “Being able to have investment at the district level that supports you in building what works for your community is very, very meaningful. Just saying, ‘Now everybody gets an iPad!’ – that is the kind of thing that ends up being ephemeral.”

Filed Under: Organizing, Politics Tagged With: Caucus for Change, East Side Freedom Library, report, school board, St. Paul Public Schools, St. Paul Teachers, Steve Marchese, teachers, under-performing schools, Zuki Ellis

Tellers, teachers, Somali immigrants take on big banks during St. Paul rally

April 14, 2015 by Union Advocate

Been targeted with a high-pressure sales pitch at your bank recently? You’re not alone, according to a report released earlier this month exposing a “new era of predatory lending” in the industry.

But Wells Fargo employee Michael Lewis offered this plea to frustrated customers yesterday: “The average bank workers, they want to work with you,” he said. “We don’t want to sell you products you don’t need.

“Don’t hate the average worker; hate the banks please.”

And that’s just what activists did during a demonstration downtown St. Paul, outside the Wells Fargo building. Minnesotans for a Fair Economy organized the rally with the Committee for Better Banks, a national organization, backed by the Communications Workers of America and other labor groups, that seeks to improve working conditions at big banks, which raked in more than $100 billion in profits last year.

Diego Marquez asks the public to support bank workers looking to improve their wages and conditions.

“Every time I see the profit report from these banks – from my bank – I get upset,” bank worker and Better Banks supporter Diego Marquez said. “Why do I have to wear a tie to work and a suit if I can barely make above minimum wage?”

But bank workers like Marquez and Lewis weren’t the only ones with grievances to air against the big banks.

St. Paul Federation of Teachers President Denise Rodriguez called on U.S. Bank and Wells Fargo, which do business with the St. Paul Public Schools, to commit to limiting foreclosures on families that have school-age children during the academic year.

Rodriguez and SPFT member Lily Tharoor, a social worker, described abruptly losing students from their classrooms or school buildings after their families received foreclosure or eviction notices.

“Academically, the kids don’t just stay where they are if they have all these disruptions; they actually fall back,” Tharoor said. “As a member of SPFT, I’m really very proud of the stand the union has taken on this subject. It’s very forward-thinking and really looking out for our students.”

Said Rodriguez: “This is a problem that adults created and that adults can fix.”

Meanwhile, representatives of Somali immigrant groups accused Wells Fargo and other big banks of refusing to work with community leaders on methods for sending financial support – via “remittances” – to family members in East Africa.

New federal regulations prompted U.S. banks to halt money transfers to Somalia in February. They cited concerns remittances might fund terrorism – concerns Sadik Warfa, a local Somali leader, called shortsighted and off the mark.

“I’m a proud American, and the thing is if you stop remittances, you are helping the terrorists because they will tell (people) that America hates us,” Sadik said.

Remittances from Somalis living abroad inject more than $1.2 billion into the country’s economy annually, more than foreign aid and investments combined.

Filed Under: Politics, Union Events Tagged With: banks, CWA, foreclosures, Minnesotans for a Fair Economy, predatory lending, Somalis, SPFT, St. Paul Teachers, Wells Fargo

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