WE ARE CARU:
THE CUNY ALLIANCE
FOR RESPONSIBLE UNIONISM
We believe that union leaders should issue responsible
statements when speaking on behalf of CUNY faculty
The PSC
leadership has asked CUNY faculty to picket the Colombian
consulate in New York City
Why?
They link the tragic burdens faced by Colombian educators, including "murders of
trade
unionists ... by right-wing paramilitaries"; and a "government, which allows these
killings
to go on with impunity", to the difficulties faced by New York's public
education system.
Specifically, the PSC states that through local
actions, such as a demonstration at the
Colombian consulate, "we join forces against a
common enemy, those who would
destroy public education. Here as in Colombia, we see more privatization,
tuition hikes,
budget cuts, over-use of standardized tests, and the infiltration of
corporations and the
military into education. The situation in
Colombia is more extreme, but attacks on
teachers' unions there are really designed
to crush teachers' resistance to the same
conservative agenda against public education we are fighting in New York."
Can anyone SERIOUSLY believe that, since the
current PSC leadership took office,
CUNY faculty have seen reductions in their dental,
prescription drug, and life insurance
benefits because New York's leaders have the same
conservative agenda as those in
Colombia who terrorize educators with government-sponsored paramilitary
organizations?
Has the leadership lost touch with reality?
Linking political disagreements in New York with murders in
Colombia is disingenuous,
and will undermine the PSC's credibility with their
opponents at the negotiating
table.
We need a union leadership that focuses on the economic well-being of its
members
rather than issuing intellectually embarrassing claims attacking New York's
leaders.
What do you think? We'd like to know.
Professor David Seidemann, Brooklyn College
Chairperson, CARU, 2004/05 Academic Year
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