President's Perspective: NYSUT's proud social justice agenda

October 27, 2007 New York Teacher
By Richard C. Iannuzzi

"I'm out here a thousand miles from my home; walkin' a road other men have gone down."

— Bob Dylan from "Song to Woody."

My time on the road gives me a real sense of New York's diversity in geography and perspectives. Our state is a tapestry of unique communities, each with a character all its own. One way I'm able to appreciate the qualities of the cities and towns NYSUT members call home is by reading the local newspapers.

It's often fascinating reading — a civics lesson on newsprint about the good people and places that define our great state.

What happens in the municipalities in which we work and live is important to what we do as professionals. That's true in the "Big Five" school districts as well as in the state's smaller and medium-sized communities. Local decisions can have a serious impact on schools in those municipalities and surrounding areas. (See related story about the negative impact a malicious, reckless and negligent Monroe County executive can have on the lives of children.)

The debate over sweat-free purchasing in two Capital District cities earlier this year is a good example of the good local municipalities can do.

The New York State Labor-Religion Coalition approached the capital-area cities of Albany and Schenectady to pass and implement legislation that would require city hall staffs to take into account the impact of their purchases, from police uniforms to technology, on both worker rights and the environment. In the end, the two cities did the right thing and adopted the labor- and environmentally friendly purchasing policies, joining the village of New Paltz and Suffolk County in the effort.

There were those who questioned the cities' action, and NYSUT has had similar questions posed to us in the past. Critics — sometimes even our members — ask why the union takes on social justice and humanitarian causes both here and abroad. Member service, contract negotiations and perhaps some political lobbying — that's NYSUT's role, according to at least some.

It is. And, as, the record shows, we do it well.

But NYSUT is a lot more. A union without a social justice agenda is not a union. Organized labor has a long and storied history of supporting social justice and human rights causes. In 1950, it was civil rights and labor leaders who formed the influential Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, and it was Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. who, speaking to the AFL-CIO in 1961, told unionists that workers' rights are civil rights. The legendary American Federation of Teachers and United Federation of Teachers leaders Albert Shanker and Sandra Feldman agreed and were passionate in their support for the civil rights movement. And both the AFT and National Education Association continue that tradition today.

NYSUT has been active and supportive of all these activities and has a long-standing commitment to support human rights and social justice issues and to oppose the abuse of such rights. That's why we were so gratified that, in June, Gov. Spitzer signed the nation's toughest anti-human-trafficking law. It's a law we strongly supported. The Labor-Religion Coalition — in partnership with other human rights advocates — worked hard for several years for its passage.

It's estimated that up to 20,000 people — mostly women and children — are trafficked into this country each year for forced labor, involuntary domestic servitude or sexual exploitation. New York is known to be a frequent port of entry for such activity, but under the new law, traffickers will now face serious penalties and victims will have access to expanded support services.

It was right for NYSUT to support this legislation and to work for its enactment — just as it's right for us to support the Labor-Religion Coalition and other human rights advocates in pursuit of justice for farm workers, both here and abroad, and for fair trade practices.

Our members, by and large, understand and appreciate that their union wants to have a positive impact on the greater community. They know a social justice agenda is union work and I am proud that it's a NYSUT priority.

Gap conference

As New York Teacher went to press, NYSUT was focused on other social issues as part of our conference, "Every Child Counts: A symposium dedicated to ending the gap." As I've been saying for almost two years, the gap is about much more than what happens in the classroom or on the college campus. The academic achievement gap is the result of poverty, inadequate health care, substandard housing and other societal ills. These are not excuses, but realities educators face every day.

Our symposium is bringing together interested stakeholders, policymakers and experts from every walk of life to open a more collaborative dialogue and to forge the community partnerships critical to successfully ending the gap. Hard questions are being asked and those questions — along with the responses — will be shared with you in future issues of New York Teacher.