People freezing to death

HUNGER OR HEAT

SCOTS COUNCIL FIGHTS FOR 365

FREE SCHOOL MEAL DAYS

By Stephen Wilson

 

'Coal all spent : the bucket empty : the

shovel useless;the stove breathing out

cold ;the room freezing: the leaves outside

the window rigid, covered with rime: the

sky a silver shield against anyone who

looks for help from it. I must have coal;

I cannot freeze to death ; behind me is

the pitiless stove , before me the pitiless

sky, so I must ride out between them and

on my journey seek aid from the coal

dealer '.

The extract comes from Franz Kafka's

short story called 'The Bucket Rider'

which captures the desperate plight of

a man freezing to death because he

can't heat up his own room. The story

has an unreality about it in the sense that

the man attempts to maintain his fragile

dignity by flying on a bucket to beg for a

free piece of coal from a coal merchant.

The story captures many of the sharp

anguished emotions of a poor person.

Kafka was from Prague but readers can

be forgiven for believing that he was

Scottish. For every year more old

people die in Scotland from the cold than

in the whole of Siberia ! The reason is

because they can't afford central heating.

What strikes the foreign visitor is how

cold many houses are in Scotland. It is

not uncommon to witness some couples

watching television huddled under a

blanket. As a student at university I recall

I studied in the library during the winter

because it was warmer. My mother told

me: "It does not matter how much I heat

up this house. It still feels very cold. I wish

it would get warmer."

One great plus about living in Moscow is

how warm it is. The pipes are bursting with

warmth and the heating is relatively cheap.

According to some reports, Scots cut

down on healthy eating in order to heat

their homes. Frank McNally an education

convener for a Lanarkshire council stated;

"It is horrendous to think that in the 21st

century Scotland children are coming to

school malnourished , but it is a sad reality

that some families face the choice of

heating their home or feeding their

children". 

An April 2017 survey by the National Union of Teachers found that 80% of teachers noticed 'holiday hunger' with as many as a 1/3 of pupils showing signs of malnutrition. Teachers are rightly concerned as this hunger impairs their school kids' performance by negatively

influencing concentration and cognitive

abilities.This is why Lanarkshire council is

going to introduce a new pilot scheme,

titled "Food 365" , at Easter, in Coatbridge

where children can take free meals

every day including the holidays . The

proposal costs an estimated 50,000

pounds. Many teachers support

extending this scheme on a nationwide

basis, but the British government hell

bent on their austerity program,

predictably opposes it.

After almost thirty years of austerity, in

Britain, which has included cutting

social benefits off completely should

an official deem it proper, has led to

a mushrooming of 'food banks' where

poor people queue up to obtain free food

from charities! It is a real indictment

of the British system of government when

their own people now feel hungry and

often have to choose between heat and

hunger. The Bucket rider might as well

have been written in the 21st century

Scotland.

 

HOD FEB MEETING

February House of Delegates Meeting CTU

By Jim Vail

The Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) held its Feb. House of Delegates (HOD) meeting in a simple fashion.

The CTU Financial Report by James Gillmeister stated that the union is currently analyzing the future financial ramifications from the upcoming Supreme Court decision in Janus that may result in no longer automatically deducting union dues when you join the union. How much fair share revenue will the union lose if teachers do not want to pay the union?

The CTU has currently sublet about one-third of the space it was renting at the Merchandise Mart. The union had anticipated to sublet at least two-thirds, which has created a hole in the budget, Gillmeister said.

The Financial Secretary Maria Moreno said about 80 percent of the teachers voted in favor of merging the charter school teachers into the CTU. 

There are 29 new CTU retiree delegates and ten are 85 years or older, Moreno said.  

VP Jesse Sharkey gave his report. President Karen Lewis was not in attendance. Lewis had also missed the Jan. HOD meeting.

Sharkey told the delegates that the CTU intends to stop school privatization by joining up with the charter schools to make a stronger team. Former charter union president Chris Baehrend noted that the charters have also negotiated good contracts, including one charter that has a 23 student class size cap.

Sharkey said to beware of the Illinois Policy Institute - a pro-business, anti-union, right-wing, anti-tax group which will send out info. to CTU members to try to convince them they shouldn't pay their union dues. Since these clowns represent businesses, that's like telling consumers not to buy products. If enough union members decide to not pay their union dues then the union will cease to exist (and teachers will earn Catholic school wages).

"We need to build our base of power," Sharkey said.

There is a Working People's Day of Action Saturday, Feb. 24 at 11am at the Federal Plaza at Dearborn and Adams, CTU wear red that is a response to upcoming anti-union ruling expected by the US Supreme Court. The CTU flyer reads: "No mayor, no court, no governor, no president, and no corporate bully can stop us when we unite to fight for our rights, our communities and our futures."

Teacher Fired

FIRED FOR TELLING THE TRUTH

By Stephen Wilson

 

A Russian professor has been fired for

sending a letter demanding that the

current Prime Minister clarify why the

wages of local teachers have not been

adjusted in line with inflation since 2012.

But no explanation was forthcoming.

Instead , the teacher was dismissed.

Perhaps the prime minister felt he had

better things to do such as feeding his

adorable ducks on his estate. The teacher,

Victor Makarenko, is a professor from

Taganrog Matellurgical college, who was

dismissed by the director, has 40 years

of teaching experience behind him. The

open letter ,which was published by Red

Vesna news agency, completely exploded

the myth that the May declaration of 2012

which promised to double the wages of

teachers had been fulfilled. Even

President Putin, in what was a crass

understatement, claimed at a conference

last year on 14 December, 2017

that 7% of teachers had not been given

the promised increase.

In the letter, the teacher asks why the

Rostovskoi authorities violate article 134

of the Labor code which stipulates that

salaries of teachers must be increased in

line with inflation. The letter declares:

'If absolute pay for 5 years has not grown

by a single kopek the reported rate of

inflation has reached double figures... the

real existing pay has decreased one and

a half times. ' In fact teachers are existing

below the poverty level earning as little

as 8,289 rubles. Makarenko points out that

just to raise salaries to the poverty level

the state would have to increase it by 40%.

 

The government claims that it has raised

the national average of teachers to

30,000 rubles a month, but whenever

anyone mentions those figures to teachers

it evokes laughter. To acquire the official

salary teachers would be forced to work

day and night in schools 7 days a week.

They would cease to have any free time.

In fact school teachers are often doing

60-70 hours week just to get by. As a

representative of the Union teacher

succinctly put it to me : "Teachers are

slaves". 

A teacher stated : "Yes, it is

possible to earn 30,000 rubles. If you

forget about your family, forget about

children, work without exception, take

on administrative duties, do a lot of

overtime, and literary spend a lot of

time , day and night at school.'

The reasons for the pay problem has

long been evident. Pay has fallen due

to a deepening crisis, austerity, and

the rising debts which local governments

have been amounting.The total regional

debts which local governments owe

come to a staggering 2.2 trillion rubles.

In order to pay teachers, local

governments are being forced to draw on

private creditors whom they often can't

pay back. The crisis of teachers' pay is

likely to intensify as the crisis deepens.

 

Of course, the likelihood of a pay increase

on the eve of the presidential election can

not be dismissed, but this would represent

a cynical move by the state. Most ministers

live in a world of their own where they

prefer to hear what they want to hear!

 

To borrow a phrase from Charles Dickens,

'A leprosy of unreality' surrounds Russian

members of the Duma. Some of them

only learned about the plight of teachers

one year ago and even then they found

this injustice difficult to grasp.

Victor Makarenko only published what

was well known to most teachers and

what even some ministers actually admit

though prefer to understate or play down.

 

Victor Makarenko must be reinstated

immediately and the Director called to

account for grossly violating the law on

freedom of speech and the press. If

need be, mass protest in the form of

demonstrations and strikes may have

to be used to wake up some deluded

directors that that they can't fire teachers

on a whim just like a spoiled child breaks

up a toy which hurts him at a nursery!

Medvedev should start feeding teachers

and not just the ducks!

Burns Under Assault!

BURNS UNDER ASSAULT

By Stephen Wilson

 

When it is someone's birthday you try to

make it as pleasant as possible for him

or her by offering greetings, cards ,

presents and best wishes. You certainly

don't insult, deride or denigrate a person

on his birthday. This is especially true if

he died over 200 years ago and it is the

centenary of his birthday on the 25th of

January ! For during this time and into

February , many Russians and Scots all

over the World honor the poet Robert Burns

by organizing traditional Burns Suppers in

his memory. At those gatherings, people

gather to hear his most popular poems

recited such as : 'Honest Poverty', 'Ye

Jacobites by name' and 'Toast to the

Haggis' where a haggis is carried in a

plate before a piper then the poem recited

and the haggis stabbed ! Guests gorge

themselves on portions of this dish and

drink glasses of whisky as well as dawn

kilts. The stiff, formal and respectable

atmosphere surrounding those well-dressed

and affluent guests often seems at odds

with a poet who struggled as a farmer in

back -breaking poverty ' and recited sharply

radical poems attacking money as 'a cursed

leaf ' where the poet declared :

'I see the children of affliction,

unaided by your cursed restriction

I see the oppressor's cruel smile,

Among his hapless victim' spoil' .

Burns appears to be popular in Russia

where suppers are organised in his honor.

The Caledonian Clubs, Saint Andrew's

society and many schools mark the

occasion. A parent of one of my students

even told me : "I'm going to a Robert Burns

Supper tonight. I have been to 5 such

events ! Burns popular here because he

was well translated into Russian."

Unfortunately, just a week ago , the

Guardian, and other British newspapers

started to savage the poet's reputation for

his alleged debauchery , drinking and

alleged abuse of women. Burns being

conveniently dead, could not respond to

those allegations or take those critics to

court for libel.

The articles attacking him are reminsicent

of a tabloid newspaper. I mean it is not

some article you would have expected in

the guardian ! For example,

one article declares : Was the Beloved poet

a Weinsteinian sex pest ?' One critic,

Stuart Kelly writes : 'Burns is a rascal, a bit

roguish, roister - doisterer . But here is

another r word - rapist .'The poet Liz

Lochead also joined the attack quoting a

letter of 1788, to a friend , where he

boasted about giving his pregnant girlfriend

Jean Armour, a 'thundering scalade ' where

she later responded with joy'. For Lochead,

this boast seems like a rape ! Some critics

go further and ask ; 'Why do we all raise a

glass to the boor bard of Scotland?'

Well maybe because he is such a great

poet with a real soul!

However, some sober academics think

those claims are not only over the top but

impossible to prove. Catherine Czeikawka

a Burns expert states : 'To label events

described in the letter as rape is to

oversimplify a relationship of great

complexity'.

The Russians I spoke to are perplexed and

astonished that people from 'the Me too'

campaign have decided to attack someone

who died over 200 years ago. Burns had a

daunting and difficult life. Why not let him

rest in peace ?

If you read the poems of Burns you will find

a rare and warm sensibility to women

which was seldom shared by other poets.

The poems indicate someone who highly

respected woman and worried about their

plight and felt immense guilt at not aiding

them enough. Burns might not have been

a saint or angel but he was no monster !

Those attacks on the poet are not new.

The first biography of Burns attacked

Burns for his alleged debauchery , drinking

and class hatred of the better off. If you buy

Robert Burns Selected Poems , in Penguin

books, in Moscow , you can read in the

foreword : 'His overwhelming popularity

was revealed strongly in the adulation

shown by his fellow countrymen , but

MacKenzie was also to praise him as 'a

Heaven taught ploughman '. Unfortunately,

this great acclaim went to Burns 's head

and he led a life of dissipation and

debauchery. '

The best answer to all those slurs is

the biography written by the German Hans

Hecht who wrote 'Robert Burns , the Man

and His work ' 1950 , William Hodge and

company , Limited . In this excellent

biography, Hecht mentions how Burns

helped reinstate the unfairly dismissed

school teacher James Clarke. Second

City Teacher published an article about

how Burn's defended teachers {See article

April 12, 2014 Burns Defends Teachers}.

The comparison to Hollywood producer

Harvey Weinstein is plain absurd. Whereas

Weinstein blacklisted promising actresses,

Burns was an implacable opponent of

blacklisting and abusing people of any

kind. And women were no exception!

Burns, by the way, is a highly under-

estimated poet where they don't even

teach him in Scottish and English schools.

Yet they teach him in Russian schools.

Burns appears to have found some sort of

refuge in Russia.