N.Y. to slash literacy funding

Though illiteracy here and across the U.S. continues to be a growing social problem, efforts to combat it are under attack by the state legislature and the mayor's office, under the guise of reigning in runaway spending.

The state budget proposals now being debated slash $2 million from the city's adult literacy program-one third of its total budget. Already $612,000 had been cut from the budget, meaning that, altogether, a full quarter of all money allocated to improving the city's adult literacy rate has been or is proposed to be slashed.

Additionally, the budget proposes a cut of $1.5 million to GED testing sites.

The lack of basic literacy skills has a direct correlation to unemployment and poverty. According to the National Institute for Literacy, 43 percent of those with the lowest literacy skills live in poverty. This, in turn, often leads to a life of desperation and crime: 85 percent of juvenile offenders are functionally or marginally illiterate and 70 percent of all prisoners in state and federal jails are illiterate.

As of 2007, says the NIL, "42 million American adults can't read at all; 50 million are unable to read at a higher level that is expected of a fourth or fifth grader." In addition, that number was on the increase by 2.25 million people per year.

Government, advocates say, needs to step in. Cutting programs to combat illiteracy can only lead to more unemployment, poverty and crime, and will cause the children of illiterate adults to do worse in school.

According to City Council member Sara Gonzalez, who spoke at an April 6 rally on the steps of City Hall against the cuts, "Being able to speak English well and having a high school diploma are critical stepping stones towards self-sufficiency. In addition, parents are better able to assist their children with schoolwork" if they are able to read and write.

According to the National Center for Education Statistics, part of the U.S. Department of Higher Education, 22 percent of New Yorkers lack basic literacy skills. That number is higher in poorer communities. The number is 37 percent in Brooklyn and 41 percent in the Bronx.

As the budget fight continues, students, volunteer tutors and program administrators have vowed to continue to struggle.

Make corporations pay their fair share!

Make Corporations Pay Their Fair Share! by NYFF from New York State AFL-CIO on Vimeo.

While Wall Street has largely recovered from the economic crisis and reaped record profits in the last year, Main Street continues to suffer from the fallout of the economic crisis. It seems like corporations are doing better than the rest of us.

Now, New York faces a massive budget deficit and Albany must make a choice. Close tax loopholes and ask Wall Street to pay their fair share or even more New Yorkers will lose their jobs.

Rallying for public schools, it's a Bronx cheer for Bloomberg

By Elena Mora

Chanting, "Tell me what you really want! Tell me what you really need! More schools, more schools!," a large group of Bronx residents gathered on the steps of the Bronx County Courthouse April 6 to demand immediate action be taken to fulfill the promise of new schools in the Kingsbridge neighborhood.

The rally/press conference, called by the North West Bronx Clergy Community Coalition, brought together students, community leaders and Bronx elected officials.

The need for the city to build schools with seats for 2,000 students on land currently occupied by the National Guard is part of an ongoing struggle around the redevelopment of the Kingsbridge Armory, a huge building that has been empty since 1996. Kingsbridge, a solidly working-class neighborhood with a majority of Latino and African American residents, mirrors the Bronx's overall population.

In December, New York's City Council defeated the Bloomberg administration's plan to build a shopping mall in the armory, which had been vigorously opposed by a broad community and labor union coalition.

While the armory redevelopment is now back on the drawing board, the proposal for the schools is pressing.

City Councilman Fernando Cabrera called it "inspiring to see youth taking action" and said, "We need smaller classes, quality teachers and parental involvement. We can win this because we are united."

Other speakers applauded the role young people are playing. New Day Church Pastor Doug Cunningham noted the irony that, "it takes a group of kids to tell the adults that education is important!" School District 10 in the Bronx is at more than 100% capacity, he continued, "which means there are young people with no room to get an education. If we are going to be a democracy, we need educated youth."

Among several eloquent youth speakers was Manny de la Cruz, who spoke on behalf of Sisters and Brothers United, one of the organizations most active on the campaign for the new schools. SBU had chosen eggs to symbolize the fragile situation of the Bronx's young people (as well as the Easter season), and to illustrate their slogan: "Our schools are broken, let the future hatch its shell."

Flor Cabrera, a NWBCCC parent leader with two children in public school, described the difficulty she had finding a local middle school for her daughter. "Our schools lack fundamental resources," Cabrera said, calling it unacceptable that the city's Department of Education (DOE) only expects 36% of Bronx high school students to graduate in four years. "I want both my children to make it all the way through college. We demand that schools be built on West 195 Street."

State Assemblyman Jeff Dinowitz said many of the new schools that have been created by the DOE in recent years have only "multi-purpose rooms," serving as auditorium, gym and cafeteria. "When I was growing up we had all three. Our kids should have all three now."

Dinowitz called the community's proposal a "triple win," referring to the new opportunity to develop a good plan for the armory, with schools at the adjacent site, and moving the National Guard to an already approved location in another area of the Bronx.

State Assemblyman Jose Rivera pointed across the street at the new Yankee Stadium. "That park wasn't there a year ago. The stadium wasn't there a year ago. But the Kingsbridge Armory has been abandoned for more than 13 years, and all those years we've been trying to get the city to do something with it, and solve the problem of overcrowded schools," he said.

Desiree Pilgrim Hunter, a community activist and leader in NWBCCC and probable candidate for state Senate, blasted the city for the overcrowded schools and inadequate resources. "Students continue to have classes in converted closets, leaky trailers and hallways and stairways."

She called on the Bloomberg administration to "stop neglecting the children of the Bronx."

Photo: Elena Mora/PW

New Yorkers plan "no nuclear" events during UN meet

Actor Vinie Burrows urged New Yorkers to create a world with peace and justice and to bring an end to nuclear weapons.

The award-winning Broadway actor moderated a Granny Peace Brigade Forum with three veteran peace activists who spelled out in detail what needs to be done to get the United States to dismantle its nuclear arsenal.

Frida Berrigan, senior program associate at the Arms and Security Initiative, recalled that during the heyday of anti-nuclear protests, activists split into groups that just opposed nuclear weapons or just opposed nuclear power. The opponents of nuclear weapons argued that nuclear energy is part of the bargain for nuclear disarmament. In the meantime, the number of nuclear weapons states has increased from 5 to 9 because nuclear energy programs have been used as a covert way to develop nuclear weapons. Berrigan argued that nuclear energy and nuclear weapons must be fought against together to advance the cause of nuclear disarmament.

Horace Campbell, professor of political science at Syracuse University, said for America to live in peace, we must have a society where people live in justice, not just in the absence of war. He argued for dismantling the military-industrial complex. He asked why is the U.S. raising questions about Iran nuclear policies, but not about Israel's nuclear capabilities. He called on peace activists to take up the exploitation of Africa and its peoples, particularly to oppose the U.S. military's Africa command and the poisoning of the land by corporate polluters.

Judith LeBlanc, coordinator of International Planning Committee for the Nuclear Abolition, Peace and Justice conference and march, reminded the audience that the right wing is gearing up to oppose nuclear disarmament so the peace movement must "organize, organize, organize." She said that President Obama has a vision of a nuclear weapons free world, but a vision isn't enough and his opponents are blocking it. Obama needs a movement to make the fight for nuclear disarmament. People must be there to support the Obama administration but also to challenge it to do more and to say to it that ending war and actually engaging in nuclear disarmament is the only way to economic growth and racial justice.

The forum showed an excerpt of John Pilger's documentary "Stealing a Nation." It showed the forced expulsion by the British government of the native population of the Indian Ocean island Diego Garcia to allow the U.S. to establish a major military base there. The excerpt ended with an account of the attempts of the deportees to return to their island. Besides the expulsion issue, the presence of U.S. nuclear weapons there is in violation of the African Union's Treaty of Pelindaba, which has made all of Africa and its island nations into a nuclear weapons free zone. Diego Garcia is claimed by the African island nation of Mauritius, but it is still involved in a dispute over sovereignty with the United Kingdom.

The forum is part of the buildup to events in New York City that include an April 30-May 1 conference at Riverside Church and May 2 march coinciding with the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) review conference at the United Nations in May. The NPT requires non-nuclear weapons states to never possess nuclear weapons in return for the declared nuclear weapons states, five at the time the treaty went into effect, to start and eventually complete a process of nuclear disarmament. This treaty, which entered into force in 1970, has had review conferences every five years since to allow the participating countries to measure progress towards its goals.

There are many reasons that more of the public must be involved in the peace movement's work during and after the review conference to ensure that the provisions of the treaty are actually carried out, speakers said. A number of the non-nuclear weapons states that have ratified the treaty are considering withdrawing from it because now after 40 years since the treaty went into effect, the nuclear weapons states still show no serious signs of eliminating their stockpiles.

Many right-wing sources are attacking the treaty as worthless due to alleged nuclear activities of North Korea, Iran, and some other states. Even some leftists are critical of the treaty for its history of, in effect, allowing the nuclear weapons states to remain so while having kept almost all other countries out of the so-called "nuclear club," which now numbers nine.

The current atmosphere might best be summarized by a New York Times quote of Senator John Kerry at the Munich Security Conference in February: "The NPT risks unraveling unless we do something about the challenges."

For those who can get to New York City, there is limited seating for the April 30-May 1 conference at Riverside Church. Everyone is invited to the march on the day after the conference. People are also encouraged to become involved in the activities around the May NPT review conference. For those who cannot come to New York City, there is much that can be done locally. Go to www.peaceandjusticenow.org for more information about all of these events.

Photo: Vinie Burrows speaks at a 2008 Granny Peace Brigade event. Eliza Griffiths

Texting 32BJ contract talks could read "we r on strk"

From the dawn of capitalism, working people have had to battle constantly for better wages, working conditions and quality of life. Usually the bosses own most of the communication tools to spin that battle in their favor.

But now, with the Internet and digital revolutions, workers have gained powerful new tools against their bosses. And one example comes from SEIU Local 32BJ, New York's building workers union, as they prepare for a potential strike. Some may call it Labor 2.0.

Union members are in a battle with the Realty Advisory Board to secure a fair contract. The Realty Advisory Board represents the private building owners. The cost of living in New York City has continued to rise, while workers' wages have been stagnant. But the RAB has balked at wage increases, as well as improved health and pension benefits.

On April 2, union members voted to give their negotiating committee the authority to call a strike-which would be the first since 1991-if an agreement isn't reached by April 20.

But this time-honored and tested tool of battle is being supplemented by modern technology. 32BJ members recently received an e-mail from their union's president, Mike Fishman, urging them to keep informed on late-breaking developments-by text message.

"As we head into the most critical days of bargaining," Fishman wrote, "make sure that we can contact you with urgent updates." The message went on to say that workers should text "32BJ" to 787753. After doing so, workers would begin to receive updates as they occur, directly on their phone.

Worker-to-worker contact is still important and texting can help. Fishman's note asked workers to "make sure everyone in your building is signed up for texts so you all have up-to-the minute information."

The slightly more traditional e-mail campaign is also in use. 32BJ, representing about 120,000 workers, including 30,000 in private city buildings, is asking its supporters to go to www.standwithbuildingworkers.org to sign a letter to the RAB demanding that the board negotiate in better faith.

By Dan Margolis
Photo via www.seiu32bj.org.