Arizona teachers rally for second day, further walkout expected Monday
By
David Moore
28 April 2018
Arizona teachers continued the first statewide teachers strike on Friday, filling the capitol plaza. Amidst widespread support for an expanded struggle, including mass protests in Colorado, the unions are doing everything they can to shut the strike down as quickly as possible.
The number of protesters was down to less than 10,000 Friday, from the 75,000 who marched on Thursday, as the Arizona Education Association did nothing to mobilize teachers. The AEA and the union-aligned Arizona Educators United Facebook page called the rally off after only two hours, telling teachers to return Monday when the state legislature resumes its session.
The Senate had adjourned Thursday at noon in a clear statement that it had no intention of addressing the teachers’ demands. The unions ended Thursday’s rally shortly thereafter.
The unions are above all determined to prevent the unification of the struggles of teachers in Arizona and Colorado, as this would threaten to develop into a much broader movement that would challenge the Democratic and Republican parties. Republicans control the state government in Arizona, while Democrats control it in Colorado. As Will, an Arizona special education teacher, told World Socialist Web Site reporters: “The Democrats are even worse than the Republicans. They’ve both been cutting education.”
On Friday, close to 10,000 teachers from Colorado’s largest metropolitan areas showed up at the state capitol to protest a lack of school funding, the nation’s lowest pay for teachers, and the decrepit state of school infrastructure. The protests involved teachers from the state’s 10 largest school districts, with…