Vote “No” on sell-out contract!
As voting takes place, Denver teachers angry over tentative agreement
By
Nancy Hanover and George Marlowe
23 February 2019
It has been more than a week since the Denver Classroom Teachers Association (DCTA) shut down the strike of more than 5,300 Denver Public Schools (DPS) teachers and educators, the first in 25 years. Teachers are now voting online on a tentative agreement through Sunday.
The WSWS Teachers Newsletter urges teachers to reject this deal. As with every teachers’ strike over the last year, the DCTA rushed to shut down the strike without resolving any of the issues concerning poverty wages for teachers or the broader attack on public education.
The unions are working deliberately and systematically to prevent the linking up of teachers in different sections of the country in a common struggle. West Virginia and Oakland, California teachers were literally preparing their picket signs when the Denver strike was shut down.
The limitation and isolation of strikes is no accident, but a deliberate policy enforced by the National Education Association (NEA) and the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) designed to prevent a national strike in defense of public education and in opposition to the privatization policies pursued by both Democrats and Republicans.
As Denver educators vote on the tentative contract, 3,000 teachers in Oakland are striking on the very same issues—inadequate salaries, the failure to fund classrooms and provide essential services, and fundamental attacks on public education through charter schools.
The fact that the DCTA abruptly ended the teachers strike last Thursday without a ratification vote on a new contract angered many teachers. Despite the legal requirement to livestream all talks, the…