00:00:11.140 - 00:00:36.910

I'm just gonna go in my mind for the girl alive. What did he say? Mm hmm. Why is that trump? Because I feel that they were wrong in their decision. People, people that are striking. What about the charges that the busses are unsafe? That I don't

00:00:36.910 - 00:00:50.720

think they're I think they're pretty safe because we have a pretty good maintenance crew. How about the idea that the fact that they were fired? They fired? They had a deal. The union warned them that if they took the action they took bypassing the leaflets out,

00:00:50.720 - 00:01:07.210

they would be fired. And besides that the company sent out a special memo saying they'd be fired if they knew they were warned twice had a decision to make. I could have passed them out too. But I didn't requires the California Highway Patrol responsible for the

00:01:07.210 - 00:01:26.230

inspection and supervision of the maintenance program. We've been working closely with them for years. The school district was satisfied. They've talked to the Highway patrol officer Vern Morris and uh china to all employees advising that it was against the school district policy. And the company policy

00:01:26.780 - 00:01:44.330

to distribute unauthorized material, particularly to the Children. It's a very strict school board policy. We warned them that if they did, they would be disciplined or terminated. The thing is that we have four employees that were terminated. We have three employees who subsequently refused to go

00:01:44.330 - 00:01:56.220

out to work and their status as far as we're concerned, we've checked with the union is that they quit? If they refused to go to work, they have quit. So we have presently. Secretary, what do you think? Well, hell people are gonna say anything, aren't they?

00:01:56.220 - 00:03:09.640

To get revenge. I don't know. That's the way I feel if they're going to take it the way they can get it keep rolling. Yeah, Yeah. Yes. Come on the line. You're gonna be next. It wasn't. Yeah.

00:03:16.040 - 00:04:09.590

Yes. Okay. Good night, good job. Yeah. Yeah. They're passing out leaflets. Can I? I can hear you. Did you talk to mrs go tight? Okay, Okay. Yeah. Now you're working and not trying. Mm hmm. Yeah. Now these, these people

00:04:09.590 - 00:04:24.440

are on, Excuse me saying that the bus is # one. They're saying the busses are unsafe. What do you say to that? Well, that's first of all, not true. We've got like 70 brand new busses here and the older equipment we have is probably some of

00:04:24.440 - 00:04:39.340

it as much as 10 years old. But the, the fact that the men who were claiming this were four of them were fired and passing out leaflets. Is that true? Yes. We don't deny that the problem stems from a disagreement. I guess you might say within

00:04:39.340 - 00:04:56.570

the union itself, the new employees that came on at the start of the year and since the start of school felt that they should be paid more money, A contract is in effect has been in effect since september it was negotiated during the summer. Our rates

00:04:56.570 - 00:05:11.740

are the highest school bus rates in the Bay Area. We pay to 80 to start and then 3, 10 after three months, our competitors pay much less those that we bid against. The, the first of all was a union matter. It became a company matter when

00:05:11.740 - 00:05:27.180

they were threatening to distribute literature to the parents and the kids in the school district to support their cause. Now our position was that if they felt they had a grievance to go through the appropriate union channels to request reopening the contract or whatever might be.

00:05:27.840 - 00:05:42.480

Instead of doing this, they prepared a leaflet For the first memo was unsigned. Then another leaflet was prepared, basically the same thing telling the people that we had threatened to terminate him if it was passed. And there were about 16 names typed on the leaflet. At

00:05:42.480 - 00:05:53.800

least four or five people came in to see me and said they had nothing to do with that. They weren't authorized to use their names. Uh, they were, they could not speak for the drivers because they were only possibly six, maybe 12 people involved in the

00:05:53.810 - 00:06:08.230

dispute. We tried to contact these six people. We asked them to come into the office so we could talk to them verbally, they refused to come in individually. We wrote them a letter, they refused to that one of the things. What's the effect, what's effective two

00:06:08.230 - 00:06:23.030

strike so far? Well, actually seven people unemployed as a result of this. And I believe I don't even see all of them out there. Some of those people on the picket line, don't even work for us. I've never seen him before. But the point is this,

00:06:23.030 - 00:06:35.780

that those seven without the, in fact, contrary to the advice from the union, contrary to the provisions of the contract, are trying to affect the lives of the other employees by getting them to support their costs. In any case, the schoolchildren are being bused where they

00:06:35.780 - 00:06:50.140

belong and with no problems so far as I know. Yes, Now we've had a couple of minor delays, nothing of any real significance. We've been keeping the school district completely advised What happened this afternoon remains to be seen the time for the runs to go out.

00:06:50.500 - 00:07:24.820

It's just about now from now until 3:00 PM and I suspect that many of the drivers will go out maybe some Good morning. Thank you very much grounds. How do you think this situation is like Newark the same situation and all over the,

00:07:24.820 - 00:07:39.840

all over the country there? Uh, the Nixon administration, the state administrations always government administrations of bankrupt and they're gonna make the students and the teachers and all the workers paid for it, You know, by taking it out of their highs Lindsay threatens to lay off 12,000

00:07:39.840 - 00:07:53.750

teachers are laying them off all over town here Stokes in Cleveland wanted to lay off a third of the civil service. I want to take it out of the heights of the working class and make them pay for it And, and they want to break the

00:07:53.750 - 00:08:13.480

strength of the union movement, which is the only way to fight back. And uh, I mean this, this new work situation was exactly the same thing a city which claims it's bankrupt and uses that excuse to try to break the teachers union. And in the course

00:08:13.480 - 00:08:26.530

of that strike tries to whip up the most reactionary kind of racist sentiment To say that the teachers strike is a strike against the blocks and against the youth. You know, as though these 5050 people in the classroom that these people want to bring about like

00:08:26.530 - 00:08:40.170

Elias. So it's not, it's not the very thing that's going to create racism. You know, they're, they're cutting the school budgets, you know, they're tearing apart all the conditions in these schools and they accused the teachers of, of carrying out racist acts by striking and the

00:08:40.170 - 00:08:53.870

only way these schools are going to be changed and that education budget is going to be solved, but just is by beating back city hall, you know, and it becomes, it becomes, can become a very ominous situation in which the city will try to polarize things

00:08:53.870 - 00:09:14.220

on racial grounds. They did it in new york in Ocean Hill Brownsville. They've done it in new york, They try to create a civil war and they're going to try to do it here, The progressive labor movement classes going to baseball practice. I'm not in school

00:09:14.220 - 00:09:31.340

right now. How do you feel about the stripe? I think it's pretty good to get a vacation off just before unification said we got it made. Do you think it's fair to the students that the teachers are on strike? Anything? You're not learning anything? What do

00:09:31.340 - 00:09:57.910

you, what do you think the strikes all about teachers need more money? Do you think they deserve more money? How come you're coming to school while the strikes on how come you're going to school while the strikes? How about you? What are you going to school

00:09:57.910 - 00:10:12.250

if the teachers are on strike? Because I want to graduate in june Yes, I do. I do. Most of the students feel like they're being cheated or do they feel the strike is fair? I think it's really affecting the high seniors mostly because they want to

00:10:12.250 - 00:10:42.470

graduate. I don't think so. Do you think people are working as hard in their classes since the class strike has been on? What's happening in class? That's really all right. Does this seem like a good representative of people on the, on the line for the fourth

00:10:42.470 - 00:11:01.490

day of the strike? No, they just attended a rally rally for the mission area as a consequence of people are still coming back to the school. What happened at the rally? It's just the communication between union members, We found out what was happening in the central

00:11:01.490 - 00:11:19.800

office and how they were doing the negotiating and what is happening today. I think it would be best to see uh um either of the a member from the central office too ask that question. Do you teach at this school? What do you think the reactions

00:11:19.800 - 00:11:34.480

of the students has been to the strike so far have been positive. They seem to be attending classes. Do you think they should or should not? Me? There's nothing going on in the building. Several students have mentioned that there hasn't been a teacher in a class

00:11:34.480 - 00:11:53.800

where there have been people in the class, one or two people and they just sign in and then wander out and do whatever they want. Okay, let's see if he has an opinion of what happened today. There don't seem to be many teachers out picketing today.

00:11:53.800 - 00:12:09.790

Do you have a reason for that? Most teachers left picketing here about 11:00, to go to the Union rally. What is happening at the union? They're just trying to keep us up on what's going on? The fact that we're losing ground this strike is really just

00:12:10.240 - 00:12:24.010

as far as many union members, because there just to hold ground, this is about the only union in town where the management is taking away from us. In terms of class size agreements, we negotiated programs for students, like new careers where we get people who cut

00:12:24.010 - 00:12:36.660

into class, they're going to cut all that stuff out if we let them, you know, if we let them have with all the things they want too. Damn it. That's involved in it to teachers are the only group I know in the country who have to

00:12:36.870 - 00:12:51.110

hang their heads in shame when they asked to stay up with the cost of living. Other unions can say we want money, we want money, but teachers can't do that. But aside from pay, there's all kinds of reasons to strike. Not and not even, it's not

00:12:51.110 - 00:13:04.140

a matter of getting new things, it's a matter of holding on to what we've got. You know, and as far as working conditions, you have class sizes, How well you can work with. I have a class now with 10 students and we really go in that

00:13:04.140 - 00:13:22.010

class English as a second language next year, we won't have it. Do you think that the student should be attending classes or should be out on the street with the teachers? Mhm. Uh huh. That's it. The students, I guess, I'm not going to try to tell

00:13:22.010 - 00:13:35.570

them what to do. I appreciate it when they stay away because of all the students stayed away. The strike would be over in a hurry. I think it'd be better for them. That's my opinion. Do you feel that the teachers association will join the local 50,

00:13:35.570 - 00:13:56.990

50 chance be nice if they did, they won't refuse the benefits, but they won't make the effort to go get them. I hope they do. I hope they do well welcome them. Would be nice to have them around. Okay, thank you. Wait. We just want to

00:13:56.990 - 00:14:11.240

ask you what you're handing out? We're proposing Citywide general, wait, are you ready? Are you on? Okay. What are these leaflets you're handing out? We're proposing a citywide strike of city labor, all the city workers to come out and shut this down so that the teachers

00:14:11.240 - 00:14:29.270

will go to victory. What sort of labor other than teachers? Bus drivers, the city workers, local 400 the janitors, the rest of the teachers were calling for an all out strike voted the C. T. A. This afternoon. Have you gotten any cooperation so far? But we're

00:14:29.270 - 00:14:42.890

campaigning for it. We're calling for a meeting tomorrow afternoon at 4:00 to discuss these questions to go forward. So you sort of like to shut down the whole city in support of the teachers, know that these other workers also go out on their own demands. That

00:14:42.890 - 00:14:59.520

they've got the same situation of layoffs of attacks on their working conditions of a wage freeze and that this has got to stop and furthermore, that they've got to understand that the battle is not only against the immediate wage cuts and layoffs, but that they're battling

00:14:59.520 - 00:15:22.680

the city and they've got to take up the struggle for an independent political party labor party in their own interests. Okay. We have to That's progressive way of recording. Show me too. Any of you, high twelve's is going is affecting the high 12 more than anyone

00:15:22.680 - 00:15:38.560

else. Is that what you are? How do you feel about that and what it's doing to your education? No, no questions your at school today, are you trying to finish so you can graduate in june and then what are you going to do when you graduate,

00:15:38.770 - 00:15:58.950

go to college, which would you call it state? Are you in support of the teachers know? Mhm. Well, it's hard to work, you know? Well, the way I feel about as much as I know about it, I would say that, you know, the teachers are striking

00:15:58.950 - 00:16:14.950

for themselves and they're not worrying about, you know, the teacher, the students too much because you see uh the students, you know, are the ones that seem to be getting hurt by it because no matter if the strike stay on or anything like that, the students

00:16:14.950 - 00:16:40.850

still don't have to come back and get their education and stay in school and they might even take some days out of their summer vacation. And we were the ones that are suffering from and not feel good. Thank you these girls into town. And what happens

00:16:40.850 - 00:16:53.660

now, he's going to cut back on the hiring of teachers. That means that who gets hurt then the minority teachers are the ones that will not get hired if you know that we can't balance it up. That's what we want. The people who lose jobs first.

00:16:53.660 - 00:17:09.790

The minority teachers and we need that more than anything in this city. We need to balance the teaching staff ratio. If you lose in this strike, will, will teachers be fired? We're not going to lose in this strike? I don't see how we can lose. We

00:17:09.790 - 00:17:28.520

lose if we don't strike, you know, we're losing every day. If we don't participate in this thing. Everybody, the students, our teachers are the minority groups are, everybody is losing except administration. What's the administration gaining? What? What is the administration gaining? Well, I don't know, I

00:17:28.530 - 00:17:50.820

heard that in the last four years, the costs administration down in venice has doubled, but has the cost, has the money spent on books doubled? Has the money spent on classroom size doubled? Objective situation? Deal with deal with scabs away. The trade union movement deals with

00:17:50.820 - 00:18:18.510

scabs. Mhm. I'm gonna let these scams break your strike. What's what's your argument? What's my argument? The argument is that the only way to win the strike is to shut down the city. Yeah. You know that there are whole sections of the labor movement in this

00:18:18.510 - 00:18:30.910

city that are getting screwed by the feet in city hall and that if this strike is going to be winning one, they're not broken. They're going to have to call out those hospital workers and those bus drivers and those welfare workers to fight for their own

00:18:30.910 - 00:18:46.240

demands, shut the city down tight, you know, otherwise you're going to have here in Newark and what's the labor movement's gonna get broken and other cities prepared to keep this this strike going as long as they have to to break the teachers, they're willing to even

00:18:46.240 - 00:19:01.280

go to the C. T. A. To come out, you know, because they think they can isolate them and starve them out and use all this racism, you know, to turn it into a racial strike and not a class question. And we say that these teachers have

00:19:01.290 - 00:19:12.830

got to take on the fight to bring out the rest of the labor movement. They got to demand that from the city workers, they've got to demand that from the Labor Council. And furthermore, they've got to demand that the labor movement break from the Democratic and

00:19:12.830 - 00:19:21.390

Republican parties and launch its own party, the only way it's going to be able to go forward. What kind of reaction are you getting from the teachers were discussing