Electoral aftershock Follows Oklahoma Teachers Walkouts

Oklahoma teachers shut down the schools in April

Richard Mellor

Afscme Local 444, retired

In the wake of the inspiring teachers/educators strikes earlier this year, the AP reports that 6 more Oklahoma legislators, all Republicans that opposed raising taxes to fund public education have been ousted in primary runoffs. This brings the number to 8.

This is very good news and shows what fighting back can do. We have numerous articles on these developments and have stressed the importance of this movement and how it has to some extent  changed the playing field.  Let’s stress again that West Virginia educators struck in opposition to the official union leadership. They refused to trust their legislators and refused to take the advice of that leadership and return to work until their gains were codified and this all happened in a state where striking is illegal. 

More importantly when it comes to union density and the need to organize new members, the West Virginia sisters and brothers increased their wage gain from 1% to 5% and (I sound like a TV add for nifty gadgets here) there’s more; they won a 5% increase for all state workers. That is how you can win the unorganized to our banner. Power attracts.

As we all now know, the movement spread to other states, Kentucky, Oklahoma, Arizona, Colorado and elsewhere. As this was going on, teachers in Puerto Rico, constitutionally a part of the US abandoned and denigrated by the Predator in Chief, were engaged in major battles against the state and its assault on education and all workers there.

We must not underestimate the significance of these struggles around public education and how it can open up a new era for organized and unorganized labor. The methods used, drawing all workers in education in to the struggles whether union or not is the complete opposite to the narrow, isolationist strategy of the present heads of organized labor that isolates struggles not only from other unionized members but from the working class and our communities in general. This teacher’s movement has significant support in the communities in which we live and work and has a conscious strategy of doing so.

One of the reasons that these gains were made in right to work states is that the labor hierarchy is weaker. The pro-market, employer friendly national union leadership were not able to suppress this movement but they will try to ensure it is contained.

While not at this point aggressively taking up other issues that affect communities like police brutality and gang ordinances that are discriminatory and repressive, this movement is a very positive development.  We have published numerous commentaries on this blog and they can be found under the labor, teachers, and public education labels to the right. Here are three short videos with leading activists from West Virginia, Kentucky and Arizona sharing their experiences and strategies. They are inspiring and hold great lessons for future struggles.

Kentucky Teachers Stress the Need For Union and Community Links   

West Virginia Teacher Describes Events Leading up to the Strike   

Arizona Teacher Talks About Education and the Recent Strike.

This electoral eruption is the aftershock from the movement and strikes earlier this year. But as this movement shifts to the electoral plane we need to consider some major points. My view is that we have never really won anything significant through the ballot box. Legislative victories, like these here, occur after workers have taken mass direct action. The significant social legislation that arose in the 1930’s merely codified what had already been taken in the streets. There were three general strikes in 1934. The half million or so workers that engaged in sit-ins and workplace occupations, the great 44-day Flint occupation and the rise of the UAW and the CIO, the legislation was a consequence of this and the same can be said for the social legislation that was brought about through the mass civil action of the Civil Rights movement and the women's movement. The bosses are taking all this back and this is being hastened by the Predator in Chief, Trump. So while it is important to use political action, it is mass direct action and the willingness to violate anti-worker anti-union laws that brings change.

Having said that, what must arise out of and rooted in this mass movement or what is a potential mass movement at this time, are candidates for political office independent of the two capitalist parties, the Republicans and Democrats. These struggles should run candidates of their own, candidates who are activists in the struggles, who are part  of the struggles. In this way steps can be taken towards workers having a political party of our own.

And while the ousting of legislators that refuse to fund public education though taxes is a victory of sorts, it will not be so if they are replaced by legislators that raise taxes on workers and the middle class or who raise money in any way that reduces public services. It is no victory if we tax ourselves. We must not support robbing one section of the working class to give increases to another section. Such action would divide and weaken the working class. 

There is no shortage of money in society, it is simply a matter of allocation of capital. The first obvious place for funds is a drastic reduction in the misnamed defense budget. I say misnamed because it is in actuality an offense budget. It is a corporate for profits war budget.

Rich parasitical characters like Amazon’s Bezos or Musk and the major corporations and finance swindling companies must be primary targets from which to take the money for education. Oklahoma is a rich oil/energy producer. The energy industry and other major industries, many of them paying no taxes are our targets. Companies like Apple open up an office in low tax Ireland and staff it with a few people and that becomes their tax haven.  The rich, the major corporations and banks and stock market swindlers are awash with money. This is where the money must come from. 

We must not replace no tax legislators with ones who tax working class people.

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