How to stop Arizona Bosses' Supreme Court undemocratic attempt to stop increased spending on education.

A Statement From Facts For Working People

Heroines and Heroes - the Arizona Teachers show the way.

The so-called Arizona state Supreme Court the unelected undemocratic blocking mechanism to defend the corporations and the rich, has voted to deny the right of the people of the state their democratic rights. It has ruled that the petition to increase education spending cannot be on the ballot in November. This initiative was to increase funding for education and this increase to be paid for by taxes on the corporations and the rich.

The driving force behind this undemocratic action is the Arizona Chamber of Commerce. A cabal of super rich owners of corporations and their lackeys. This outfit is acting in the interests of the corporations and the rich, that is in its own narrow greedy class interests, not in the interests of the working class people and the children of Arizona. The mass media, which also represents the interests of the corporations and the rich, which are paid flunkies of the corporations and the rich, describes this undemocratic decision of the Supreme court as a “major blow to the national protest movement”. But this need not be so. 

The tens and tens of thousands of people who collected the signatures to put the education spending increase on the ballot, some 270,00 signatures in all, more than were necessary, can now print their own ballots calling for the increase, and have their own collection signing campaign for the increase. Not a campaign to get signatures to put the increase on the ballot, but a campaign for signatures to show the numbers of people who want this increase in spending on education and this to be paid for by taxes on the corporations and the rich and insist that this increase is carried out. 

This movement can tell the unelected so-called “Supreme Court”, brings to mind the unelected "supreme leaders" we are always hearing about in places like North Korea and Iran, this movement can tell these "supreme leaders"  to get lost. The movement can tell these "supreme leaders" that they dismiss and reject their undemocratic decision, that they are ignoring their undemocratic decision. This movement can print new ballots, it can take take these new ballots for the increase on spending to the workplaces, hold meetings during work time in the workplaces and get the increase supported. It can go to the streets and hold mass rallies to get support for the increase. If this is done it can be predicted that with the undemocratic decision of the so called Supreme leaders in mind and with the righteousness of the increase in spending in mind more people will vote for the raise than voted to put it on the ballot in the first place. On this basis the movement insist the raise in education spending be en-acted. Let this be the test for every candidate running in election in the state. Do they support the increase? If not they do not get a single vote. 

The purpose of the Supreme Court system like the undemocratic Electoral College, is to keep the wealth and the power of the corporations and the rich intact. Not a single major improvement in the lives of working people will be achieved within the present so-called democratic structures of US capitalism. Full support must be given to the working people in Arizona to have the raise in education they need and when they get the votes for this by going on the streets and into the workplaces then full support must be given to their demand it is implemented 

The movement can run candidates in the coming election to pass this improvement and if this is blocked again, the working people of the state, the parents and families in the state, have the power to halt production in the state that is, a state wide strike and spread this strike throughout the country. Teachers and education workers in state after state are now striking and taking action and decisions to strike to increase spending on education. Arizona you are not alone. 

This is a time to see the big picture, to see the power that working people have and to see that there is an overwhelming majority in the country for reforms such as this. Such reforms are being blocked by the undemocratic structures of US capitalist society and the fact that politics are dominated by two capitalist parties who see their role as to protect the rich and the corporations and their capitalist system. 

Working people we must use our power. We must build a united front, an alliance, of mass direct action, an alliance for the reforms for which there is a majority, the reforms that improve working peoples lives, the reforms like free education for all, cancellation of student debt, health care for all, child care for all at work and in the communities, changes in economic and industrial policy to stop capitalism's destruction of the environment which if it continues will lead to the destruction of life on earth as we know it. As part of this mass direct action movement we must also run our own candidates for office separate from the capitalist Democratic and Republican Parties and build a working peoples party, that is a party that is rooted in and represents the working class. 

Now to another part of the big picture. As mentioned the Chamber of Commerce is the force behind the "Supreme Leaders" in the so-called supreme court in denying the education increase on the ballot. They are the organized outfit of the capitalist class, the corporations and the rich in Arizona. They are acting in the interests of their class. They will never act otherwise.  But there is another potential force in Arizona. The American Federation - Congress Of Industrial Organizations in Arizona----the AFL-CIO. This is the coordinating body of the trade unions in the state. It has 111,000 members. Its leaders are Dean Wine Secretary Treasurer, James McLaughlin President and Bob Bean Executive Vice President.

The question is this. While the Chamber of Commerce in the state and the so-called supreme court are acting in the interests of their class why are the leaders of the Arizona AFL-CIO not acting in the interests of their class, that is the working class? These leaders have been a dismal failure in their positions of so-called leaders of the Arizona unions. In 2007 8.8% of the workforce in the state were in unions. Today it is less than half that at 4%. This at a time when 62% of the US population are in favor of unions - the highest in 15 years. Yet in Arizona there are only 4% in the unions!!! It is time for the failures Wine, McLaughlin and Bean to seek another line of work. 

The explanation for their failure is simple. The policy of these union leaders in Arizona and the policy of the trade union leaders nationally is to capitulate to the offensive of the corporations and the bosses. As part of this they bow and scrape to the Democratic Party and even some to the Republican Party. They support the capitalist policies of these parties. They luxuriate in their positions with their high salaries, good benefits and secure jobs. Their role must be recognized. They and the entire union leadership are an obstacle and a conscious obstacle to the working class people in the country fighting for a better life. In other states where teachers and educators movements have struck and made gains they have had to do so against the policies of their own leaders. This must be recognized by the rising movements.

Part of this rejection of the Arizona bosses' so-called supreme court to try and deny the people of the state the right to vote to increase education must be the building of a new leadership in the existing unions. A new leadership that will fight to organize the unorganized and the building of a mass union movement rooted in the workplaces and communities.  We need a new leadership that is prepared to confront the corporations and the rich and their two political parties and to act in the interest of the working class and this includes fighting to end the destruction of the environment, the poisoning of the air we breath, the water we drink, the soil in which our food is grown.

The US working class must organize and fight for a future for all working people. For this we need a transformed and expanded  union movement with a leadership that is prepared to fight for our class as the outfits such as the Chambers of Commerce, the so-called supreme courts the two major parties the Republicans and the Democrats fight for their class.