I got an email from commenter phoebesmother:
My sister, who lives near Chapel Hill, is involved in this movement big time (she’s been arrested and charged, but for some reason the prosecutors dropped all the charges on anyone arrested the day she was arrested, one of the early days). She called me just now to convey HOW EXCITED she is about the march this Saturday, which is a permitted march, not civil disobedience in the manner of the ongoing Moral Monday protests.
You’ve covered this movement earlier and it would be great if BJ (my constant companion) would talk it up before Saturday. She says folks are coming to Raleigh from all 50 counties and from many other states, even a busload of folks from a UU congregation in California. We know that voter suppression laws are this century’s civil rights issue and are hard to fight against. But in NC it’s every bad impulse of the Republicans, from cutting unemployment benefits and Medicaid to real aggression against teachers. She tells me the legislature has passed a “signing bonus” bribery offer to teachers, asking them to sign away their labor rights and return to “firing at will” with no recourse. She says that teachers are wearing stickers and buttons saying “decline to sign.”
Here’s more march info, and here’s why the public school teachers who are part of Reverend Barber’s coalition will be wearing those “decline to sign” buttons mentioned in the email.
On February 8, 2014, tens of thousands of people will gather at Shaw University on Wilmington St. between South St. and MLK Jr. Blvd. at 9:00 a.m. in downtown Raleigh. We will march around 10:30 a.m. after which we will begin the mass people’s assembly on the doorstep of the State Capitol.
For the past seven years, a fusion movement has been growing in North Carolina. In 2006, the Historic Thousands on Jones St. (HKonJ) People’s Assembly Coalition was formed under the leadership of Rev. Dr. William J. Barber, II and the North Carolina NAACP. It has grown to include over 150 coalition partners.
If you go to the march (and if you’re in North Carolina I hope you do go) remember to “wear red for public ed”.
feebog
They are actually bribing teachers to give away their rights? They think for a one time bonus teachers will be willing to put themselves at the mercy of administrators and politicians? Dumb.
Kay
@feebog:
I love how cheap they are, too. NC teachers are paid less than most teachers in the country. So they “give” them 500 bucks. I mean, really. Bring a serious offer :)
negative 1
@Kay: If they’re stupid enough to sign should they really be educating anyone else? Talk about adverse selection…
GregB
@Kay:
Wasn’t that just about the amount of the George W. Bush ‘rebate’ back when we were told the government had too much money?
Another Holocene Human
Thanks for posting this. I got an email about it but I’m already committed that day (and it would be kinda far to travel at any rate).
@negative 1: +1
Elizabelle
Glad to hear of this. Go Marchers!
Plz keep us apprised; on another Saturday could drive and join. This weekend, no.
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
Thanks – as always – for keeping us up to date on these. It’s such an important movement, and I always forward these around to folks who don’t read Balloon Juice.
Higgs Boson's Mate
Well I’m out here to hell and gone on the Left Coast. Is there any way to support the marchers through a donation?
Kay
@Higgs Boson’s Mate:
There is. There’s a donation button on the main page that I linked to.
Kay
@negative 1:
There’ some weasel language, too, seems like budgeting on the 500 bucks is a LITTLE iffy. I have the feeling a LOT of NC teachers are suddenly going to be declared “ineffective” and ineligible for the bonus as soon as those signatures come in!
Mike in NC
Fun Fact that I saw not too long ago: public school teachers in NC rank 45th in the country when it comes to salaries. I guess the legislature wants to grab that cherished #50 spot.
MomSense
Go Moral Monday! Thank you Kay and phoebesmother!
Omnes Omnibus
@Kay:
Golly, no one would ever do something like that. It would be[Okay, I tried but I can’t go on in that vein. Of course that is exactly what would happen.]
Higgs Boson's Mate
@Kay:
Thanks, Kay. Donation in. Things aren’t going that great for me right now, but I’ll be damned if I can’t squeeze out a few bucks for these folks.
Served
Kay! You forwarded me to some people to help out on this incident at the end of last year, and the workers won in the end:
http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2014-02-03/business/chi-snarfs-workers-get-jobs-back-months-pay-20140203_1_back-pay-minimum-wage-the-workers-organizing-committee
Ben Cisco
The NCGOP is going to get their asses handed to them, and I for one cannot wait.
Ripley
@negative 1: Punching down?
Punchy
A bit OT, but is this Peak TeaTard? I cannot imagine anything stoopitor than this….
hoodie
@Ben Cisco: I hope that ‘s the case, but I have my doubts. It will be interesting to see if Clay Aiken can get traction. He sure as hell has name recognition, but I wonder if NC has the sense to elect an openly gay candidate. That campaign may get ugly, hats off to Clay for trying.
Belafon
@Punchy: We will never reach peak wingnut until they are punished for their idiocy. We have not gotten to the point yet.
Kay
@Served:
Ha! I remember that. Thanks so much for letting me know how it came out:
I think we have a functioning NLRB now after years of inaction, so that probably helped.
kindness
I feel for all the good people in N. Carolina. It wasn’t too long ago that N. Carolina was billing itself as the sane place of the south. Now….not so much.
negative 1
@Ripley: I work for a union, there’s only solidarity or betrayal. I punch in whatever direction they try and screw us from.@Mike in NC: I’m sure they can have it when they pry it out of South Dakota’s cold, dead hands. It’s amazing that they’re such a ‘success’ story since they struck oil money and yet they don’t seem to be funnelling any of that into an investment in the future of the state. Makes one wonder about all of the newfound revenue that the Keystone pipe will bring everyone, doesn’t it?
Roger Moore
@Punchy:
Your lack of imagination does not put a limit on teabagger stupidity. At least in this case they’re responding to something trivial that the Girl Scouts actually did. They’re perfectly capable of launching the same kind of over the top response to something completely imaginary.
Kay
@Punchy:
This made me laugh.
Charlie Crist:
Every day, Rick Scott kills 6 people :)
I followed Crist a bit when he campaigned for Obama in 2012 and he’s a vicious campaigner, although he smiles constantly.
Mike in NC
@hoodie: One of the clowns seeking the GOP nomination in my Congressional district is named Woody White and apparently 20 years ago he was an advocate of rounding up and jailing openly gay people. He has yet to state his current opinion on the topic, since he apparently thinks being the most ultra-conservative in the running will guarantee him a win.
schrodinger's cat
OT: The US Olympic Team’s uniform is atrocius, the cardigan with stars looks like a Pajama top.
Ben Cisco
@hoodie:
Will and has:
They’ll show their ass, a few more people will see it, and slooooowwwwly the ship will turn.
Ben Cisco
@schrodinger’s cat: Hipster chic!
Gene108
@hoodie:
Statewide race, I doubt he could win. Outside of the college towns, the vote was overwhelmingly to ban gay marriage.
schrodinger's cat
@Ben Cisco: They have paired it with white pants. So it looks like mismatched pajamas, fugly.
Villago Delenda Est
It’s great to see this movement blossoming and prospering. It gives me hope that we might yet avoid “The French Solution” for setting this ship right.
Kay
@schrodinger’s cat:
It’s 100% US-made for the first time! All of it, materials, the whole thing.
I don’t think the people who constructed the garments should be held responsible for the design, however :)
Jibeaux
There are 100 counties in NC, btw.
Got some friends going, kids prevent me from going. The teacher thing, they’re eliminating so-called tenure anyway and only 25% would be eligible for the bonuses. How they’ve decided that only a quarter of teachers deserve it is anyone’s guess. Not taking the money is a protest of the whole thing. I’m proud.
Villago Delenda Est
@schrodinger’s cat:
As was noted when the uniforms were first unveiled, there is method to the madness…no one gay would be caught dead in such fashion nightmares, so it’s all about camouflaging the US Olympic team from Putin-homophobe scrutiny.
catclub
@Punchy: Nope. Daily Meme at Tapped showed they are simply maintaining on their outrage (of many years) over the Girl Scouts. I feel like calling up a Girl Scout and ordering some.
schrodinger's cat
@Kay: We have Ralph Lauren to blame for those fashion don’ts, I think.
Villago Delenda Est
@Punchy:
That’s pretty stoopid, ’tis true. I’m sure they’ll find new nadirs of stoopid, however. They always do.
Maody
WOWIE ZOWIE! I’m phoebesmother’s sister and want to thank her (love ya, KB) and Kay for posting this. Anyone who loves or lives in North Carolina should not miss the boat tomorrow.
ALL ROADS LEAD TO RALEIGH http://www.hkonj.com/ #WhyWeMarch
Jibeaux
@schrodinger’s cat: between those Olympic sweater nightmares and those 60 pound pubescent waifs he calls models interrupting my Downton, I’m about done with that guy.
hoodie
@Gene108: 2nd congressional district, 50% urban/rural. Ellmers won with 55% against a former military guy with no name recognition. From what I understand, party insiders encouraged Aiken to run, so they may think his local popularity may give him a chance. I wonder if some of those middle aged ladies that voted for him on American Idol will do him a favor again and stick it to their teatard husbands. The guy was a phenom around here for a while.
schrodinger's cat
@Jibeaux: I have never much liked his clothes. The clothes in those ads that air before Downton are terrible, the hats and the jewelry is over the top and weighs more than the models.
Speaking of Downton here is my review of the latest episode.
burnspbesq
@hoodie:
And it’s hard to imagine that he could be worse than NC’s last celebrity congresscritter, Heath Shuler.
Mnemosyne
@Kay:
As I said when they were first unveiled, that’s the sweater you wear to a knitting convention so all of the other knitters can marvel at your mastery of intarsia.
The stories behind the “made in America” stuff are pretty cool — here’s one about the farm where they got the wool. There is very little US-produced yarn available. Most of the yarn spinning happens overseas, especially Turkey, so it was a really big deal for Ralph Lauren to get everything produced.
brantl
The Repubs are now doing the ideal in labor-saving, get the victims to stab themselves in the backs, at bargain-basement prices..
cmorenc
@Mike in NC:
What the GOP would actually prefer to do is to effectively transform the school system to a mostly private or charter school system with taxpayer support, and whittle/wither the public school system down to a pale remnant of its former self. As a corollary, they want to whittle/wither down the portion of teachers who are public rather than private employees.
Kay
@Mnemosyne:
Thanks for the link. I love those sorts of stories.
I only knew about the uniforms because Sherrod Brown rants about this constantly :)
Made in the USA is wildly popular here – Republican, Democrat, doesn’t matter. It’s even better if you point to something that’s made in-state, or even in-county. I don’t know why more politicians don’t talk it up.
Kay
@Mnemosyne:
They brought the sheep lady into the fold! I wonder if she always talks like this, all sorts of sheperd references.
Gene108
@Jibeaux:
WTF is the point of being a teacher, if they eliminate job security? The “money”?
I’m sure the pensions have already taken a hit.
Mnemosyne
@Kay:
It’s becoming kind of a big thing in the knitting world and several companies are based on bringing consumer yarn production back to the US, mostly on the East Coast.
Mnemosyne
@Gene108:
They’re supposed to do it for the pure love of teaching and not expect to receive filthy money in exchange for their labor. What are you, a communist?
Gene108
@Mnemosyne:
They never expected to receive (much) filthy money for teaching. The trade-offs were job security and a pension, when you retire. Take the latter two away and why get into teaching? You could do better in a lot of other jobs.
Villago Delenda Est
@Gene108:
Hey, those car elevators in La Jolla don’t pay for themselves, you know.
Kay
@Gene108:
The tone-deafness shocks me. I get that they have an ulterior motive – end pensions, destroy unions, race to the bottom on wages, but how blunt it is surprised me in Ohio and again in this instance. It feels like an attack to me and I’m not a teacher. My general response in Ohio was “WTF? Since when do we all hate these people?” I was right, too. Turns out we didn’t all hate public employees. What is the point of this slash and burn approach? Why make them your enemy?
negative 1
@Kay: Because in the end public education used to be one of the bulwarks against privatization. You could scream about lazy city employees, greedy garbagemen, etc. but the easy argument used to be that police, fire, and schools were evidence of the necessity of government. Schools were so necessary that the various districts’ property values would fluctuate with the perceived quality of the schools. So you couldn’t starve the beast without it adversely affecting the citizenry. It took a while, but they finally chipped away at that. Now the only arguments you get to use on the necessity of government are police, fire, and roads and only two of those get a pension.
rikyrah
thanks for keeping us aware, Kay
Missouri Buckeye
@schrodinger’s cat: That model in those Ralph Lauren commercials that bumper Downton seriously needs to eat (don’t watch Downton, but do watch Sherlock, which was on after Downton).
It seems rail-thin models are coming back again. How many anorexia deaths are enough for those people?
Brian R.
The sign-your-rights away deal reminds me of the Simpsons episode where Mr. Burns tries to get the union to swap their dental plan for a keg of beer.
WaterGirl
@hoodie: I was really impressed with Clay Aiken’s announcement video that explained why he is running. Maybe someone else has a link.
jean
Have questions about the upcoming #MoralMarch in #Raleigh? Here’s the reasons behind it, directly from the mouths of the people involved. Thousands from all over #NorthCarolina. People like you. http://www.candidslice.com/in-their-own-words-the-purpose-of-the-moral-march-in-raleigh/
CindyH
@Maody: I’m going and bought bus tic for my husband and daughter who now can’t go.
Luckily my church (uu) has a couple of our youth who want to go so I donated the seats .
I don’t believe and don’t pray, but I am praying for huge turnout despite bad weather forecast.
And Rev. Barber is amazing to hear even for atheists like myself
Maody
@CindyH: Cindy – UU in CHill or somewhere else? There are 10 full buses leaving Chapel Hill/UNC?Cmty Church. Atheist here as well – who cares, Dr. Barber is a leader for this time. Not only can he rouse a crowd, he’s also, too, a hoot.