Vol. 23, No. 5                                                                                        May 01, 2005

Response to Barbara

In response to The Patriot Returns Vol. 23 No. 4, Barbara Bowen posted a message to the Senate Forum in which she stated: "The PSC Delegate Assembly has neither considered nor voted on a strike". The Patriot wishes to note that while it is technically correct to say that the DA has not voted on a strike resolution -- we mistakenly claimed otherwise and apologize -- Barbara's claim that the DA did not consider a strike, is absolutely false.

To demonstrate that Barbara's claim is false, The Patriot reproduces below text of a recent resolution adopted by the PSC's Delegate Assembly, and actual discussions by DA members.

First, the resolution -- adopted by the DA on January 27, 2005 :

Resolved that the chapters of the PSC prepare the membership for decisions at the Delegate Assembly this spring on the increasingly militant actions that may be required . . . direct action, special assessment of members for union defense funds, and job actions up to and including strikes.

Subsequent to the passing of that resolution, the members of the DA engaged in EXTENSIVE DISCUSSION of STRIKE:

On February 3, 2005, Stanley Aronowitz, member of the PSC Executive Council, self-styled "activist" and Barbara's guru, wrote to the DA:

"Imagine . . . if the UFT and Al Shanker had respected the prevailing laws prohibiting strikes by public employees. He went to jail and so did Transport Workers president Mike Quill in 1966. Something to consider when we discuss our own situation". [emphasis ours]

On February 3, 2005, Tony O'Brien -- DA member from Queens College who shares an apartment with Barbara Bowen, said:

"Jailing the President is negligible, she's tough"

(I guess her special friend thinks she is a reasonable candidate for jail. These are not The Patriot's words -- they are the words of one so favored that he was sent on a junket to South America by the PSC last summer.)

Tony further said, talking about strikes:

"we lose some money, OK, considering the stakes we're fighting for; dues check-off, not a huge disaster for a few months. I'm not minimizing the penalties the state can administer (which just exposes the fact that the state is antiworker, not neutral), but what they do in fact get away with imposing is partly up to us, the level of our struggle".

Yet more from Barbara's partner:

"If we go out with the students behind us and summon up all the vigor of analysis and action we have shown ourselves capable of, we will make a historic fight and light up the city".

What exactly did you say, Barbara? That the DA never considered a strike?? Why are you not honest with the membership? The instructional staff are not fools.

Other members of the DA participated in an ongoing discussion and consideration of strike. One member said

"Shutting down CUNY is no small thing, but it wouldn't have the same disruptive effect on the public -- not even on the majority of our students -- that shutting down the public schools or the transit system has."

But Barbara's Tony has no such concern. On February 4, 2005 , he told the DA that a strike would

" . . . speak to all working people in the city . . . it will breathe new life and hope into every working person, as would any major strike in this chilly climate".

Again -- what did you say, Barbara? That the DA never considered a strike?? You are not honest with the membership!!

And Tony continues:

"Maybe we could have a striker and a student strike supporter from the recent Chicago Community Colleges strike come to speak to the DA about these issues".

And so it came to pass, at the March 31 meeting of the DA:

BB & Co. persuaded the DA to vote for a Union Defense Fund. In Barbara's words, "Defense funds typically provide resources for unions forced out on strike . . . we would be throwing away . . . power . . . if we did not become the kind of union that is prepared to take job action . . . "

QUESTIONS FOR BARBARA:

ARE YOU PREPARED TO AUTHORIZE A CLEAR "NO STRIKE" PLEDGE, AS PER THE PSC CONTRACT?

DO YOU THINK STRIKES ARE FUN?

DOES ALL THIS REMIND YOU OF THE GREAT TIMES YOU HAD BACK IN THE 60'S?

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