When ordinary people rise to do extraordinary things

"In ordinary times we wouldn’t have to be here tonight, and we wouldn’t have to make the decision we’re making tonight. But these aren’t ordinary times. These are unusual times. Extraordinary times. In extraordinary times, people who ordinarily are led often are called upon to lead. People who typically are directed are called upon to direct.
People who usually do not bear the burden of policy formation must take up that burden because those elected and appointed to carry it have shown themselves incapable of doing so. These are not ordinary times. And in extraordinary times, ordinary people must rise to the occasion and do extraordinary things. That’s what we’re doing here tonight."

- high school science teacher Crystal Williams-Gordon

We are living in interesting times.
When public school teachers in a deep red state rise up, not for much deserved pay raises, but to take on one of the most powerful companies in the world, you know we've gone through the looking glass.

Sometimes the boss offers us a fight that directly exposes the destructive effects of corporate power.

In Baton Rouge, Louisiana, that moment came when ExxonMobil asked for yet another handout from taxpayers—property tax exemptions totaling $6 million.

For the ninth-largest corporation in the world, it was a routine request. ExxonMobil is accustomed to receiving such perks from obedient state officials. But teachers saw it differently: as a $6 million theft from the local schools budget.

Educators and other school employees voted 445-6 on October 23 to stage a one-day walkout the following week. Teachers planned to pack a hearing on ExxonMobil’s requests.

Within hours of the union vote, the company’s exemption bids were off the Board of Industry and Commerce’s agenda.

The backstory here is how members of two teachers unions and a Service Employees local in East Baton Rouge got educated about the connection between corporate giveaways and the deteriorating conditions in their schools.

This strike threat by the Baton Rouge teachers is unprecedented in the modern era for several reasons.
Most significantly, it would have been an unauthorized political strike against ExxonMobil. I am not aware of a political strike happening in America since the early 1980's.

The ITEP, enacted 44 years ago, makes corporations eligible for tax exemptions if they can show—or claim—that their expenses for projects will contribute to a community’s economic growth.

In this round of requests, ExxonMobil was asking for tax exemptions for work completed two years ago. The company didn’t even bother to argue that the new exemptions would bring jobs or more revenue.

Louisiana’s local governments are losing $1.9 billion yearly in revenue from property-tax exemptions for corporations made possible by the Industrial Tax Exemption Program (ITEP).
Baton Rouge teachers haven’t received an across-the-board raise since 2008.
It's pathetic that working-class people have to risk their careers just to pressure public officials to do their jobs correctly.

Members were still fired up at her union follow-up meeting, the week after ExxonMobil removed its requests and the walkout was canceled. Some were disappointed not to walk out. Byrd said she had never before seen members not wait for staff or leadership to tell them what the next steps would be: “They said, ‘Let’s do this.’
...Meanwhile, Mills said, the superintendent just indicated he’s going to recommend deep cuts in next year’s budget.

The Help is getting restless and The Bosses aren't listening.

Share
up
0 users have voted.

Comments

Baton Rouge

Leading up to Election Day, teachers were focused on the nine open seats in the school board elections, where out-of-state money from corporate-backed Democrats for Education Reform helped two charter-school proponents outspend the other 13 candidates by almost double. Both pro-charter candidates were elected. Baton Rouge public schools lose more than $10 million a year to charter schools, which capture state funding on a per-pupil basis.
up
0 users have voted.

they open themselves up to charges of meddling, playing outside their sandbox, but they can be champions of the people of their community.

up
0 users have voted.