Two pro-charter school state senators delivered a statement to labor leaders yesterday after the unions launched a campaign against them: We stand up to schoolyard bullies!
Deputy Senate Majority Leader Jeff Klein (D-Bronx) and Craig Johnson (D-Nassau) dismissed the AFL-CIO’s distribution of leaflets that attack them for championing an expansion of charter schools and opposing unions on other pocketbook issues.
“If the union leadership wants to organize a protest, that is their right. But make no mistake about it: They are angry because when their special interests conflicted with the interests of taxpayers, I chose to side with taxpayers,” Johnson said in a rare public rebuke of labor leaders.
“I’ve been a strong proponent of Race to the Top legislation that would qualify New York for up to $700 million in federal funds.
“However, despite the fact that 99 percent of this federal funding would go to traditional public schools, union leadership has tried to kill this education reform legislation because it increases the cap on public charter schools, which don’t necessarily have to be unionized.”
Mayor Bloomberg also brushed back the union, saying he’s supporting Johnson’s re-election for the “courageous act of standing up for charter schools.”
“Let me tell you. I care about our kids, and I think that’s exactly the kind of guy we should have here . . . I will support him because of that one vote,” Bloomberg said.
Klein also said he’s siding with parents, students and taxpayers over union pressure.
“I’m going to stand firm,” Klein said yesterday. “I’m pro-parent, pro-kid and pro-public education — which charter schools are.”
“I don’t understand labor’s fight. If something is working, embrace it,” Klein said.
The labor group’s flier said Klein and Johnson both “sided with Big Corporations and against teachers and students to pass the Charter School Bill — with no real reform.” It urges voters to call the lawmakers.
Earlier yesterday, AFL-CIO President Denis Hughes complained that the Senate last week passed legislation with “record speed” to boost the number of charter schools statewide to 460 from 200, while labor’s agenda to increase unemployment insurance and overhaul the state’s economic development programs remains in limbo.
“They haven’t listened . . . There’s no urgency,” Hughes said on Albany’s Talk 1300 Radio
The Assembly, where unions have considerable influence, has yet to take up the charter school bill.
Hughes said that in coming days the AFL-CIO — whose affiliates include the teachers unions — will be targeting other pro-charter senators.
“This is going to roll for a long time,” he said.
Some of Klein’s Bronx neighbors sided with their senator over the teachers-union activists who protested outside his office on East Tremont Avenue.
“These people across the street should go look for a job. They’ve got nothing better to do,” said Frank Terri, 55, a retired construction worker.
Emma Damm, 78, a retired Texaco worker, said: “I think the unions are doing a lot to hurt our economy. Unions were good years ago, but not anymore.
“Some of these guys make more with their retirement salary than when they were working.”
Additional reporting by David Seifman and Kevin Fasick