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Schwarzenegger takes heat for attacks on workers

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s attack on public employees heats up with a November special election that includes three Schwarzenegger-backed initiatives to weaken the rights of new teachers, cripple school funding and shut public employees out of the political dialogue.

Even though votes have yet to be cast or counted, it’s already clear that “the Governator” has been hurt by his push for the costly ballot battle and willingness to align himself with right-wing interests seeking to privatize and weaken public services. A poll released this summer by the Survey and Policy Research Institute at San Jose State University shows that the governor’s support continues to plummet, while support is climbing for unions he continues to attack in a ballot battle that will cost Californians an estimated $45 million to $80 million.

Schwarzenegger’s approval ratings in the institute’s poll stood at 34 percent, down from 59 percent of Californians surveyed in January of this year. “Nearly six in 10 voters (57 percent) approve of unions,” the poll reveals. The institute also asked which side voters were more likely to support “if there’s a battle over school funding in the upcoming special election in November between Gov. Schwarzenegger on one side, and teachers and administrators on the other side.” A commanding 60 percent of voters said they would side with teachers, while 31 percent indicated they would support the governor.

Much of this shift in public opinion undoubtedly  reflects the aggressive grass-roots campaign undertaken by the California Federation of Teachers (CFT) and its affiliates, working as part of a coalition of labor unions that represent more than 2 million teachers, firefighters, nurses and other healthcare workers.

The Alliance for a Better California has spearheaded counterinitiatives on prescription drug costs and other issues that will help guarantee a sizable and representative turnout of California voters in November. The coalition also has staged spirited rallies outside Schwarzenegger $5,000-a-plate fundraisers, prompting the governor to enter and exit the events through side doors. In late May, the alliance staged massive rallies around the state to protest Schwarzenegger’s ill-conceived and dangerous agenda.
These Action Day demonstrations drew more than 10,000 protesters in Los Angeles and 20,000 demonstrators in Sacramento, with several other smaller demonstrations spread across the state.

“A lot of folks who voted for Arnold Schwarzenegger thought they were getting someone who told the truth and who couldn’t be bought,” CFT president and AFT vice president Mary Bergan reminded protesters in Los Angeles. “Instead, it turns out they elected a guy who doesn’t know how to govern in a representative democracy. He thinks it’s OK to hold costly, wasteful elections whenever you can’t convince the Legislature that your half-baked ideas should become law.”

Also speaking in Los Angeles was Marty Hittelman, president of the CFT’s Community College Council. CFT vice president Dennis Smith addressed the Sacramento demonstrators.

The ballot fight that shapes up for fall should be nothing short of fierce. Although the grass-roots alliance has shown its ability to mobilize tens of thousands of activists through an organized field program, Gov. Schwarzenegger has a cadre of deep-pocket backers for his agenda. They include major banking interests and pharmaceutical companies that have been bankrolling huge war chests to fight the Alliance for a Better California—although much of this corporate influence has been masked under the cover of a makeshift small business association.

Compton College accreditation yanked

In a move that shocked the community and put the rest of California’s community colleges on alert, the Western Association of Colleges and Schools’ Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges denied accreditation to Compton Community College on June 20, citing mismanagement, negligence and instability, among other things. This is the first college in California denied accreditation by the commission. The college plans to appeal the decision, but could close its doors as early as January.

Compton was put on “show cause” status six months ago, meaning the school was required to prove itself worthy of accreditation. During that time, state chancellor Mark Drummond sent a special trustee to help turn things around.

The college’s governing board, which the commission reported as charging college credit cards for personal use, interfering with personnel decisions and being suspected of corruption (board members are under investigation by Los Angeles County), may be the root of the problem. The publicly elected members have been accused of cronyism, misspending college funds and overspending on personal assistants and leased cars. One report says accreditation team members were physically threatened during their investigation.

According to Compton College Federation of Employees/AFT president Rodney Murray, board members have been shut out since special trustee Arthur Tyler came on board. He has begun cleaning house—replacing the chief business officer, firing some top administrators and revising the administration’s structure. But Tyler, along with Compton’s interim president Rita Cepeda, will be leaving the college at the end of summer for positions as presidents at other institutions.

Faculty are upset that the non-accreditation came after things began to look up. “We were making great progress,” says Murray. “They don’t just cut your feet out from under you, especially when they know the state is taking over.” Carl Friedlander, president of the Los Angeles College Faculty Guild/AFT, a sister union, also is puzzled that a special trustee would be allowed to leave after just months on the job. “I do think the state chancellor’s office has a primary responsibility for braving this out in Compton,” he says. “In a way, it happened on their watch.”

Some feel that, in an age when accountability is a favorite buzzword, accrediting boards, feeling pressure from above, are sharpening their teeth and getting serious about enforcement. Compton, situated in a low-income, primarily African-American and Latino neighborhood, is an easy target for their zeal. “It’s just wrong,” says Murray. “They come in to the inner city and pick on Compton Community College. They haven’t done it to other public institutions, ever.”

Murray has met with Friedlander and other leaders of the L.A. guild to work through some of Compton’s challenges. The community and staff have formed a committee to save Compton Community College, and a recall effort is being launched against the board. Murray adds that he will campaign to get new board members into office.

The board “is still voted in by the people, and we have to go to the people in order to do it right,” he says, estimating that about 74 percent of the community supports a recall—and one colleague thinks it’s more like 100 percent. Backup plans also are under discussion to work with neighboring colleges that might take on students who could be shut out of Compton, should it close.