WHEREAS, the Pennsylvania state-run commission that governs public schools in Philadelphia made its latest and most brazen attack on that city’s teachers in early October by announcing that it had unilaterally cancelled the teachers union’s contract and reduced the teachers’ health benefits; and

WHEREAS, the Philadelphia School Reform Commission made its surprise move at an early morning meeting that received little publicity and included no public testimony, which strongly suggests that it knew this drastic and destructive action would arouse public opposition; and

WHEREAS, the commission announced that it was leaving in place all provisions in the teachers’ contract, except for changing health benefits by requiring members of the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers (PFT) to contribute to their health fund; and

WHEREAS, the action thus amounts to the imposition of a contract after a year of negotiations marked by the commission’s insistence on unacceptably deep cuts to teachers’ pay and benefits; and

WHEREAS, the commission, controlled by Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett, took this desperate measure in the waning days before the state’s gubernatorial election, which polls indicate Corbett will lose; and

WHEREAS, the commission is trying to pit the public against teachers by announcing that money cut from teachers’ benefits will be funneled to the city’s cash-starved schools; and

WHEREAS, protests by students have shown that most in the public are not fooled by this transparent attempt to hurt the very educators who are holding the schools together during a period of unprecedented and crippling cuts; and

WHEREAS, Philadelphia’s schools have struggled as the state’s Republican-controlled government has slashed state education aid by $1 billion and abandoned a funding formula designed to increase resources for high-need schools. Nearly two dozen schools in the city have been closed and thousands of positions for teachers, counselors and other critical staff have been lost. The state cuts also caused a $300 million shortfall in the city’s schools budget, which the School Reform Commission has been using to try to bludgeon the teachers union into submission; therefore be it

RESOLVED, that the United Federation of Teachers hereby reaffirms its commitment, made in a resolution dated Dec. 11, 2013, to stand in solidarity with our brothers and sisters in Philadelphia; and be it further

RESOLVED, that the UFT will continue to work with both the PFT and the American Federation of Teachers to call for a restoration of school funding in Philadelphia and the rest of Pennsylvania, an end to the state’s attacks on educators and a commitment to repair the harm done to the city’s schools, students, families and teachers.