Tales from Lodi

Monday April 11

6AM- We rallied at San Joaquin County Hospital with the California Nurses Association (GO NURSES!). They are facing many cuts such as their Oncology Clinic being shut down to 3 days a week. There are certain types of chemotherapy that require a 5 day dosage, those people will not get the best treatment. This denies folks access to quality health care. Many rural health clinics are being cut, nurse’s hours are being cut. San Joaquin is a teaching hospital; students will not have a place to do their training. This affects good jobs…so people are being denied access to health care AND good jobs, all because of cuts to public services.

10AM- 3PM- Delta College is the only community college in the San Joaquin Valley, with almost 22,000 students. We went to lunch with the faculty association, yum! We were busy…at the Student Government meeting we witnessed a group asking the student government to pay for a tutoring program that was losing their federal funding. Since when are Student Activity funds used to pay for Academic Services???? Jim Miller, another member of the CA Federation of Teachers made a PSA (Public Service Announcement) advertising the big rally in Sacramento on April 21st for the campus radio station.

We joined the MeCHA Meeting at Delta College to invite them to Sacramento. They are one of the most active groups on campus, were organizing a blood drive, and a Cinco de Mayo week of activities including a teach in and open mic/ cultural event. We discussed the UC Merced student’s struggle to begin an Ethnic Studies Program, a struggle they are winning!

On campus we met a group who was registering voters and collecting signatures for ballot measures. They seemed busy and students were engaging with them. Delta College was an active campus, with a lot of classrooms and energized students. In spite of the cuts…

6PM back in Stockton- We joined a town hall meeting at a church that looked like a dinosaur skeleton. Manny’s pictures are getting famous and he networked with young people who’ll come thru to Sacramento! One of the most ridiculous things I have seen yet was when an idiot local Superintendent got on stage and proceeded to bash his local teachers’ union and say that highly paid administration was not overpaid and was totally necessary. I thought about humiliating him by pulling his pants down in front of the whole crowd…but I was too late, the program ended. He was the ONLY person in the audience who raised his hand that he indeed, earned over $250,000 a year. TAX THE RICH NOT PUBLIC SERVICES!!!

Tuesday April 12- March to Lodi!!!

8:30 AM- Our march to Lodi began with a picket line outside of the Board of Supervisors meeting. The Board was voting to make the cuts at the hospital we visited the day before. We marched on through the town of Stockton, one of the most populated we have walked thru so far…into Lodi. Past grape fields. We were met by members of the International Longshoremen and Warehousemen’s Union (ILWU) who have been locked out of their jobsite at the Boron mines since January 31st. Local AFSME and community members met us and walked the last 2 miles into town. It got rowdy. UNITY IN STRUGGLE!!!

4PM on the March- One of the best parts of the march so far was when we marched into Lodi and SURPRISE…were met by almost 100 teachers from the Lodi Teachers Association!!! They had kids, great signs and dogs! The two largest teachers unions in the state came together in Lodi and marched, this was historic and just a blatant reminder of how many more teachers there are in the state who need to get in the streets soon. It inspired me to see and feel their energy, and I re-dedicated myself to working on behalf of these great people and the wonderful profession we have chosen. When the Longshoremen are locked out of their job, they lose their livelihood, but when teachers get a pink slip, they lose their passion. For as bad as I have heard and seen things get in public education, I have heard teachers again and again remark, “I still love my job.”

At the park the firemen grilled the dinner, this was one of the biggest community events Lodi had seen in a long time. Community members donated chili, brownies and other homemade desserts.

We’ll keep building this momentum as we march on the Capitol April 21st. There are buses going from every region in the state and everyone who has been affected by cuts to public services is invited. Go to www.cft.org right now to GET ON A BUS!

MARCHAMOS!!!!