"We Need Our Teachers!"

(Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO)

"We lost two teachers," 9-year-old Langdon student Bernard Myers III (r) told Union City at last night's Rally for Respect, "We need our teachers and we want them back! Not last week or yesterday but right now!" One of the largest local labor rallies in recent memory overflowed Freedom Plaza Thursday night as thousands of teachers, parents, students, community and labor activists turned out to demonstrate their solidarity and excoriate DC Mayor Fenty and schools chancellor Michelle Rhee for last Friday's mass firings of nearly 400 school employees. "They call it 'right-sizing but there's nothing right about it" said AFT President Randi Weingarten. "These cuts hurt!" AFL-CIO President Rich Trumka, calling Rhree's action's "a cold hard case of unionbusting," pledged support, saying "The American labor movement is with you here today, for as long as it takes and whatever it takes." Fierce fighting spirit animated the signs and speeches as the sun set behind City Hall and shadows crept over the boisterous crowd, which burst frequently into spontaneous chants like "Let us teach!" and "Hey hey, ho ho, Rhee and Fenty's got to go!"  Hobson Middle School science teacher Susan Dunn was attending her first labor rally after 23 years in the classroom. With daughter Jordan - a 6th-grader at Hobson - at her side, Dunn told Union City that "Rhee is just out of touch with what's really happening in the schools. We don't have a contract, we haven't had a raise in five years and now they're firing people without explanation. Morale is terrible." "Do the math, Michelle," said AFT's Weingarten, "students minus teachers does not equal good schools." City Council Chair Vincent Gray, one of a contingent of Council members - including Harry "Tommy" Thomas, Phil Mendelson, Yvette Alexander, and Marion Barry, who called in from his hospital bed - who attended the rally, reiterated his pledge to hold hearings soon on the firings. - Chris Garlock; photos by Adam Wright