TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER'12,1967
THE MICHIGAN DAILY
PAnIR TTMVI
AFT Fights for Higher Salaries, Smaller C
lasses
i
WASHINGTON ()-"We're not
hurting the kids," says the presi-i
dent of the union that sparked thei
teachers' revolt affecting nearly 2I
million school children around thei
nation. +
Charles Cogen, president of the
AFL-CIO American Federation of
Teachers, said the 75,000 teahers
striking in New York, Michigan,1
Florida and elsewhere are fightingi
as much for the children as for
themselves.I
"The strike doesn't last forever,"i
Cogen said in an interview yester-i
day, "but conditions in the schools
do last forever unless you fighti
to change them." 'Now, he says,
schools are little more that "cus-
todial institutions."
The teachers' federation repre-
sents only about 7 per cent of the
nation's teachers.
*
'Resis
UFT Rejects
Wage Offer;
No Talks Set
One Million Pupils
Miss Classes While
Parents Substitute
NEW YORK (R) - Over 40,000
New York public school teachers
defied a court order and began to
strike yesterday.
The strike forced more than
one million pupils to miss regular
classes on the first day of the new
term.
"We will stay out until our de-
mands are granted," declared Al-
bert Shanker, leading his first
s t r i k e of the 49,000-member
AFL-CIO United Federation of
Teachers.
Parents Substitute
Parents attempted to fill in for
some of the absent teachers.
.4 At an elementary school on
Manhattan's upper West Side,
Josh Mamis, 10, declared: "The
parents are better than teachers
'cause teachers scream too much."
The Board of Education esti-
mated that 41,000 of the city's
55,000 teachers stayed away from
their desks in a deadlock involv-
ing wages and classroom condi-
tions. The UFT set the figure at
49,500.
'More Tomorrow'+
"There will be more out tomor-
row," Shanker predicted.
I Mayor John V. Lindsay met
with union leaders for more than
six hours at Gracie Mansion dur-
ing the night, vainly attempting
to head off the work stoppage. No
new talks were scheduled. A $125-
million wage offer earlier was re-+
jected by the UFT.
It was the third time in seven
years that the UFT has struck
the nation's largest school system.
But the previous strikes in 1960
and 1962 lasted only one day each+
and involved respectively 4.600
and 20,000 teachers.
Stay Open
Board of Education President
Alfred A. Giardino said of the2
idle teaciers: "The schools will
remain open tomorrow. I do not
expect a long protest. After their
initial duty to the union is ful-
filled, they will then respond to
their obligation to the pupils."
An estimated 60 per cent of the
1.1 million public school children
showed up. But Shanker declared:
"Practically all of the 900 schools
in the system sent the youngsters
home early."
The UFT president described
! such school activities as were
carried on as fruitless, with mo-
tion pictures and recorded music
replacing instruction.
A new state law prohibits strikes
by unions of public employes,
with the union liable to fines of
up to $10,000 a day. It replaced
an old law - seldom enforced -:'
which made the union members
the targets of penalties.
The UFT had announced it in-
tended to try to circumvent the
law by having the teachers tun
in mass resignations.
However, this maneuver was de-
ferred at the outset lest the names
be turned over to local draft
boards. Some teachers have been
deferred from military service be-
cause of 'their classroom duties.
But the ' comparatively small
union, numbering 144,500, is in-
creasingly becoming the voice of
the teachers, and has even prod-
ded the conservative one million
member National Education Asso-
ciation NEA into, abandoning its
110-year-old no-strike policy.
NEA affiliates are predominant
in the Florida dispute and in some
of the Michigan teachers' strikes.
Cogen and the teachers' federa-
tion emphasize that in addition to
demanding higher salaries, they
are striking for smaller class sizes
and a wide range of improved ed-
ucational services to benefit chil-
dren. They also want a larger
voice in school policy making.
"The big strikes and mass re-
signations are indicative of what is
to follow unless the boards of ed-
ucation get down to real good-
faith bargaining and readiness to
share with the teachers in the
control of the schools," Cogen
said.
"This is not just a sudden flare-
up," Cogen said of the strikes.
"It has been long in coming.
Cogen views this as a crucial
year in the fight.
While the strikes are affecting
a relatively small percentage of
the two million teachers and 45
million pupils in the public schools,
the growth in teachers' disputes
has been astronomical in the last
two years.
The number of 'strikes jumped
from a little more than half a
dozen in 1965 to 33 strikes in-
volvinng more than 37,000 teach-
ers in strikes or strike threats
far more than doubled again at
school opening this year.
The militant fever sweeping
teachers across the country is a
far cry from the walkout of 20
teachers in Branchdale, Pa., in
1940-the first recorded teachers'
strike.
There may have been an iso-
lated school strike or two in the
1930s, the teachers' federation
says, but Labor Department rec-
ords go back only to 1940.
The federation, founded in 1916,
also had a no-strike policy for
many years, sanctioning its first
Walkout in St. Paul, Minn., in
1946.
The number of teachers' strikes
edged up slowly to a high of 20
involving 4,720 teachers in 1947,
then dwindled back to a handful a
year until the big surge in 1966.
"Teachers are more militant
than they've been before," says
Cogen, who headed the federa- continuous decline in the quality"
tion's New York local during the of education," he said.
1960 and 1962 strikes that marked "One of the main things we are
the new wave of militant teachers. interested in is much smaller
Cogen became national president classes in order to make teachers
in 1964. able to reach the individual child.
What do the teachers want?
In salaries, "they are low man
on the totem pole as far as the
professions are concerned," Cogen
said.
The federation is aiming at a
nationwide beginning salary of
$8,500 a year, compared with about
$5,000 now. But Cogen concedes
this is a long range goal that
won't be achieved quickly.
Another major demand, Cogen
said, is improved working condi-
tions, which means improved
schools.
"Education is far behind what
it should be. There has been a
We want all kinds of special serv-
ices for disadvantaged children,
like psychological services, home
contact of individuals, special
reading teachers, and so on-on a
vast scale."
Who's going to pay for it?
Cogen wants President Johnson
to call a national educational con-
ference to make "an honest evalu-
ation of just what good education
would cost," and a vast increase
in federal aid to education.
"Good schools cost good money
and we're not afraid to say so,"
said Cogen.
Asking the government to plug
'tax loopholes" to bring in some "The schools, too, have been
$40 billion a year more federal saught up in this whirlwind of
revenue, Cogen saiid, "There is a frustration, nihilism and human
.ot of money - which is readily alienation," he said.
available to support the kind of Unless a multimillion dollar a
schools we need if the government year effort is made to improve
has the courage to go get it." U.S. public education system, he
He called eliminating tax ex- said, "Our schools will remain
emptions in the oil and gas indus- what they now are--custodial in-
tries, state and city bonds and stitutions."
-apital gains. Are teachers hurting the schools,
Indicating the union's emphasis and the pupils, by striking?
:n federal action, the federation "If teachers don't fight for good
has just completed moving its na- schools, who will?" asked Cogen.
tional headquarters from Chicago "It is our professional duty to
to Washington-"to get into the refuse to .permit schools to oper-
,enter of activity," Cogen said. ate on such a less than satisfac-
What is wrong with the nation's tory basis," Cogen said.
schools? ' "The right not 'to work under
Cogen, a former New York so- substandard conditions is a right
cial studies teachers, cites this we must insist upon regardless of
summer's Negro riots as "symp- fines, jailings or other threats," he
toms of a deterioating society." said.
India, China BATTLE AT CON THIEN:
eachers Strike,Forces Fight Marines Re
On BorderA ,.
pulse Enemy
Intensifies
(court's
Order
NEW DELHI, India OP)--Indian
As Air War
and Chinese Communist troops
clashed sharply on the Tibet- SAIGON (P)-Enemy attacks on
Sikkim border yesterday tn an U.S. Marines positions are mount-
fears of a new India-China Hima- ing in the face of intensified Amer-
layan conflict. ican air attacks on North Viet-
A Chinese note warned the In- am.
dians not to "repeat your mistakej
of 1962," when Indian forces took
a mauling from the Chinese in a
border war over demarcation lines.
In a note to the Chinese, India
suggested an immediate cease-fire
and meeting of the Indian and
Chinese sector _ commanders "to
reduce the tension and prevent
the Situation from assuming a'
very serious aspect."
-Near Capital
The fighting was scant 20 miles
from Gangtok, Sikkim's capital,,
where former American socialite
Hope Cooke reigns as queen with
her husband, the chogyal-king.
Sikkim, with a population of
170,000 and an armed force of
only 300 palace guards, is a pro-
tectorate of India, which is re-
U.S. Marines believe a 'drive by
3,000 North Vietnamese Sunday
was attended to cut off the ad-
;anced Leatherneck base of Con
Thien near the demilitarized zone
between North and South Viet-
nam.
Outnumbered 4 to 1, the Ma-
rines shattered that drive about
two and a half miles south of
Con Thien. At the end of a five-
hour battle, the North Vietnam-
ese left 141 dead on the field.
'Marine losses were 34 killed and
185 wounded.
Increased Aggression
For the past week, the North
Vietnamese have been increasing-
ly aggressive, giving battle as far
south as 140 miles from the de-
militarized zone.
one for exporting "coal to pay for
arms from the Soviet Union and
Communist China. It remained
untouched although last June U.S.
planes blasted antiaircraft guns
on the outskirts, and in the pro-
cess strafed the Soviet merchant
cship Turkistan anchored in the
harbor.
U.S. Air Force planes attacked
the two rail lines between Hanoi
and Communist Ohina Sunday
and encountered at least seven
flights of M;[G 17s. One MIG was
listed as probably shot down.
While reporting no raids in the
Hanoi area, the U.S. Command
said 4.5 million propaganda leaf-
lets were dropped over the North
Vietnamese capital Sunday. They
told of South Vietnam's election in
spite of Viet Cong terrorism de-
signed to scare voters away from
the polls.
Radio Peking declared that De-
fense Secretary Robert S. McNa-
mara's plan to extend a barbed
wire and electronic barrier in
South Vietnam near the demili-
tarized zone was doomed to fail-
ure.
"The Vietnamese people in both
zones are kith and kin, bound by
flesh and blood," the broadcast
said. "No force on earth, no 'bar-
rier h atsoever can possibly sepa-
rate themr"
North Vietnamese drove within
15 yards of the battalion command
post before being hurled back. One
Marine commander said that all
but 30 of his 150-man company
were wounded, but most of them
kept on fighting.
sponsible' for its defense and for-; The enemy has had more than
eign relations. 900 killed in the five northern
DeGaulle Suggests
F-Polis Pact
-Associated Press
BYSTANDERS FLANK A BARRICADE and shout at teachers picketing outside a school in Harlem
yesterday morning. Thousands of New York teachers struck on the opening day of the new term
after rejecting a proposed two-year contract.
AVERAGE RISE $133:
Chrysler RevasPrice Hike;
UZ4, ord Set, Talks Friday
The intensity of the fighting'
caused consternation in'New Delhi
and officials kept close watch in
an effort to determine Communist
Chinese intentions. China and
India fought a Himalayan border
war over demarcation lines on
two fronts in 1962.
Second Outbreak
It was the second serious out-
break of fighting in five days in
the same area.
Peking's New C h i n a News
Agency accused Indian forces of
"a flagrant military provocation."
It contended the Indians sought
to "provoke an even larger scale
border incident."
In New Delhi, the Defense Min-
istry said the Chinese remained
on their side of the border. It
charged the Chinese fired mor-
tars and 76mm guns into the In-
dian positions as well as "in
depth"-that is, at targets beyond
the border inside Sikkim.
The firing capped a week of
minor incidents at Nathu La Pass,
which is at the bottom finger of
Tibetan territory extending south-
ward between Sikkim and Bhutan.
According to the Indian Defense
Ministry, Communist Chinese also
intruded across the border Sat-
urday and Sunday, but withdrew
"after being warned by Indian
troops."
provinces of South Vietnam in
that time by American count.
Only yesterday morning the
Communists launched a ground
and mortar attack on the provin-
cial capital of Hot An, 20 miles
south of the major Marine base at
Da Nang. They also attacked three
district headquarters and five
militia outposts.
Weeklong Skirmish
Skirmishes have been erupting
throughout the week in this gen-
eral area and' Sunday South Viet-
namese troops reported killing 70
enemy troops.
Al this has come in the face of
intensified U.S. air attacks in the
North sweeping to within 20 miles
of the border with Communist
China.
Hanoi radio asserted a U.S. B57
bomber was shot down over North
Vietnam yesterday and two smaller
planes were knocked down over
Hanoi Sunday. .
There was no official confir-
mation of these reports.
The Pentagon took restrictions
off Cam Pha, the third largest
North Vietnamese port, and U.S.
Navy pilots reported they wrecked
wharves and cranes in an intense
air raid Sunday. They said they
left the port practically useless.
Northeast of the major port of
Haiphong, Cam Pha is the chief
WARSAW (P) - Charles de
Gaulle proposed at a special ses-
sion of the Polish Parliament yes-
terday that Poland join France
in forming a united Europe and
become -reconciled to West Ger -
many. Communist Party chief
Wladyslaw Gomulka quickly re-
jected the ideas.
De Gaulle's proposal for a Eu-
rope united from the Atlantic to
the Ural Mountains of the Soviet
Union implied a pullout by Poland
from the Soviet-dominated East
bloc in Europe.
Hits 'Confrontation' '
"Real security cannot, of course,
result from the confrontation of
two blocs facing one another with
iorces on the alert and opposing
pacts," said- De Gaulle.
But Gomulka took the rostrum
immediately after De Gaulle's 15-
minute speech to say that Po-
land's security is tied closely to
its alliance with the Soviet Union
and the Warsaw military pact, the
East bloc's answer to the Northj
Atlantic T r e a t y Organization.
France has withdrawn its military
forces from NATO.
The special session of Parlia-
ment was called as a climax to De
Gaulle's state visit. De Gaulle
spoke without notes; .Gomulka
read his speech.
De Gaulle suggested Poland fol-
low the example of France and
become reconciled with West Ger-
many "since Germany has repu-
diated its misdeeds."
But Gomulka replied that any
settlement of the German ques-
tion requires recognition of East
Germany. This is something De
Gaulle has so far refused to ad-
vocate.
Pre-War Failure
Gomulka told De Gaulle the,-two
countries' alliance before World
War II functioned badly and
"failed to protect either Poland
or France from defeat, catastro-
phe and Hitler's occupation."
"This period of Polish history,
which was a period of weakness
and desperate maneuvers has been
definitely closed," Gomulka said.
He added that Poland had "adopt-
ed the way of friendship and al-
liance with its great eastern
neighbor, the Soviet Union."
DETROIT (P)-Chrysler Corp.,
citing increased costs of labor and
new, required safety items, yes-
terday announced.a price hike on
its 1968 models, which is said
would average $133 or 4.6 per cent
over '67.
General Motors, American Mo-
tors and the strikebound Ford
Motor Co. are also readying high-
er price listings on their new mo-
dels, but it was not immediately
known when their prices will be
announced.
In another development, Ford
and the United Auto Workers
agreed to return to the bargaining
table Friday in an effort to end
a five-day-old strike by 160,000
Ford workers.-
The strike is not expected to
delay Ford's new ,price announce-
ment, since the company already
has 85,000 new models ready for
introduction by dealers, Sept. 22.
Chrysler's new models will go
on display Sept. 14, the earliest
of the four major U.S. auto-
makers.
The C h r y s l e r announcement
marked the second year in a row
that prices have been upped. The
latest boost by Chrysler was
larger than its 1967 model hike of
an original 36. per cent or $111.32.
'66 Cutback
Both Ford and Chrysler rolled
back their prices last year after
General Motors announced a list
far lower.
Chrysler's price changes range
this year from $256 on a three-
seat Chrysler station wagon to a
cut of $144 on the Dodge Charger,
the only model out of 115 whose
price was dropped.
As usual the pricing picture was
complicated by the fact that auto
companies traditionally s h i f t
equipment around on cars. Thus,
an item which might have been
an option on the 1967 model was
made standard this time and is
reflected on the higher 1968 price
tag.
Automakers had been predicting
for months that three major fac-
tors-safety items, health items
and new wage agreements with
the UAW-would cause substan-
tial increases in new car prices.
Chrysler board chairman Lynn
A. Townsend referred to increased
costs of materials and labor and
the added cost of safety equip-
ment and exhaust emission con-'
trol systems required by new fed-
eral laws.
I
L
World News Roundup
PRESENTS:
JANUS FILMS PRESENTS THE ARCTURUS COLLECTION
DIRECT FROM NEW YORK'S PHILHARMONIC HALL
a collection of brilliant short films
by the directors of the 60's (& 70's)
By The Associated Press
ADEN-A three-day battle be-
tween rival nationalist supporters
e n d e d dramatically yesterday.
Twenty unarmed officers of the
South Arabian army walked
through the streets calling, "In
the name of Arab brotherhood;
cease firing!"
Within 20 minutes the battle
that took at least 40 lives was over.
Supporters of the National Lib-
eration Front -NLF - and the
Front For the Liberation of Oc-
cupied South Yemen-FLOSY had
been battling house to house since
Saturday, following an NLF claim
that most of the strife-torn colony,
soon to go over to self-rule, favor-
ed its policies.
* * *
MIAMI, Fla.-Churning relent-
lessly westward across the Carib-
bean yesterday, Hurricane Beulah
smashed coffee and banana plan-
tations along the Dominican Re-
public's southern coast, raked
Haiti and then aimed her. 105
mile-an-hour fury toward the re-
sort island of Jamaica.
* * *
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio-Striking
police and firemen accepted a city
wage offer Monday, ending a five-
day strike that kept most of
Youngstown's safety forces off the
job.
PASADENA, Calif.-Surveyor 5
lowered a radioactive metal box to
the lunar surface yesterday to
start a historic test of chemicals
in the moon's soil.
WOIA
102.9 F.M.
ROBIN BROWN
Broadcasting
'New CinA
"MUSIC FOR MODERNS"
I
Mon. thru Fri.
9 P.M.-1 2 Midnight
Cinem
I
I
PROGRAM NO. 1
ATTENTION!
APA FALL FESTIVAL
Enter Hamlet Fred Mogubgub, U.S.A.
Renaissance Walerian Borowczyk, Poland
Les Mistons '67 Francois Truffaut, France
Running, Jumping, and Standing Still Film
Richard Lester, England
Two Castles Bruno Bozzetto, Italy
The Fat and the Lean Roman Polanski, Poland
Corrida Interdite Denvs Colomb de Daunant. France
IN PERSON
PETER NERO
SUBSCRIBERS
Iq
jll II!I
11
.
i