Teachers Rally Against Budget, Pay Cuts

Union members who oppose making up for budget problems by changing public employee salaries, benefits, and working conditions rallied in front of the Fairfax City Regional Library Tuesday, inspired by protests in Wisconsin.

"We make Fairfax work," said Michael Hairston, president of the Fairfax Education Association, the largest teacher's union in the Fairfax County Public Schools system.

The FEA was joined by several other unions, including the Fairfax County Federation of Teachers; the Fairfax County Government Employees Union, and the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO). MoveOn.org was involved in organizing the rally.

Karen Conchar, president of the Fairfax County Government Employees Union, said the rally was aimed at opposing the current freeze on salary increases for FCPS teachers' salaries.

"Even though we're not a collective bargaining state, we still want a voice," Conchar said.

Organizers circulated a petition opposing the use of cuts to services and public employees' salaries to resolve budget problems, favoring instead increasing taxes on the wealthy. The petition will be delivered to Virginia Senators Mark Warner (D) and Jim Webb (D) tomorrow.

Ted Kinnaman, a resident of Northern Virginia and native of Wisconsin, spoke about the fight between public employees unions and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) that began when Walker attempted to eliminate collective bargaining rights for most public employee unions.

"Politics in Wisconsin are now meaner than they ever were before," Kinnaman said.

Protesters at the rally opposed budget cuts at the federal, state and local levels. In a press release, MoveOn.org decried the effect of potential House Republican budget cuts on Northern Virginia, including reduced funding for the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority.

"Partisan political attacks on the people that serve our community is not the answer," Hairston said. He asked protesters to join his group at a rally in front of the Fairfax County Government Center on March 29 at 5:30, right before the presentation of the FCPS budget.