MTA president makes the case for union democracy, members rights to ‘discuss, debate, learn, teach and protest without fear of retribution’
MTA president makes the case for union democracy, members rights to ‘discuss, debate, learn, teach and protest without fear of retribution’
MTA President Max Page delivered the following testimony to the Special Commission on Combatting Antisemitism, chaired by state legislators, on Feb. 10:
Page to the special commission: I will defend every day the rights of my democratic union and its members to discuss, debate, learn, teach and protest without fear and retribution.
My name is Max Page. I am president of the Massachusetts Teachers Association and am glad to speak on behalf of our union. I am joined today by the most important person in these discussions about K-12 education – an actual educator, Jessica Antoline, a teacher in the Lexington Public Schools.
I have just come from a press conference held a few blocks from the State House, at the Museum of African American History, where I stood with Senator Markey and other education leaders to condemn the attacks on public education being made by the Trump administration, including attacks on our students, on their right to learn and our educators’ right to teach.
I do not believe that personal biographical information is essential to my role as president of the MTA. And I am not a believer that one’s identity determines one’s views on a particular matter, nor do I believe that simply being a member of a particular group gives one an automatic privileged position in a debate. Indeed, in this small hearing room are Jews of many different political views.
But given the attacks on me and our staff and our union, I thought it important to at least explain where I come from.
My Background
My mother’s parents fled from Ukraine and the pogroms and the dislocations of World War I to Camden, New Jersey. My father was born in Kosice, in what is now Slovakia, but grew up in Berlin, witnessed the rise of Hitler (literally watching him drive by on the Kurfürstendamm), was kicked out of his public schools for being Jewish, and finally, luckily, was able to flee with his immediate family to London, and then New York, and finally Cleveland.
Over the December break, I spent several days making my way through the hundreds of letters from the 1930s exchanged between my father and his beloved grandmother and aunts and uncles and cousins. Those letters end in the early 1940s. All of my Kosice relatives – save my Aunt Ila – were murdered at Auschwitz. A few cousins in Hungary were hidden by the help of righteous gentiles, and ended up making their way to Australia in 1956. But every time I gather with my father’s side of the family, and realize how many aunts and cousins I do not have, I am reminded of the fate of my family and European Jews at the hands of the Nazi regime.
Every time I gather with my father’s side of the family, and realize how many aunts and cousins I do not have, I am reminded of the fate of my family and European Jews at the hands of the Nazi regime.
I understand the historical virulence of antisemitism. I understand the newly resurgent strains of antisemitism. I am too old, and too confident in my experience and views, to be lectured about the dangers of antisemitism.
Our members teach according to the award-winning history and social studies curriculum frameworks, which apply to every school district in the state. Our union supported Senator Rodrigues’ legislation on teaching about the Holocaust and other genocides. And this past year we have held workshops on antisemitism as well as on anti-Palestinian attacks. I understand the real fears of our Jewish members as they witness a rising tide of antisemitism. I also hear the real fears of other groups – including Palestinian educators and students, and those who speak out in solidarity with them – who have experienced attacks on their lives, their teaching, their research.
My study of Judaism, which is replenished with participation in Shabbat and holiday services, and study groups, has inspired the values I bring to the work in the MTA. By the front door of my house is a framed print of what I consider a central value in my tradition: “Tzedek, Tzedek, tir dof – Justice, Justice must you pursue.” I am a practicing Jew, a member and former president of my congregation. And in that life as a Jew I try to live by one of the teachings of the ancestors – Pirkei Avot 5:17: “Every argument for the sake of heaven will endure.” It is why Jews are urged not to study alone, but with a chaver – a friend, a study partner – so that they might argue and through that argument get closer to the truth. We embrace debate. And debate necessarily means engaging with people and ideas who have starkly different views of the same subject.
Beyond my personal experience of Judaism, and antisemitism, is my learning about how interconnected antisemitism is with other oppressions, white supremacy, Islamophobia, hatred of Asian American and Pacific Islanders, and, unfortunately, many others.
My thinking has been shaped by the writing of Eric Ward, whose “Skin in the Game” charts the thinking of white nationalists who he, remarkably as a Black man, was able to infiltrate. Ward argues that antisemitism is at the heart of white nationalism. It was the Jews, goes the argument, that conspired with Black people to undermine white power. To reestablish white, Christian dominance, white nationalists believe, as you heard at Charlottesville and elsewhere, “Jews must not replace us.”
We should not take from his statement that antisemitism is somehow “more important” than other hatreds. No, Ward is arguing that we cannot understand, and therefore cannot combat, racism and discrimination of all types unless we understand antisemitism and its connections to other forms of hate. In other words, as the charge of your commission says – to combat “antisemitism and other similar forms of hatred” – we need to be concerned with how antisemitic hate is connected, interwoven with, inextricably bound up with hatred of other people and religions. For this commission to do its work fully and well, it must engage with all hatred, discrimination and oppression. Combatting antisemitism requires that commitment.
Massachusetts Teachers Association
The MTA is a diverse union of education workers – 117,000 educators across 400 locals in virtually every city and town and every public college and university campus. We are the largest union in New England. We are 180 years old, founded right around the time Horace Mann was helping to institute this state’s and nation’s greatest invention: universal, free public education for every resident.
We have fully leaned into the commitment that if we care about students succeeding within our school walls and on our campuses, we must care about their lives outside the school and college walls.
The MTA is also proud to lead the work with a broad network of unions and advocacy organizations to protect, defend and advance our most important resource – an educated citizenry. Our union has been, over the course of our 180 years, a key force for the common good in this Commonwealth. Because of our union and educators throughout the state, we have the finest public education system in the country. With the support of the Legislature we have some of the best funded schools – although we are in a severe fiscal crisis right now – and the most qualified educators. Our union was crucial in stopping the privatization of public education by private charter schools in 2016, and in passing the Student Opportunity Act in 2019. We made progress in weakening the destructive, high-stakes testing regime, and have opened up a discussion about the real goals of our public schools and how to support and assess them. And we were a key force behind winning passage of the Fair Share Amendment, which is paying for universal free school meals, free community college, free regional buses, a better T, more child care, greener buildings and repaired roads and bridges across the state. And it is our union, I am proud to say, which has helped us win universal sick leave, the $15 minimum wage, and paid family and medical leave for almost everyone (except for educators!)
Why has our union been involved in some issues that might seem far away from our core mission of public education? Because over the past decade or so, we have fully leaned into the commitment that if we care about students succeeding within our school walls and on our campuses, we must care about their lives outside the school and college walls. Economic insecurity has a fundamental impact on the ability of students to learn.
Union Democracy
Our union’s strength lies in its democracy. Those of you unfamiliar with unions may not understand that we have no admission test, we have no political purity test. We are the union of workers in public schools and colleges. Anyone in jobs in our bargaining units may join as a member of the MTA – and almost all do. That diversity of workers and views is our strength.
Over the past decade or so, we have embraced our democracy more fully than ever. We are among the most democratic of unions in the country. We have over 40 member-led committees and task forces. All of the money needed to run our union comes from our members in the form of dues, voted on at our Annual Meeting, the largest democratic gathering in this state. No billionaires and their agendas influence us. We have a Board of 70, elected by members in regions across the state. We do our best to encourage member involvement in discussion, debate and decision-making.
The Past Year
I will not speak about specific statements, workshops or resources. I am here to defend our democratic union, its members and its staff.
Our members are engaged in their work, but they are also engaged in their communities, and in politics more generally. Many look to our union to take the lead on issues within our schools and colleges, and, as I said earlier, outside our school walls. Over the years, we have had healthy debates about issues beyond our schools and colleges, our state, and even our nation.
Members came to our Board and proposed actions for the union around the war between Israel and Hamas, and about the larger issue of Israel and Palestine. Some of those proposals were passed by the Board; some were not. I hope some of the critics here have noted that recently a proposal was made to divest all our investments from companies involved with military operations in Israel. After a healthy debate, our Board instead chose not to single out Israel but rather ratify in policy what is already the case: Our union does not and will not invest in any military stocks.
I have personally disagreed with some of the statements or the specific language used in motions approved by our Board. While I have been impressed by some presentations in a workshop, I have been critical of others, even offended by still others. I also believe that as horrible as the murders on October 7 were, as terrible the loss of life in Gaza has been, that this war and the larger question of Israel/Palestine is not the central focus of our work as a union. Within our membership there has been a robust debate about whether or not we should be engaging in these issues, and what stance to take. It has been painful to see members divided from members over this issue, although we are hardly alone in feeling the tear of debate on the situation.
But I will defend every day the rights of my democratic union and its members to discuss, debate, learn, teach and protest without fear and retribution. I will defend our outstanding staff for their professionalism and ethics in handling the issues that come at us, and responding to directives from our Board.
The notion that our union is trying to “indoctrinate” our young people is a simply not true and accusations to that effect have led to death threats to me and my staff, and to other attacks on our union. The educational resources that seem to be the obsession of some were created out of a wish of the MTA Board to provide members with some optional resources to consider and maybe learn from. These resources, developed over the course of many months, were published in the member-only area of our website, were not distributed widely, and despite what some claim, were certainly not presented as curriculum to our members. Posting resources does not imply agreement with each and every document. Nor would we ever expect that our members would look at these resources with an uncritical eye.
Posting resources does not imply agreement with each and every document. Nor would we ever expect that our members would look at these resources with an uncritical eye.
This is what most concerns me in these attacks on the MTA: the disrespect it shows to our members, the educators in our public schools and colleges. Our highly educated teachers and other education professionals – creative individuals who have dedicated their lives to building a culture of learning for young people – are not robots who would somehow be brainwashed by a single set of resources. You will hear in a moment from Ms. Antoline about her work teaching these issues, drawing on many resources, evaluating them, considering their value and how they fulfill the goals of her classes. For our members, the calling to nurture our young people as thoughtful independent thinkers is a sacred one.
Today we live in a country where powerful government officials led by the president want to censor the books in our libraries and classrooms, purge the government of alternate views, annex territories and promote eugenics. I would urge the commission and the organizations represented here to change course and truly help fight antisemitism and other forms of hatred, and not to wittingly or unwittingly reinforce the rising intolerance that is taking over our country. The authoritarian alleged ally today will, as history shows, become the enemy of Jews and all marginalized groups tomorrow. I would like us to work together to protect our schools, our students and our educators.
Conclusion
Many of you may know of, or have on the doorposts of your house, a mezuzah. But you may not know why that mezuzah is mounted at an angle. According to Jewish tradition, this emerges from a debate between two great rabbis – Rashi and his grandson, Rabbeinu Tam – and a disagreement about the proper placement of this important object containing one of the central Jewish prayers. One believed fervently it should be placed horizontally – because the tablets of the Commandments were laid horizontally in the Arc of the Covenant, and we lay the Torah flat when reading from it – while the other believed, equally fervently, that it should be attached vertically – to reflect that Torahs stand vertically in the synagogue ark. According to the Ashkenazi tradition we angle the mezuzah at 45 degrees, as a compromise, to recognize the force of the views held by each rabbi, but choosing to prioritize seeking peace in the name of greater truth.