New DFT President Says No Tactics Off The Table

DETROIT (WWJ) - The new head of the Detroit Federation of Teachers union has been sworn-in. In front of a crowd of supporters Steve Conn took the reigns as new head of the DFT Tuesday evening.

Conn, who won the election by about 15 votes, says he is calling for a mass membership meeting Sunday at which time he hopes to get input on his plan of action.

"The teachers and the students, and with them the parents, are united behind a program of action," said Conn, "to demand the elimination the state sponsored deficit of DPS (Detroit Public Schools) and the debt, the cancellation of the debt, the class size - which has been sky-rocketing must be reduced. Pay, frozen ... the 10 percent pay-cut must all be reversed."

The longtime high school math teacher and civil rights activist says as DFT president he is preparing to fight for what he says, the union membership has lost in recent years.

"They've had 14 of the last 16 years of state control of education in Detroit and they have positively run it into the ground, the deficit goes up, up, up, the class size goes up, up, up, the buildings deteriorate, the teacher pay deteriorates. It's all backwards and wrong and it's going to end."

"There are no tactics which are off the table," said Conn when asked if striking was an option.

He said they are in the process of creating a plan of action.