The picket line and America's workforce -- chicagotribune.com:
"I was part of the mob.
Emotions ran high, as we were caught up in a hurricane of rage bearing down on one of the 'scabs.'
Everything that had been building inside me -- the frustration, the anger, the boredom -- came crashing down on me, then a 40-year-old history teacher.
It was 1987 and Chicago Public Schools teachers had launched what would be an almost monthlong strike against the Board of Education.
I had reported for picket-line duty with approximately 50 other Chicago Vocational High School teachers, just when school administrators and other workers who had decided to cross the picket line were filing into the building.
We booed and waved our signs as the principal and vice principal entered. But when two of our own followed, we crowded against the iron fence separating us."
"I was part of the mob.
Emotions ran high, as we were caught up in a hurricane of rage bearing down on one of the 'scabs.'
Everything that had been building inside me -- the frustration, the anger, the boredom -- came crashing down on me, then a 40-year-old history teacher.
It was 1987 and Chicago Public Schools teachers had launched what would be an almost monthlong strike against the Board of Education.
I had reported for picket-line duty with approximately 50 other Chicago Vocational High School teachers, just when school administrators and other workers who had decided to cross the picket line were filing into the building.
We booed and waved our signs as the principal and vice principal entered. But when two of our own followed, we crowded against the iron fence separating us."
