Chicago Teachers Stand UP!
After 17 years of the tyranny of high stakes tests, business-managers running the schools, school closings, disinvestment in neighborhood public schools and turning them over to private operators, teachers have had enough. The 30,000 members of the Chicago Teachers Union are standing up to the bankers and corporate interests who are dismantling public education and destroying teaching and learning. The city that has been the birthplace of corporate “reform” is now the epicenter of the fight against it. Rahm and the CPS negotiators are not budging on key issues: smaller class size, adequate school support staff (nurses, social workers, paraprofessionals), rehiring experienced laid off teachers, and fair compensation. And, in many schools, CPS is not implementing the agreement for a better school day, not just a longer day, as promised. Rahm and the Board of Ed are pushing the teachers toward a strike. Teachers do not want a strike, but they are preparing to do what it takes to win a fair and equitable contract that will help children get the education they deserve and stop CPS from trampling on the rights of teachers. This is a strategic battle for public education. The eyes of the country are on Chicago.
The national education privatizers (Stand For Children, Education Reform Now, etc.) are pouring resources into Chicago to defeat the CTU. We have to mobilize all our grassroots resources against them.
Solidarity with the CTU
What we can do:
- PARTICIPATE IN A COMMUNITY FORUM
- GET INFORMED. Read: The Schools Chicago Students Deserve
- ORGANIZE A MEETING in your home/community/place of worship to discuss the issues and what is at stake. TSJ can help with this. Email at teachersforjustice@hotmail.com
- DONATE TO THE SOLIDARITY FUND Contribute to the CTU Solidarity Fund
- IF THERE IS A STRIKE: TSJ will mobilize to support the picket lines, get out information to the public, and support community organizations offering programs for children. Email us to get involved: teachersforjustice@hotmail.com
- WATCH THE CTU and TSJ WEBSITES, EMAILS, FACEBOOK FOR UPDATES
Delegates Vote Overwhelmingly For Union to Issue
10-Day Strike Notice; No Strike Date Set
CHICAGO – Yesterday during a labor meeting at Lane Tech High School, delegates of the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) gave its president the go-ahead to issue a 10-day strike notice at her discretion. Contract negotiations have been slow-moving and major proposals have yet to be resolved. CTU has been in contract negotiations since November 2011.
(Click here for latest bargaining update.)
However, CTU President Karen Lewis cautioned that no one should infer when or if a 10-day notice will be issued by the Union or that an official work stoppage has been called. “Although we have inched one step closer to fulfilling the legal requirements before we can strike, we have made no decision to do so at this time,” she said. “Union leaders will go back to their schools to share the Board’s contract proposals with members and to discuss next steps. But we want our members prepared.”
Lewis said in the meantime, teachers and other education personnel will continue informational picketing at 240 schools this week. She said the action is needed to inform parents and the public about what’s really at stake and why a fair and equitable contract will help ensure students get the education they deserve and educators’ rights are not trampled upon.
Teachers, paraprofessionals and school clinicians are insulted by CPS’ contract proposals which they believe are bad for students. “You cannot have a first-class school system by putting students and educators last,” Lewis said. “CPS has done a yeoman’s job of taking the joy out of teaching-and-learning---26,000 of us are fighting to restore it.”
State law requires the Union to present a 10-day notice before a strike can occur. On Thursday, August 30, CTU members will reconvene to determine if they will head for a walk-out.
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The Chicago Teachers Union represents 30,000 teachers and educational support personnel working in the Chicago Public Schools and, by extension, the students and families they serve. CTU, an affiliate of the American Federation of Teachers and the Illinois Federation of Teachers, is the third largest teachers local in the country and the largest local union in Illinois. For more information visit CTU’s website at www.ctunet.com.
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