Thursday, April 18, 2013

UPDATE: not in Kansas anymore + NEA joins Florida lawsuit + hearings on school closings + The in box. UIC grad employees strike vote. | Fred Klonsky

The in box. UIC grad employees strike vote. | Fred Klonsky:


BBB works in Chicago but votes in Cleveland. Rahm’s best friend Bruce Rauner votes in Chicago but lives in Winnetka. And I’m not in Kansas anymore.

Popout.
By law, if you work for CPS you have to live in Chicago.
Unless you’re the Chief Operating Officer Tim Cawley. He got a pass to live in north suburban Winnetka.
But it has recently been disclosed that CPS CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennett actually lives and votes in Cleveland,which is not even a suburb of Chicago.
And now it turns out the Republican gubernatorial candidate and Rahm’s best friend Bruce Rauner also lives in Winnetka but votes in Chicago.
Greg Hinz:
Last week, the Daily Herald ran an interesting piece about how Mr. Rauner improperly 


NEA joins Florida lawsuit. But what about Illinois?

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Florida teacher Kim Kirby, named Teacher of the Year last December, gets an unsatisfactory rating.
Good for the National Education Association’s decision to join with a number of Florida teachers in a lawsuit against the state’s teacher evaluation procedure.
The lawsuit is based on the long-standing legal right of due process.
The suit contends that teachers in Florida are being evaluated on the scores of students that they didn’t teach.
Valerie Strauss in the Washington Post:
The seven teachers who filed the lawsuit include Kim Cook, who, as this post explains



The in box. UIC grad employees strike vote.



Update:
In case you haven’t already heard, the membership has voted to conduct a strike authorization vote. The vote has begun and will continue through the week and until the end of our next bargaining session. Please make sure that you take a moment to let your voice be heard. 
There will be a polling station located in the Port Center Cafe on the second floor of University Hall today from 11am-4pm. 
There will be additional locations on East and West campus on Friday and Monday. Solidarity!

GRADUATE EMPLOYEES ORGANIZATION
“UIC Works Because We Do”
For Immediate Release
Press Contact: Jessi Holzman
Telephone: 224.645.9700
April 17, 2013
903969_438666162882660_969554700_oStrike Vote Looming for UIC Graduate Workers
Union Ready for Action Pending Negotiation Outcome
CHICAGO – The Graduate Employees Organization at the University of Illinois at Chicago will convene a press conference at 11 a.m. today in the African American Center Library in the Addams Hall Building on UIC’s campus to announce a pending strike vote.
Today the GEO will be in its final negotiation session with the university before a strike may be called following11 months of slow bargaining with a reluctant administration. The GEO formally filed its intent to strike on April 5.
Negotiations are scheduled from 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. At 6 p.m. union members will meet to decide whether they will accept the University’s offer or move forward with a strike vote.
 “We are fighting for a living wage, which according to the university’s office of financial aid is $17k.” “We are fighting for better access to healthcare for our members,” notes Jessi Holzman, a Graduate worker and doctoral student.
Some graduate workers make as little as $14,000 per year, and, after considering the increasing costs of living in Chicago as well as fees, books, materials, and other life expenses, graduate workers earn below the poverty line in an increasingly competitive market.
“We’ve made significant movement in this process and the university has made very little. Our members are frustrated by the university’s unwillingness to move on these issues that are key to our ability to live and work in Chicago,” says a graduate employee.
Graduate workers teach approximately 60 percent of all classes at the University of Illinois at Chicago, which is a university that focuses on research as well as education. Many graduate workers feel that the University is unwilling to invest more in their teachers and are fed up with what they see as a lack of investment in education.
The GEO has received wide support from other unions such as the Chicago Teachers Union, SEIU, and various students and student organizations at UIC and other campuses.
https://www.facebook.com/uicgeo and http://uic-geo.net/mainsite/


Congressman Rush and Davis to hold hearings on school closings.

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