tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2579189847356587096.post5775106616612211773..comments2024-02-14T11:30:29.227-08:00Comments on Facts For Working People: Karen Lewis and CTA leadership help Emanuel out, support cuts in education.Richard Mellorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00997976754939725087noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2579189847356587096.post-17371752001641278552015-08-07T12:33:31.360-07:002015-08-07T12:33:31.360-07:00This is not an usual position for the CTU to take ...This is not an usual position for the CTU to take Jack Gerson. They have been very strategic in messaging o their membership. As a former CTU organizer under Lewis, I knew this was going to happen when Lewis undercut her teachers and her caucus CORE, by going to Springfield and secretly signing the union busting bill Senate Bill 7. Actually i was over then. The strategy after that became how can we, THE CTU survive? In a CORE meeting after Lewis returned from a trip to Hawaii to escape the pressures of the fallout from SB7, Lewis broke down admitted she had "F' up and was literally in tears after the CORE people wanted to remove her as CORE president for signing the union busting bill. That's when the great idea to mobilize members to go on strike was hatched. Even though Lewis had gave up the right to strike by allowing the Senate to change the threshold from getting 51% of the voting members to 75% of the entire membership to approve a strike wit SB7. The CTU managed to get a group of retired Black teachers to sign onto this strike that would later erode the Black teachers population. Almost 7,000 African American teachers lost their jobs under Lewis. As Vice Chair of the SS CAC, I would go to the House of Delegates meeting and try to explain to Black Teachers that any concessions the CTU made would cost underutilized schools to be closed. Those schools were all on the South and Wets sides. The schools were half empty due the loss of almost 300,000 African American residents under Mayor Daley. So after the strike, which gained nothing for teachers and made Karen Lewis a media star, 5o schools were closed. This is exactly what CPS wanted to do. And YES, Lewis helped to accomplish their goal.Chicago Teacherhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02048582315777301557noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2579189847356587096.post-83066682344025127512015-07-01T13:05:10.251-07:002015-07-01T13:05:10.251-07:00The Chicago Teachers Union strike in September 201...The Chicago Teachers Union strike in September 2012 received considerable national attention, and has been hailed as a model. CTU leaders traveled around the country taking bows. But the strike was not a smashing victory. Before, during, and after that strike, Rahm Emmanuel and Chicago Public Schools administration threatened to close at least 50 schools. And six months after the strike ended, they did. CTU warned that they would stage militant sit-ins at numerous schools in the event of closures -- but they did not. Nor have they responded in any other way. Now, Karen Lewis is apparently buying in fully to the idea that "There's just no money". Well, we know the money's there -- and so does Ms. Lewis -- it's in the coffers of the big banks and corporations, and in the hoardings of the super-rich. But getting that monehy will require a protracted and militant fight. Instead, it appears that Karen Lewis and her collaborators are throwing in the towel without fighting at all. No doubt, they will be proclaiming that they are "social justice unionists". Let's be clear: it's crucial to champion social justice causes. But not as an excuse for not fighting to defend the living standards of the union's own members. If CTU accepts this deal, what will come next? Because Rahm Emmanuel and company will come back, year after year, claiming that there's no money. What then? A permanent pay freeze? Dozens of more schools closed? More program cuts? Very disheartening.Jackhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14069902964335837394noreply@blogger.com