If there is not a concerted effort in place to take an affirmative action to change the demographics of the teaching force, it will stay the same or get worse, Todd-Breland said. As he put itwhen he resigned in 2013We severely underestimated the ability of the Chicago Teachers Union to lead a massive grassroots campaign against our administration. Cited in Jane McAlevey, No Shortcuts: Organizing for Power in the New Gilded Age (New York: Oxford University Press, 2016), 122. He left the CTU in 1943 to serve as AFT president. The Chicago Teachers Union wanted the ability to switch to districtwide remote instruction and offered a lower bar for closing individual schools. [48] When the city would not agree to the CTU's core demands, including an expansion of programs like art and music at the city's most underfunded high schools, CTU members voted overwhelmingly (90% of teachers and 98% of those who cast ballots) to authorize a strike. Public school teacher was also the most common occupation for black women in Chicago, who were treated by CPS as second-class job candidates: qualified black high school teachers worked in elementary schools or as substitutes; some could not get jobs at all. Organized Money: What Is Corporate America Thinking? Teachers only picketed in front of schools until 8:00a.m. local time. Lightfootfaced long oddsand was in danger of an early re-election knockout. [72] CTU delegates officially voted to go on strike hours afterwards. He also got the backing of the Chicago Fraternal Order of Police. Disruptive actions are essential for building working-class power, but the available evidence suggests that they are not enough on their own. There are already racial gaps in college completion and teacher prep enrollment to contend with. It was an action that explicitly challenged the entire neoliberal education reform agenda of privatization and union busting, a struggle that pitted the CTU and its community allies against a powerful Democratic Party establishment. The CTU united several teachers' organizations in Chicago in the wake of a teachers' revolt against banks during the Great Depression. Unless otherwise noted, all educator quotations in this article are from semi-structured interviews conducted by the author between March 2018 and May 2019. [74], On Thursday, October 17, 2019, teachers took to picket lines early in the morning, and the CTU stated that it planned to resume negotiations with the city at Malcolm X College. The Union planned to hold town hall meetings in Chicago, Cleveland, Minneapolis, New Orleans, New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, San Francisco, St. Paul, and Tampa. As one CTU organizer later recalled, in school-site meetings preparing for the coming contract in 2012 organizers would start off the discussion as follows: If any of you think the next contract is about a percentage-point raise, tell us, because we think we know its about the future of public education as we know it: thats whats on the table.[5] This was not just rhetoric. The first thing it's about is no longer working on the boss's terms for the boss's offer and taking the boss's insults", "Chicago Teachers Say They'll Strike for the Kids", "No Deal: Chicago Teachers To Strike After Contract Talks Fail", "Chicago teachers strike for first time in 25 years", "Windy City Fights Back: Live blogging the Chicago Teachers Strike", "Striking Teachers, Parents Join Forces to Oppose "Corporate" Education Model in Chicago", "Chicago Public Teachers Stage Historic Strike in Clash with Mayor Rahm Emanuel on Education Reforms", "Some Chicago Public Schools custodians may strike", "Chicago teachers reach tentative agreement to end strike", "Emanuel's court bid to end strike stalls, teachers call it vindictive", "Judge declines to expedite hearing in Chicago teacher strike", "Chicago teachers vote to suspend strike", "Chicago teachers suspend seven-day strike", "School Days Resume in Chicago as the Lessons From a Strike Are Assessed", "After Chicago success, teachers unions spread their message", "Chicago Teachers Union, school board reach tentative contract agreement", "Fact-Finder's Report Sheds Light on CTU Contract Negotiations With City", "Chicago Teachers Union votes to authorize strike; walkout could begin Oct. 7", "Key Issues in Potential Chicago Teachers Union Strike", "Chicago Cancels Public School Classes As Teachers' Strike Looms", "CTU rejects latest contract proposal, teachers to strike Thursday", "Kids rejoice: CPS won't add makeup days if teachers strike, Lightfoot says", "Chicago Teachers Union strike updates: CPS teachers join picket lines across the city as negotiations are set to resume", "Chicago Teachers Strike: Thousands of teachers to return to picket lines for 2nd day Friday, CPS classes remain canceled", "CTU strike, Day 4: Talks continue, but Monday classes still uncertain", "CPS cancels classes Monday as teachers' strike, contract talks continue", "Wednesday classes canceled as CTU members rally in downtown Chicago", "CPS Cancels Classes Wednesday as Teachers Strike Continues", "Chicago Strike: CPS teachers march in Loop during Mayor Lori Lightfoot's address, Chicago Public Schools classes canceled", "CPS Cancels Class For Thursday, Following Massive Rally By Striking Teachers Downtown", "Chicago Strike: Negotiations continue for 8th day as CTU plans civil disobedience training. Highest salary at Chicago Teachers Union in year 2017 was $172,405. Some teachers opposed to being ordered back to class in the pandemic have the power of the union behind them. [69] Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders spoke at a rally hosted by CTU and SEIU Local 73 in preparation of the strike on September 24. Arecent pollsaid 63% of Chicagoans said they didn't feel safe. To be sure, systematic problems in K-12 are very far from being resolved and the 2018 to 2019 educator offensive was thrown backwards almost overnight by the onset of Covid-19 in early 2020. . Vallas ran as a moderate law-and-order candidate, while Johnson ran on an unabashedly progressive agenda. For Emily Comer, who in the fall of 2017 cofounded with ONeal the viral Facebook group West Virginia Public Employees United, the main political upshot of the McAlevey book was its clear analysis of the difference between real organizing and advocacy. Whereas CTU had empowered member leaders to organize their coworkers and communities, West Virginias unions were focusing on lobbying politicians. And in Chicago, the ranks of black teachers continues to decline, and the percentage of Latino teachers has only increased slightly. CHICAGO Chicago Teachers Union members are voting on their leadership this week a high-stakes decision at a challenging juncture for the countrys public educators. Yet there remains a surprising paucity of rigorous research on Chicago teachers in politics, reflecting a broader lack of scholarship on contemporary unions electoral efforts. Their courageous actions helped CTU begin to incorporate educational equity into its demands. In 1968, a series of wildcat strikes led by Black teachers protested racist hiring, promotion, and certification policies. WebOn August 26, 2019, the Chicago Teachers Union rejected an independent fact-finding report that suggests a 16% raise over 5 years and a 1% increase in healthcare costs. About 21 percent of teachers are black, down from about 41 percent in 2000. [13] The CTF, still under the leadership of its longtime head Margaret Haley, remained separate for some years, based on concerns that the CTU would disproportionately represent the interests of males and high school teachers. With districts returning to in-person instruction, K-12 strikes have also returned; Minneapolis and Sacramento educators walked out earlier this year for better pay and increased student resources. Bankers and millionaires (with the help of politicians theyve supported) refuse to pay their fair share of taxes to fund quality schools. But in various ways, the roots of these recent upsurges can be traced back to Chicago. Chicagos Democratic Party machine under Mayor Rahm EmanuelBarack Obamas former chief of staffwas promoting a sharp uptick in closures of neighborhood public schools in Black and Brown communities, for the benefit of privately run, publicly funded charters. 43% of Chicago Teachers Uni employees are between the ages of 18-20 years. "[77] The following day, Sunday, October 20, 2019, CPS canceled school for Monday the 21st. [56][57] Regulations required them to make contract negotiations an issue in the strike, and the teachers indeed sought better pay, better benefits, and protections for teachers who lose their jobs due to school closures. Teacher Survey, available at https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RRA1108-1.html. [35] By 1947, he had returned to the CTU for a second term as its president. 3. [45] CORE ran an aggressive grassroots organizing campaign, and took a strong stance against school privatization. Jean-Claude Brizard was the CEO of Chicagos public school system at the time. Tapping into that pool of classroom support staff is key because those employees tend to include more people of color. [2] The CTU won collective bargaining rights in 1966 and conducted several strikes during the 1970s and 1980s. But some key facets of the unions experienceand of militant labor organizing more generallyremain under-explored. No less important, educator strikes organized or inspired by the CTU have played a significant role in making the public more favorable to organized labor.[12]. Theres something about these folks who use little black and brown children as stage props at one press conference while announcing they want to fire, lay off, or lock up their parents at another.[8]. Of the 10 biggest school districts in Illinois by enrollment, Chicago has the lowest percentage of white teachers, about 52 percent. [48] Former CTU member John A. Ostenburg criticized Lewis and CORE in 2011 for inexperience and political recklessness, arguing that they will not successfully be able to combat Mayor Rahm Emanuel's entrenched power. Later, Mayor Lightfoot canceled CPS classes for Wednesday, October 23, stating once again that "CTU has not scheduled a House of Delegates vote, which would be necessary to end their strike As a result, it will not be possible to hold classes tomorrow. That means high school educators will walk into buildings Monday on their planned return 37% of Chicago Teachers Uni employees are male and 63% of Chicago Teachers Uni employees are female. And despite being the sitting mayor, she routinely failed to leadinrecent polling, falling behind Vallas and Democratic Rep. Jess "Chuy" Garcia. The union has strong support from its well-compensated members. 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