CANDIDATES' SPEECHES TO THE MAY CTU HOUSE OF DELEGATES MEETING: Marilyn Stewart's speech to the May 5, 2010 CTU House of Delegates meeting
[Editor's Note: On May 5, 2010, Substance asked the five candidates running for President of the Chicago Teachers Union for digital copies of the speeches they were delivering that night the the union's House of Delegates meeting. The following, provided to us by Marilyn Stewart, candidate from the United Progressive Caucus (UPC) was provided to us the following day. We are publishing the speeches of all the candidates for CTU president here so that as many members of the union (and the general public) can follow what is one of the most important elections in Chicago this year. Readers can also get information about Marilyn Stewart's candidacy at the Website of the United Progressive Caucus — UPC4CTU.com. The May 2010 print edition of Substance will be published and distributed beginning May 11, 2010, and will contain exclusive materials not available here in our on-line edition, including interviews with several candidates. Those who wish to receive the May edition by mail can subscribe (see button on the right below our ads). Additional copies will also be available. George N. Schmidt, Editor, Substance].
Candidates on the slate of the United Progressive Caucus (UPC) running for the top four offices in the Chicago Teachers Union in the May 21, 2010, election. Above, left to right: Keith Vandermuelen (for Financial Secretary), Marilyn Stewart (for President), Mary Orr (for Recording Secretary), and Mark Ochoa (for Vice President). Substance photo by George N. Schmidt.SPEECH OF MARILYN STEWART, candidate for President on the United Progressive Caucus (UPC) slate, to the Chicago Teachers Union House of Delegates May 5, 2010
Fellow CTU Members:
Exactly one month ago at the candidate’s forum, I stood before this body and warned that we are in the middle of one of the toughest fights in our 73-year history. At that forum, I urged you to support my candidacy and my entire United Progressive Caucus team because our contract is under continuous attack — and those attacks are only going to get worse.
Well, I was right.
Shortly thereafter, the Board asked the Union to sit down and discuss some provisions of our contract, putting everything in jeopardy from our salary increases to class size. Because the law requires me to do so, I'll listen to the Board's suggestions in good faith. I'll listen, but I'll agree to NOTHING that puts in jeopardy the contract that I negotiated on behalf of our members.
Naturally, I informed the Board in no uncertain terms that this union — under my leadership — has NO INTENTION of letting anyone destroy the advances we worked so hard to achieve for our members.
The key here is “under my leadership.”
The fact is that the mayor, the Board and Mr. Huberman would love nothing more than to be up against the inexperience and ineptitude of any of my opponents. Just ask yourselves: if you were Mayor Daley or the CEO, seeking massive givebacks – would you rather go up against:
• My UPC team which negotiated a 5-year contract with 4% raises in each of those years?
• A team that knows every word and every syllable of the contract because it wrote them?
• A team that has won victory after victory for this union including our latest arbitration win that will save the jobs of hundreds of your fellow teachers?
• A team that has prevented the closing of some 25 schools that were being threatened?
• A team that successfully slammed the door on merit pay in Chicago?
• A team that has won grievance after grievance, resulting in hundreds of thousands of dollars for our members?
Or would you as Mayor Daley — seeking givebacks — prefer to go up against three of my opponents who have no experience whatsoever in labor negotiations?
Or perhaps my other opponent who ran for president five times, was elected once, and promptly negotiated a contract that cost thousands of teachers their jobs?
I think the answer is pretty obvious.
Ladies and gentlemen: the contract we negotiated and that my team is now seeking to protect has become the envy of teacher unions across the country. I’m constantly being asked by fellow union presidents how we were able to “pull it off” in these horrible fiscal times. In times when teacher layoffs and givebacks are destroying school districts from coast-to-coast.
Well, the UPC DID pull it off! But now my job is to protect and preserve those gains — and since the Huberman threats began, we have been in continuous behind-thescenes discussions with the mayor’s people, with the governor and with legislative leaders in an attempt to do just that.
What have my opponents been up to in the meantime? Well, read their platforms on their Web pages. They’ve been making “pie-in-the-sky” promises they have no chance whatsoever of keeping in these tough economic times.
They’ve been promising everything from a guaranteed “minimum” 5% raises; to providing sensitivity training and compatibility classes for crazy principals! Oh, and did I mention all the union staff jobs they’re promising too?
Give me a break!
They don’t even know what they don’t know!
The reality of the situation is this. We are in a fight for our lives. A fight to protect and preserve our Union, your salaries, benefits and pensions that you’ve earned. and that you deserve.
This is no time to experiment with politically naive leadership that clearly isn’t up to the task of dealing with this mayor and this Board of Education.
Don’t send in a group of amateurs to do a professional job! Don’t give the Mayor what he wants! You CANNOT send someone to the negotiating table who did NOT VOTE for this contract and currently does NOT support it!
Only the UPC has the experience, the know-how, the contacts and the skills needed to win this fight. Only the UPC can protect the gains it has won for you, and achieve new advances in the future. Thank you.
