Subscripts: Union leaders tried to blame membership drop on predecessors, instead of Mayor Daley and privatization
…As fans of the CTUPC (Chicago Teachers Union United Progressive Caucus) remember, last year the Chicago Teachers Union’s officers devoted hours of meeting time and pages in the official union newspaper claiming that the decline in CTU membership since August 2004 (when the Marilyn Stewart group took over) was the fault of Debbie Lynch).
Deborah Lynch took office in July 2001, to find that the office had been stripped of many records and some other things. When Deborah Lynch left office (August 2004), CTU had 36,261 members (source: membership report, September 2004, prepared by CTU Financial Secretary, Mark Ochoa). When Marilyn Stewart began scapegoating Lynch for the decline in membership (one year before the May 2007 CTU election), CTU still had 33,788 members (source: membership report, April 2006).
By October 1, 2007, CTU membership was down another 2,000 — three years after Deborah Lynch left office! Since Stewart took over, CTU membership has dropped to 31,597 (source: membership report, October 1, 2007) — 13 percent. That’s Stewart’s fault, not Lynch’s...
