Protests expose Board of Education's lies and mismanagement as protests grow during the long hot summer of 2015... A Financial Crisis Created To Justify Cuts...
Chicago teacher Katie Osgood was one of more than 200 people who protested before the July 22, 2015 meeting of the Chicago Board of Education at the Board's headquarters in the old Sears store at Madison and Dearborn in downtown Chicago. Osgood's sign listed some of the problems caused by the Board of Education's long-term policy of sabotaging the city's real public schools and privatizing as much of the school system as possible. Labor Beat photo by David Vance."A Financial Crisis Created To Justify Cuts" is the latest Labor Beat video reporting the protests against the policies of the Chicago Board of Education during the summer of 2015. Labor Beat has been following the wave of meetings and protests being held across Chicago as the Chicago Board of Education and Chicago administration claim that massive cuts in the city's public schools must taken place because of a fiscal "crisis."
The latest Labor Beat video is on YouTube at: http://youtu.be/csvwxwXJ6DQ
Also archived at: laborbeat.org
In this video, Labor Beat documents wave of protests against Chicago Public Schools� in mid-summer of 2015. This includes -- in addition to Local School Councils protests -- a large, complex rally in front of the CPS monthly board meeting on July 22, 2015, involving both the Chicago Teachers Union and charters schools groups denouncing the cuts in funding.
Following the action in front of the CPS, a teachers union contingent walks a few blocks south to join a protest organized by SEIU Healthcare Illinois/Indiana. That took place in front of Ken Griffin�s Citadel building. They denounced billionaires like Griffin who get away with paying puny taxes, thus fueling the statewide funding problems for child care. Everyone�s coming to the same conclusion: the financial crisis is not an act of nature, but by the design of millionaires and billionaires who write the laws.
Protesters on July 22 also went to the offices of Citadel Capital Management, owned by billionaire Ken Griffin. The protests pointed out that Griffin's avoidance of taxes and control of ruling class policy has been undermining all public services, from schools to health to child care, while Griffin's friend, Governor Bruce Rauner, pushes an even more radical right wing agenda against the working class. Labor Beat photo.CTU Vice President Jesse Sharkey clearly drew the picture: �We refuse to accept the logic of this financial crisis as if it were a weather system that blew in on the winds. It did not blow in on the winds. It blew in on the backs of bankers and politicians that made it blow in. It�s by design...We are not willing to accept the financial titans who run this system who have plenty of wealth. Is there anyone here who doesn�t believe they have plenty of wealth? Look around you. They have built buildings to the sky as monuments to their wealth and power.�
Others commenting in the video: Kyle Hillman, LSC Gale Elementary; Laurie Viets, LSC Beard Elementary; Christine Broderick, teacher; Katie Osgood, citywide teacher; Jackson Potter, CTU Staff Coordinator; Ed Hershey, teacher at Lindblom HS; Tuykira Taylor, student at Kelly HS; Chris Baehrend, VP Local 4343 ACTS; Myron Perlman, retired union carpenter; Faith Arnold, SEIU Healthcare Illinois/Indiana. Video length - 16:34. Link to video:
Roosevelt High School teacher Tim Meegan speaks out against the local school cuts at a local school councils meeting on July 20, 2015. Meegan, who almost defeated Alderman Deb Mell in the hotly contested race for alderman of the 35th Ward, has continued coordinating a ward-based alternative to the business-as-usual politics in that part of town. Labor Beat photo.Produced by Labor Beat. Labor Beat is a CAN TV Community Partner. Labor Beat is a non-profit 501(c)(3) member of IBEW 1220. Views are those of the producer Labor Beat. For info: mail@laborbeat.org , www.laborbeat.org . 312-226-3330. For other Labor Beat videos, visit YouTube and search "Labor Beat". Labor Beat is on as a cable-tv series in six U.S. cities; check our website for more info.
