CTU night rally defies cold, coldness of Chicago's Rahm leadership...
Kristine Mayle, Chicago Teachers Union Financial Secretary, spoke forcefully denouncing the cuts already made by Forrest Claypool and the Board of Education against the school system's neediest children -- those with special needs. Labor Beat photo.Would they come to a night rally on a Monday in the cold in the park on the lakefront? Yes. And there was a big turnout too, as Chicago teachers told the city that they were toughening up for a strike. The successful Nov. 23, 2015 rally was a necessary step forced by Mayor Emanuel and his hand-picked school board who are threatening a full-spectrum assault on union standards in health insurance, pensions, class size and jobs to impose a crushing $650 million hammer blow against the CTU and public schools. And the story of that cold night's rally in Chicago's Grant Park is now available in a Labor Beat You Tube video for all to see: CTU Grant Park Night Rally, On YouTube at:
https://youtu.be/1WuCNR_p5Bo
Featured speakers included Loretta Johnson, Sec-Treas., AFT/AFL-CIO, who said that "The underfunding of your pension is not a result of excessive pension benefits or inadequate employee contributions. It's them spending your money and wanting you to pay for it."
Kristine Mayle, CTU Financial Secretary, and a former special education teacher, noted: "Hundreds of special education teachers and teacher assistants are being cut this year. Our members are loosing jobs and their students are loosing teachers. Last year our special education teams were already stretched beyond their abilities to serve the most needy students in our district. But this year the problem is much worse...But that's not to say that our general education students aren't suffering too. Art and libraries are reduced if not outright eliminated. Class sizes are ballooning. Teacher workloads are crushing. High School electives that help students prepare for college are becoming a thing of the past."
Many asked whether members of the Chicago Teachers Union would turn out in a show of force on one of the coldest nights of 2015. The answer was "Yes!" Labor Beat photo.Also appearing in the video are Anna Jones, Hunger Striker for Dyett High School; State Representative (31st) Mary E. Flowers; and State Rep (19th) Robert Martwick. Flowers called for a financial transaction tax and an elected school board. Martwick is the lead sponsor of the elected school board bill currently before the Illinois General Assembly.
CTU President Karen Lewis, with the upcoming strike authorization vote on her mind, told the CTU: "So we've heard the speeches, not it's time for us to act." She reminded the crowd of the foundation of trade unionism. "We know that if we must, we will withhold our labor." (The official CTU strike authorization voting will take place on Dec. 9, 10, 11.) Length - 16:06
