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CTU bulletin increases pressure on Rahm Emanuel, Board of Education regarding contract negotiations...

George N. Schmidt - January 10, 2016

Chicago Teachers Union "Contract Bulletin #10" updated both the union's House of Delegates at the January 6, 2016, meeting and the union's members in an email bulletin three days later. The union has announced plans for a city-wide "Walk In" to educate parents about the contract cynicism of the Board of Education. The Union has also announced that it will hold a mass "Rally to Save Our Schools & Jobs" at the Bank of America headquarters the day after any massive layoffs this month or next. The Board has repeatedly claimed it will be laying off many if the State of Illinois does not increase aid to Chicago's public schools. By the end of the first week of January, the members of the Chicago Teachers Union had completed preparations for more serious negotiations with Rahm Emanuel's Chicago Board of Education. The negotiations, which the Board of Education has been stalling, have revealed the intentions of Rahm's Board to force the second major confrontation with the 28,000-member union since Rahm Emanuel became mayor in May 2011. The first major confrontation was the seven-day Chicago Teachers Strike of 2012.

Since the December 2015 vote to authorize a possible strike in 2016, the union's members have been discussing all of the issues involving the contract negotiations. During the first week of January 2016, the union issued Chicago Teachers Union "Contract Bulletin #10." The Bulletin updated both the union's House of Delegates (at the January 6, 2016, meeting) and the union's members (in an email bulletin three days later). the union's members have been working under the old contract since July 1, 2015, when the previous contract, won by the 2012 strike, expired.

For the entire time, the Board of Education and the mayor have been proclaiming their love for the teachers and the schools while maintaining that the Board of Education is broke because of the failure of the State of Illinois to better fund Chicago's schools. The union, on its part, has maintained that the Board is "broke on purpose" because of its decisions to further expensive privatization and the Board's failure to increase revenues by requesting reimbursement from the banks that received the variable rate bond deals and other ways to raise Chicago school revenues by taxing the wealthiest citizens instead of continuing to issue regressive taxes against the masses.

The union has announced plans for a city-wide "Walk In" to educate parents about the contract cynicism of the Board of Education. The Union has also announced that it will hold a mass "Rally to Save Our Schools & Jobs" at the Bank of America headquarters the day after any massive layoffs this month or next. The Board has repeatedly claimed it will be laying off many if the State of Illinois does not increase aid to Chicago's public schools.

ON JANUARY 9, 2016, THE UNION SENT A BULLETIN TO ITS MEMBERS UPDATING EVERYONE ON THE CONTRACT NEGOTIATIONS...

CTU PRESS RELEASE ABOUT THE UNION MEMBERS' VOTE TO AUTHORIZE A STRIKE...

Chicago Teachers Union members again exceed unfair state requirement as 88 percent vote in favor of a strike... Strike still months away because of bureaucratic hurdles...

George N. Schmidt - December 15, 2016

Chicago Teachers Union Vice President Jesse Sharkey announces the results of the strike authorization referendum on December 14, 2015 at the union's downtown headquarters.The Chicago Teachers Union announced on December 14, 2015, that its members had voted by a margin of 88 percent to authorize the union's leaders to bring the members out on strike if necessary. The strike vote, which was done in the face of a state law that requires the CTU (alone among Illinois unions) to get 75 percent of its members to authorize a strike, was the second in three years. Because of bureaucratic hurdles and the mendacity of the Chicago Board of Education, a strike is still months away.

CTU PRESS RELEASE ANNOUNCING A STRIKE VOTE:

STATEMENT

IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Stephanie Gadlin

December 14, 2015 312-329-6250

Chicago Teachers Union Details on Strike Authorization Vote: 96.5% of Educators Say "Yes"

CHICAGO - The Chicago Teachers Union released the following details regarding its recent strike authorization vote which was conducted over a three-day period December 9-11, 2015 in all schools where Chicago Teachers Union members are employed. The results indicate the following:

No. of Actual Votes: 22,678

No. of Eligible Voters: 24,752

Percentage of Members who Voted: 91.6 %

Percentage of Members who Voted 'Yes': 88%

No. of 'Yes' Votes: 21,782

Percentage of Members who Voted Yes: 96.05%

STATEMENT BY CTU VICE PRESIDENT JESSE SHARKEY

"Late last week Teachers, PSRPs, Clinicians-members of the CTU-voted overwhelmingly to authorize a strike. The actual result was just over 96% of those voting marked 'Yes' with a 92% turnout. Rahm, Forrest Claypool-Listen to what teachers and educators are trying to tell you: do not cut the schools anymore, do not make the layoffs that you have threatened; instead, respect educators and give us the tools we need to do our jobs. In particular:

(1) Improve the teaching and learning conditions by reducing standardized testing, eliminate time-sucking compliance paperwork, and restore professional respect and autonomy to teachers on matters like grades. These improvements cost nothing;

(2) Staff our schools at an adequate level. We deserve reasonable class sizes, instruction in art, music, science and technology, a library with a librarian, a nurse;

(3) and, Help our schools and our communities address the social crisis in large swaths of our city. While we do not expect the schools to fix homelessness, broken immigration policy, crisis-level unemployment, and racism, we must address the undeniable fact that these problems spill over into our schools and devastate the lives of our children. We have modest demands to address these problems-allow our counselors to counsel, approve restorative justice programs in targeted schools, help with translation and bilingual services.

Chicago Teachers Union members do not want to strike, but we do demand that you listen to us. Do not cut our schools, do not lay off educators or balance the budget on our backs."

The Chicago Teachers Union represents nearly 27,000 teachers and educational support personnel working in the Chicago Public Schools, and by extension, the more than 400,000 students and families they serve. The CTU is an affiliate of the American Federation of Teachers and the Illinois Federation of Teachers and is the third largest teachers local in the United States and the largest local union in Illinois. For more information please visit CTU's website at www.ctunet.com.

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CTU PRESS RELEASE CALLING FOR THE RESIGNATION OF RAHM EMANUEL AND ANIT ALVAREZ...

Chicago�s teachers vote overwhelming to officially call for the resignations of Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Cook County State�s Attorney Anita Alvarez

CHICAGO �The Chicago Teachers Union �s (CTU) governing body voted overwhelming this past Wednesday evening to support efforts to force Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Cook County State�s Attorney Anita Alvarez to resign from public service. This resounding call for justice came during the House of Delegates (HOD) meeting as growing local and national pressure for the mayor to �step down� intensifies in wake of the Laquan McDonald alleged 400-day cover-up conspiracy. School leaders made their views known through a resolution.

President Karen Lewis will discuss the Union�s position during her remarks at the CTU�s Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. Peace Breakfast, on Friday, January 15th at 9 a.m. at 2260 S. Grove Street. The special guest speaker will be outspoken scholar and Ferguson, MO, activist Rev. Osagyefo U. Sekou. The event is free and open to the public.

This week�s official support to remove the mayor from power should come as no surprise. Teachers, paraprofessionals and clinicians have been vocal about Emanuel�s failed leadership of the school district and are petitioning state officials for an elected representative school board. In addition, educators are currently in roller coaster-style contract negotiations with the mayor�s hand-picked Board of Education. The Union also actively campaigned against Emanuel�s re-election which resulted in the embattled politician entering a run-off in the general election. Soon after winning-re-election in April, Rahm�s school chief Barbara Byrd Bennett was convicted of ripping off school students by benefitting from no-bid contracts.

Fed up with the attacks on their profession, CPS educators recently approved its second strike authorization since Emanuel took office in 2010. Teachers have said if the mayor�s handpicked CEO Forest Claypool continues to gut public education, fire veteran teachers and hurt students, they will withhold their labor-- like they did in 2012-- in order to fight for the school district their students deserve.

The HOD resolution reads:

�WHEREAS, for the past five years Mayor Rahm Emanuel has made a myriad of economic disinvestments and financial mismanagements that have resulted in the infliction of educational, psychological, and physical harm to Chicago�s public schools and working-class neighborhoods; and

�WHEREAS, during his first term in office, Mayor Rahm Emanuel, by means of his hand-picked unelected school board, closed an historic 50 public neighborhood schools in predominately Black and Latino communities; despite strong student, parent, community and CTU opposition; and

�WHEREAS, Mayor Rahm Emanuel has failed to support an education system that provides schools with the necessary resources to deliver robust wrap around services (such as counselors, nurses, social workers, PSRPs, and psychologists); fully-staffed libraries; reduced class sizes; and clean and safe learning conditions; and

�WHEREAS, in April 2012, Mayor Rahm Emanuel, against vehement community opposition, elected to close six of the City�s 12 mental health clinics resulting in 2,798 patients losing critical services; and

�WHEREAS, Mayor Rahm Emanuel continues to mismanage Chicagoans� tax dollars by diverting public funds meant for blighted communities, that also can be used to fully fund our public neighborhood schools, to wealthy corporations; and

�WHEREAS, these economic disinvestments and financial mismanagements made under the leadership of Rahm Emanuel contributed to the shocking and inexcusable murder of LaQuan McDonald, a 17 year old boy suffering from severe psychological trauma, whose fate may have been altered had his mental health needs been met both in and out of school; and

�WHEREAS, Chicago and the nation continues to learn about police cover-ups, and the deliberate political maneuverings of Mayor Rahm Emanuel surrounding the October 20, 2014 death of 17 year old Laquan McDonald, shot 16 times by uniformed Chicago police officer Jason Van Dyke, who has since been indicted of first-degree murder; and

�WHEREAS, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel not only pushed for and approved the Chicago City Council to pass a $5-million-dollar settlement to the family of Laquan McDonald, but also fought for the better part of a year, spending hundreds of thousands on legal fees to block the release of the police dashboard camera video of the fatal shooting, until a Cook County judge ruled on November 19, 2015 that this violated the state's open records law and ordered the video to be released to the public; and

�WHEREAS, both Cook County State�s Attorney Anita Alvarez and Mayor Rahm Emanuel orchestrated and intentionally delayed the release of these videos apparently for their own political gains in order to secure victory in their 2015 re-election bids; and

�WHEREAS, the actions of both Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Cook County State�s Attorney Anita Alvarez impeded the criminal justice system, and in the process has led to the erosion of public trust and confidence in their leadership; and the only way to restore this trust is with their resignations; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, that the CTU support demands that Mayor Rahm Emanuel, and Cook County State�s Attorney Anita Alvarez resign immediately from public office for the unconscionable delay of their governmental institutions in addressing Laquan McDonald�s killing and other issues of excessive, unwarranted, unjustified, and lethal police force in the City of Chicago that have surfaced in the aftermath; and be it further

RESOLVED, that the CTU support demands for a public review of the incident�s cover-up by a civilian police accountability council; the creation of policies to prevent such cover-ups from happening in the future; a ban on the training or arming of local police by military institutions; and new training for the Chicago Police Department that emphasizes non-lethal ways for de-escalating the situation at hand; and be it finally

RESOLVED, that the CTU work with Illinois State Representatives La Shawn Ford, Mary Flowers and other state legislators to pass House Bill 4356, which seeks to amend the Revised Cities and Villages Act of 1941 by establishing a procedure for an election recall for the Mayor of the City of Chicago.

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