When is a 'Strike' not a Strike? or maybe a Strike... CTU Press release talks about the April 1 'Day of Action' -- barely about a 'strike'... As majority of teachers notice that the union's 'allies' will not be doing a strike on April 1, 2016 -- only apparently the city's teachers....
It may be further information that the attempt by Karen Lewis and a faction of the leadership of the 28,000-member Chicago Teachers Union to do a one day "strike" on April 1, 2016, is faltering. Late on March 22, 2016, the CTU issued a press release, noting for the media that the union's House of Delegates will be meeting on March 23, 2016.
Two press release went out from the Chicago Teachers Union between midnight and ten a.m. on March 23, 2016. Both highlighted the fact that the union's 800-member House of Delegates was meeting on the afternoon and early evening of March 23, and both stated that the union would be holding a press conference at 6:30 (without mentioning that the meeting might take longer than that, given the seriousness of the issues currently dividing the union's members and the importance of the debate).
The press release issued at 9:24 a.m. on March 23, 2016 could have been headlined "April 1 Strike or Day of Action" but wasn't. The union's communications people talk about April 1, 2016 as the union's proposed "Day of Action" -- not "One Day Strike." As reports have come in during the week prior to the HOD meeting, it became clear that a large number (perhaps a majority) of the teachers and other union members in the city's largest high schools are opposed to doing what Karen Lewis has called a "strike" on April Fool's Day.
There will be a fierce debate on March 23 at the House of Delegates meeting. Apparently, the union's leadership wants the press lined up on the street alongside the Operating Engineers union hall, as it was during the Chicago Teachers Strike of 2012.
Contradictions have also arisen within CORE, the "Caucus Of Rank and file Educators, within the leadership. According to those who were there, at the Monday, March 21 CORE meetign, some COREleaders announced that they will try to persuade the members of the House of Delegates to vote in favor of the "strike," while many others want it to be only a "day of action."
The Chicago Teachers Union has never done a "strike" to make a political point, let alone a version of some kind of "Days of Rage." Every strike in the history of the CTU has been either to get a contract or, in the case of early 1980, to get teachers and others paid money that had been owed to us. The payroll didn't come before Christmas 1979, and the Board of Education continued not to pay people in January and February 1980. During the heated discussions about the April 1, 2016 action, the question has been raised across the city about why do a one-day "strike" now that the Board of Education has been allowed to stall contract negotiations for more than a year.
One of the ironies of the call for a kind of general strike on April 1, 2016, is that even the closest allies of the CTU within Chicago's unions will not be joining the "strike" (if it takes place). While reporters may not be allowed to enter the Operating Engineers union hall during the House of Delegates meeting, anyone can ask whether Local 399 members will be on strike on April 1 along with the teachers who rent the union's hall for the meetings. Other locations that are supposedly supporting the "Day of Action" include the University of Illinois at Chicago (where "Teachers for Social Justice" has been talking up the "strike") and some campuses of the Chicago City Colleges. Yet despite the statement that the people who work in those places are "in support" of the CTU, there is no indication that the people who work there will actually be doing a strike on April 1.
[Disclosure: This reporter has been on every Chicago Teachers Union strike since 1971. He is currently a member of the House of Delegates, representing retired teachers. He is currently an active member of CORE, which he helped found in 2008. He has two children attending Chicago's public schools, and his wife teaches at a Chicago high school.]
THE CTU PRESS RELEASE(s) TO ALL CHICAGO MEDIA:
FINAL 'NEWS ADVISORY' ISSUED AT ABOUT NINE IN THE MORNING ON MARCH 23:
NEWS ADVISORY CONTACT: Stephanie Gadlin
For Immediate Release 312-329-6250
March 23, 2016
CTU HOUSE OF DELEGATES TO RULE ON APRIL 1ST STRIKE & DAY OF ACTION
News conference at 6:30 p.m. following decision
CHICAGO - The Chicago Teachers Union House of Delegates will debate and deliberate Wednesday, March 23 on the course of action regarding a proposed April 1 "Day of Action" to bring attention to the need for critical revenue solutions to stabilize the city's school district and protect students and their families. The CTU is part of a larger coalition of labor, student groups, community-based organizations and activists who have vowed to "shut down" Chicago's "business as usual" politics by staging a variety of non-violent actions throughout the city.
WHO:
Chicago Teachers Union leaders, others
WHAT:
Press conference to discuss the results of a vote by its House of Delegates on whether teachers and other educators will shut down Chicago's public schools April 1 by staging a one-day strike to bring attention to the growing problems within school buildings, and to join the demand for progressive revenue solutions from City Hall and Springfield.
WHEN:
Wednesday, March 23, 2016
6:30 p.m.
WHERE:
International Operating Engineers Hall
2260 Grove Street, Chicago
WHY:
Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Governor Bruce Rauner are ignoring the millions of dollars in viable revenue options currently available to not only solve the Chicago Public Schools crisis, but stabilize social services, state universities and have the super wealthy pay their fair share of taxes. Without revenue there is no "good teachers' contract," no Chicago State University, no social services and no stability in Illinois.
###
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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EARLIER PRESS RELEASE, ISSUED OVERNIGHT MARCH 22 - 23, 2016...
CTU HOUSE OF DELEGATES TO RULE ON APRIL 1ST STRIKE & DAY OF ACTION
News conference at 6:30 p.m. following decision
NEWS ADVISORY/PLANNING CONTACT: Stephanie Gadlin. For Immediate Release 312-329-6250. March 22, 2016
CHICAGO - The Chicago Teachers Union House of Delegates will debate and deliberate Wednesday, March 23 on the course of action regarding a proposed April 1 "Day of Action" to bring attention to the need for critical revenue solutions to stabilize the city's school district and protect students and their families. The CTU is part of a larger coalition of labor, student groups, community-based organizations and activists who have vowed to "shut down" Chicago's "business as usual" politics by staging a variety of non-violent actions throughout the city.
WHO: Chicago Teachers Union leaders, others
WHAT: Press conference to discuss the results of a vote by its House of Delegates on whether teachers and other educators will shut down Chicago's public schools April 1 by staging a one-day strike to bring attention to the growing problems within school buildings, and to join the demand for progressive revenue solutions from City Hall and Springfield.
WHEN: Wednesday, March 23, 2016, 6:30 p.m.
WHERE: International Operating Engineers Hall, 2260 Grove Street, Chicago
WHY:Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Governor Bruce Rauner are ignoring the millions of dollars in viable revenue options currently available to not only solve the Chicago Public Schools crisis, but stabilize social services, state universities and have the super wealthy pay their fair share of taxes. Without revenue there is no "good teachers' contract," no Chicago State University, no social services and no stability in Illinois.
###
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
