UNION NEWS 2017... Important 'Members First' meeting December 5! Will we really be 'Stronger together' if charter school teachers join into the CTU....
The "Members First" group will be having a special and important meeting on December 5 at 5:30 p.m. at Connie's Pizza, The meeting will feature three guest speakers, all experts on union law and practice, who will be discussing and explaining what happens when a private sector union (e.g., Chicago charter schools), joins a public sector union( e.g. the CTU).
They are noting that all CTU members need to be be aware of what they will be voting for in January 2018 if the rush to approve the changes to the CTU Constitution and By Laws are approved at the special meeting of the union's House of Delegates on December 13. To day, the only information provided to CTU members and delegates has come from the leadership in favor of the amalgamation, with none of the negative possibilities even allowed into any discussion. According to some in Members First, "Your Union dues have [already] increased and your benefits have decreased" under the current leadership [see other stories this month at Substance]. Members have a say in this vote on the Constitution and By Laws, please be aware of what you're voting for.
Comments:
By: George N. Schmidt
Without the CTU calendar, who can know HOD schedules...
Jim's right. I was wrong. But since the union leadership misled the members claiming that the union could no longer "afford" the annual calendar datebooks that had been union work for a half century (by my count) or more, it's more difficult to follow these things. Nit picking a few things won't change the fact that the leadership has been lying -- or at least, shading the facts a great deal -- for the past several years. The most dramatic of these shadings have been, of course, the union budget claims (after establishing the "Foundation" suddenly the CTU was "broke"), joining the Board in financial claims, and the latest attempt to force through a raft of changes to the Constitution and By-Laws all at once -- rather than one at a time so there can be serious discussion of each of the changes, from charter school amalgamation to giving the President dictatorial powers over decisions that should be submitted to the delegates and members...
By: Jim Cavallero
Regularly Scheduled CTU House Meeting
The CTU House of Delegates meeting on December 13 is not a "special" meeting. It's the regularly scheduled monthly meeting for December. It is the second Wednesday of December for this meeting but it has been scheduled like that since the beginning of the year.