LABOR BEAT: Can Chicago Teachers Union activists and their allies build 'independent politics' -- let alone a socialist alternative -- inside the Democratic Party?... 'The CTU and the 2015 Chicago City Hall Election...' a new Labor Beat video
Chicago Teachers Unioni President Karen Lewis made an "appearance" during the union's annual LEAD (Legislators Educators Appreciation Dinner) on October 31, 2014 via a video. In the video she endorsed Jesus "Chuy" Garcia for mayor, ignoring the candidacy of Alderman Bob Fioretti, who was sitting in front of the stage that night, and other independent candidates who had been circulating petitions to get on the ballot for the February 24, 2015 municipal elections. Substance photo by Sharon Schmidt.A new 25-minute video from Labor Beat explores the issues facing members of the Chicago Teachers Union and by implication the broader groups of union and community activists in light of the controversial decision of the Chicago Teachers Union's leadership to support the candidacy of Cook County Commissioner Jesus "Chuy" Garcia for Mayor of Chicago. The endorsement of Garcia came following the withdrawal of the candidacy of CTU President Karen Lewis after she came down with a "serious illness." The URL for the video is: http://youtu.be/fUDwSzqPAJw
The CTU and the 2015 Chicago City Hall Election is available On YouTube at: http://youtu.be/fUDwSzqPAJw. It is also archived at: laborbeat.org
Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis is seen above entering the "Conversations with Karen" in Uptown a few days before she came down with what the union's leaders described as a "serious illness" and withdrew from the mayoral race. Labor Beat photo.Historic, complicated, dramatic. These are some of the adjectives used about the lead-up to Karen Lewis's anticipated run for Chicago mayor against union-buster Rahm Emanuel. And the weeks just after Karen's announced brain cancer and withdrawal from the race bumped all of these adjectives up to another exponential level.
Labor Beat looks at the background, with new and exclusive footage, to the "run Karen run" movement and the sudden turn of events in the Fall of 2014. We show scenes from 'discussions with Karen' in Uptown where she describes her relationship with the Democratic Party; the startling announcement at the Chicago Teachers Union L.E.A.D. union dinner on October 31 that Karen was 'passing the torch' to Democrat Chuy Garcia (Cook County Commissioner); our archival footage comparing how mayoral candidate endorsements were democratically done back in 2010; an interview with a delegate just leaving a contentious CTU House of Delegates meeting on Nov. 5 that debated whether to rubber-stamp Karen's abrupt Garcia endorsement.
Chicago Teachers Union and CORE leader Tammie Vinson, a teacher at DePriest Elementary School, is campaigning as an independent for alderman of the 28th Ward on Chicago's West Side. Vinson's opinions are featured in the Labor Beat video. Labor Beat photo.We also look at certain aldermanic races for the Feb. 2015 city hall election, getting some interviews and speeches from a handful of labor-based independent candidates who have either in their campaigns or to Labor Beat declared that they are neither Democratic or Republican. At the time of the completion of this video, none of these candidates are yet officially on the ballot, as they work to gather specified numbers of validated petition signatures in a difficult process set up by the election commission. (Tammie Vinson, 28th Ward; Jorge Mujica, 25th Ward; Tim Meegan, 33rd Ward; Sue Sadlowski Garza, 10th Ward.)
A running commentary by labor activist Linda Loew (member of AFSCME 1989) places these developments in perspective: are we seeing in this the seeds of a new political party of labor and its allies, fundamentally breaking from the Democratic Party?
The video is also narrated by the Chicago-area radio voice of Dale Lehman. Length - 25:49
Ed Hershey, who teaches physics at Lindblom High School where he also serves as union delegate, is quoted in the Labor Beat video concerning the way the vote was done at the November 5 CTU House of Delegates meeting. Hershey is a candidate for Alderman in the 25th Ward. Labor Beat photo.Produced by Labor Beat. Labor Beat is a CAN TV Community Partner, and member of the Evanston Community Media Center. 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's facebook page:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/LABOR-BEAT/167503422257
By: Rod Estvan
Court ruling on SB1 throws out pension reform
I did not know where to post this so I did it here. A circuit court threw out in its totality the entire pension reform or reduction proposal Friday. here is a link to that decision
http://www.illinoisattorneygeneral.gov/pressroom/2014_11/Pension_Decision.pdf
It was appealed to,the IL Supreme Court where if they bother to hear the case this decision will stand. Very shortly the City of Chicago's move against municipal retirees to cut off health care as part of their retirement benefits will also likely be overturned and the City will have to pay out millions to retirees for health insurance payments.
We have now entered a crisis of significant proportions and our new Republican governor will have to consider truly massive cuts to spending if he is to keep his promises on taxes. Similarly the Mayor is in the same situation relative to property taxes and other fees.
Rod Estvan