shock waves in the chicago teachers union

[Hannah Bell]

IF REFORMERS in the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) win union elections June 11, it will shake up City Hall, rattle teachers unions--and provide a rebuke to President Barack Obama's education policy.

In the first round of union elections on May 21, the Caucus of Rank and File Educators (CORE) gained 30 percent of the vote in a five-way race, compared to 31.9 percent for the incumbent United Progressive Caucus (UPC), which has controlled the union for 37 of the last 40 years...

Formed in 2008 in response to the union's failure to stand up to school closings ordered by then-Chicago Public Schools CEO, Arne Duncan, CORE mobilized not only rank-and-file teachers, but parents and community organizations against an agenda that centered on closing "failing" schools, expanding privately run charter schools and grinding down job protections for teachers...Today, of course...the Chicago plan has gone national....

But now, Chicago teachers appear ready to fight back against the Duncan agenda and the corporate interests he represents... CORE's Karen Lewis... and the CORE slate pointed to how Mayor Daley's tax increment financing (TIF) scheme--which shifts property taxes into a citywide slush fund--will have diverted more than $1.2 billion from Chicago schools between 2006 and 2012. Rather than give back, the CTU should fight back by building a democratic, fighting union, Lewis argued...And now CORE has a shot at ousting the UPC and sending a message to the CTU's parent union, the American Federation of Teachers, that it's time to push back...

http://socialistworker.org/2010/05/25/shock-waves-in-the-ctu

[Lorien]

1. Wow, the unrec trolls work fast!

Guess they hate teachers, and unions. :shrug:

[Hannah Bell]

2. if the reform coalition wins, that will be a major setback - in arne's backyard.

go core!

[unc70]

4. Easier to see in the middle of the night

Don't know how many there were at 4:30 in the morning EDT, but that roughly the slowest period of posting at DU.

[proud2BlibKansan]

3. Been following CORE for a couple months now and am very impressed

Looking forward to meeting them at AFT convention!

[Dinger]

5. Kick & Rec #11 From Me

Good on the teachers!:)

[tonysam]

6. Substance News notes the media propaganda campaign in favor of Stewart

Meanwhile, over at the Sun-Times, ace reporter Rosalind Rossi was hanging around with Marilyn Stewart, who is six weeks from being the ex-president of the Chicago Teachers Union. Rossi's story featured a publicity stunt by Stewart, who double crossed most of the union's friends by agreeing to hold a rally at which everybody would speak and then making sure it did not happen. Nothing new about any of this stuff, unless you were the kind of trusting soul who believes that the Sun-Times and Tribune are reporting something you think of as “news.”

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