Posted on by arotherham

Chicago Teachers Strike – Snatching Defeat From The Jaws Of Victory

Wow. It’s pretty unusual for a teachers union leader to take a deal back to their members and have it rejected like this.  It happened in Baltimore in 2010 because a lot of the deal was left to be worked out later and teachers didn’t feel they had enough information – that contract was ultimately ratified though.

In this case the cause seems to be not a lack of information but rather something that’s plagued these negotiations all week according to people involved in them – some disagreement and disorganization within the union so it’s hard to figure out what bottom lines are.  And after yesterday probably harder.  The internal politics will pick up because this was hardly a vote of confidence for Chicago Teachers Union president Karen Lewis.

At this point it seems like the union may well have – pick your metaphor – overplayed its hand here or snatched defeat from the jaws of victory.  Per the below, they were coming out of this OK but this latest stunt may well undo that because “Our members are not happy. They want to know if there is anything more they can get” as Lewis put it is at odds with the earlier messaging on what the strike was all about – and not the most appealing message after a week of no school….

Also per the post below – do things really nationalize now? Stay tuned.

5 Replies to “Chicago Teachers Strike – Snatching Defeat From The Jaws Of Victory”

  1. Nothing about the Jewish members who had two hours to examine the contract before voting but want more time to read i?. God forbid they read it.

    This says more about the trust the teachers have for Rahmi or Jean, who got run out of Rochester by a vote of no confidence from the teachers.

  4. From Celina:

    When he visits schools, he often chooses charters, selective enrollment schools or the AUSL schools, but he almost never highlights regular neighborhood schools. He refers to us as “my children” and says he will not stand to see another generation fail, but to me that’s exactly what he is doing.

    In fact, his CPS officials say this directly. The CPS Chief Operating Officer, Tim Cawley said in the Chicago Tribune that, “If we think there’s a chance that a building is going to be closed in the next five to 10 years, if we think it’s unlikely it’s going to continue to be a school, we’re not going to invest in that building,” Also, he said, if the building houses a school undergoing a new program like a turnaround, it’s more likely to get interior renovations, bathroom facilities or an addition.

    So we don’t get what we ask for and need for ten years just because we aren’t the kind of school that he likes.

    It’s part of a bigger problem–our voices as students aren’t heard. Do the things we have to say not matter? In my eyes, that’s exactly what I see. I see a man who only devotes his time to schools with money and doesn’t take students like us into consideration.

    Mayor Rahm Emanuel has said, “This is a strike of choice,” and “This strike never should have happened.” I agree that it shouldn’t have happened. If the Mayor listened to the voices of people who work and learn in schools, it never would have.

    Students First!

  5. PhillipMarlowe, I was a city inspector in Kansas City when the surge of desegregation spending occured in the early 1990s. I saw unbelievable amounts of waste in the form of expensive upgrades to old buildings that were torn down within a decade. That’s no way to budget capital improvements.

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