News Archives: Tagged union

Hedge Funders Launch TV Attack On Chicago’s Teachers — Help Us Fight Back   

The Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) strike is entering its seventh day, and many observers expect  the labor action to end this week and result in a victory for students and teachers.

But the forces of school privatization aren’t sitting out the fight. A group calling itself Education Reform Advocacy Now is airing a 30-second commercial in Chicago attacking the strike. Watch it:

To start with, the commercial itself is simply misleading. It implies that the CTU opposes a longer school day, whereas the union itself actually agreed to a longer school day as long as teachers are fairly compensated for it.

It’s also important to note who it is who is running the ad. Education Reform Now Advocacy is the 501(c)4 tax status organization run by the same folks who run Democrats For Education Reform (DFER), a group that has openly advocated for charter schools to use funds that are supposed to be used to educate students to instead lobby the government.

Democrats for Education Reform’s board consists almost entirely of individuals from the finance industry (mostly hedge funds). Education Reform Now Advocacy is based not in Chicago — like the teachers it is bashing — but in New York City.

Education Reform Now’s last disclosure filing with the state of New York was in December 2010. Interestingly, the disclosure shows a quarter million dollar loan from Charles Ledley, a hedge fund kingpin who made millions by betting against the subprime mortgage market.

While most of the money from DFER and associated groups comes from Big Finance based outside of Chicago, one group it certainly does not represent is teachers and parents, like those who are fighting for a fair deal from the city today.

We’re not letting this stand. We’ve put together our own ad to fight back — and it features real teachers, students, and parents fighting for their public schools. Check it out:

 

Don’t let this group of financial elites control the debate in Chicago. Click here to pitch in $3 to run our ad featuring parents and teachers standing with the Chicago Teachers Union.

Posted on September 18, 2012 at 3:45pm by . Posted in , , . 2 comments. Leave a response.

POLL: 66 Percent Of Chicago Parents With Kids In Public Schools Support The Strike   

One of the criticisms levied against the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) strike is that it’s bad for the community because it is keeping kids out of school and burdens parents.

But a new independent poll finds that those parents are actually quite supportive of the strike. A poll for Capital Fax conducted by We Ask America finds that 66 percent of Chicago’s parents who have kids in Chicago Public Schools support the strike.

Asked who was most to blame for the strike, “just over 34 percent pointed their finger at Mayor Rahm Emanuel, while 29 percent blamed the Chicago Teachers Union and 19 percent blamed the school board,” meaning that most respondents to the poll blame management.

Posted on September 14, 2012 at 11:30am by . Posted in , . 3 comments. Leave a response.

EXCLUSIVE: Fox News’s Parent Company Has Contracts With Chicago Public Schools   

Photo credit: Flickr user Global Mitch

There’s one news outlet that has been very unsympathetic to the striking teachers and staff in Chicago, to say the least. Fox News has been blasting the Chicago Teachers Union since the strike began; host Greta Van Sustern proudly proclaimed that “CHILDREN LOSE!” on her blog as teachers began their actions.

But in its spree of teacher-bashing, there’s one very serious conflict of interest that Fox News has failed to disclose.

Let’s start in 2010. That’s when Fox News’s parent company, News Corporation, acquired the education technology company known called Wireless Generation by purchasing a 90 percent stake in the company. Soon afterwards, former New York City schools chief Joel Klein — who had a history of warring with unions — became head of the education division at News Corp.

News Corporation’s involvement in a hacking scandal eventually lost Wireless Generation its planned contract with the state of New York.

But in May of 2012, the education technology company found another willing buyer — the city of Chicago. The Board of Education of Chicago Public Schools (CPS) — the district   that CTU is striking against — approved the purchase of education technology services from Wireless Generation. Here’s a snapshot from the Board’s agenda meeting:

If you click on the two agreements listed, you’ll see that they’re for $1,700,000 each.

We contacted Wireless Generation to see if they have any other contracts with CPS, but we have yet to get a response.

Americans want to trust the media and hope that it can provide thoughtful and accurate information that is uncorrupted by secret conflicts of interest. Fox News is betraying that trust.

Posted on September 12, 2012 at 1:32pm by . Posted in , , . 4 comments. Leave a response.

FACT CHECK: Chicago Area Teachers Earn An Average Wage Of $56,720   

Far-right activists as well as even a few mainstream journalists have made wild claims about how much Chicago’s teachers earn. Nightline’s Terry Moran even claimed that the Chicago Teachers Union is doing “much damage” to the profession by striking, and then went on to say that teachers in the city earn an average of $74,000.

That just isn’t true. To fact check this claim, I went to the best source available to the public: the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). The BLS has data from May 2011 for the Chicago metropolitan area that breaks down the average salary for teachers. Across the profession, teachers in the area were earning an average salary of $56,720. Keep in mind that a median salary would probably be a more accurate picture of what teachers actually earn (veteran teacher salaries will be dragging the number upwards) but that this number is not available. The number is also dragged upward because a number of university staff are included in this calculation (they earn more than public school teachers). We spoke with a BLS official earlier today to confirm the veracity of these numbers.

If you look at the different subsets of teachers, some earn as little an average salary as $44,480 (foreign language teachers).  Also keep in mind that the cost of food and living is well above the U.S. average in Chicago.

The only way Chicago’s teachers and students will win this struggle is by not letting misinformation turn the tide of public opinion. Use the Twitter, Facebook, and Reddit buttons on this page to spread the word. (Thanks to labor journalist Doug Henwood for pointing us in the right direction to look for these figures.)

Posted on September 10, 2012 at 4:25pm by . Posted in , . 94 comments. Leave a response.

A Chicago Teacher Explains Why He’s Striking For The Children He Teaches   

A Chicago Teachers Union action. (Photo credit: Flickr user JeanPaulHolmes)

At 10 PM central standard time last night, 29,000 Chicago teachers and support staff declared that they are going out on strike (read about their grievances and how you can help them here).

On his blog Teacher X, Chicago Teacher Xian Barret explains one of the most important things to understand about the teacher strike: it’s not just about teachers, it’s also about defending kids. Here’s an excerpt from his blog post, where he responds to Chicago Public Schools administration claiming that a strike hurts kids:

When you make me cram 30-50 kids in my classroom with no air conditioning so that temperatures hit 96 degrees, that hurts our kids.

When you lock down our schools with metal detectors and arrest brothers for play fighting in the halls, that hurts our kids.

When you take 18-25 days out of the school year for high stakes testing that is not even scientifically applicable for many of our students, that hurts our kids.

When you spend millions on your pet programs, but there’s no money for school level repairs, so the roof leaks on my students at their desks when it rains, that hurts our kids.

When you unilaterally institute a longer school day, insult us by calling it a “full school day” and then provide no implementation support, throwing our schools into chaos, that hurts our kids.

When you support Mayor Emanuel’s TIF program in diverting hundreds of millions of dollars of school funds into to the pockets of wealthy developers like billionaire member of your school board, Penny Pritzker so she can build more hotels, that not only hurts kids, but somebody should be going to jail.

If you want to learn more about the strike in Chicago and how you can help, see our blog post “Chicago’s Teachers Just Went On Strike — Here’s Everything You Need To Know About Why.“

Posted on September 10, 2012 at 12:36pm by . Posted in , . 13 comments. Leave a response.

Chicago’s Teachers Just Went On Strike — Here’s Everything You Need To Know About Why   

During a press conference tonight the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) announced that it will be going on strike, its first action of the sort in 25 years.

Why are these 29,000 teachers and school workers going on strike in the nation’s third-largest public school district?

Because they want what all workers want: fair pay and decent working conditions. They also want what all teachers want — to serve their students to their best of their abilities.

Here’s a few things you need to know about the strike, and why the CTU is right and Mayor Rahm Emanuel — who has failed to fairly bargain with the union — is wrong:

  • Powerful Outside Interests Worked With Rahm To Cripple CTU’s Ability To Strike (They Failed): Last year, outside education privatization groups like Stand for Children worked with the city council and mayor to raise the strike threshold limit to 75 percent — meaning that 3/4 of teachers had to vote to strike. Jonah Edelman, who works for the group, bragged during the Aspen Ideas Festival that they had essentially eliminated teachers’ ability to strike. But in June, nearly 90 percent of CTU members voted to authorize a strike, easily surpassing the barrier that the city and education privatization groups had placed on them. But outside groups haven’t stopped taking aim at union rights. They’ve even paid protesters to demonstrate against CTU.
  • Rahm Refuses To Pay Teachers What They Were Promised: Being a teacher takes hard work, and it’s one of the most poorly-paid professions relative to the work load. The leadership of Chicago Public Schools (CPS) had agreed to offer teachers a four percent raise last year, but Mayor Emanuel canceled this agreement. The district has refused to address this raise in negotiations. While gutting teachers’ pay increases, CPS is calling for longer school days. Would you want to work more hours without being fairly compensated for it?
  • The City Won’t Agree To Limit The Number Of Kids In Classrooms In The Contract: Over-crowded classrooms are bad for students, teachers, and parents. That’s why 32 states have limits on classroom size. Illinois does not. CTU wants to see limits on class sizes in its contract (there are limits in CPS guidelines, but not in the teachers’ contract) but the city refuses to discuss it. CTU analysis shows that Chicago class sizes for kindergarten and first grade are larger than 95 percent of school districts in the state.
  • Rahm Is Intent On Shifting Funds To Untested And Unproven Charter Schools: Rahm has been laying the groundwork for a rapid expansion of charter schools, and wants to create nearly 250 more within five to ten years (this would amount to half the system). This massive diversion of funds from the public system is not based on the facts of what actually works for students. The most comprehensive study of charter schools in the United States found that most deliver results similar to those of public schools. Not surprisingly, Chicago’s charter schools are largely devoid of unions and the benefits they provide for students and teachers alike. Charter school teachers tend to earn 8 percent less than normal public school teachers — which makes them an attractive tool for austerity-prone conservatives. CTU wants a more fair distribution of funds.

If you’re a bold progressive who wants to side with these teachers who are fighting for their students and communities, here’s a few ways to do it:

  • Contribute to the CTU Solidarity Fund: The CTU has set up a Solidarity Fund to allow the union to do educational outreach and activism. Click here to donate to it.
  • Spread The Word On Social Media: Use the hashtags #FairContractNow and #CTUStrike to spread the word about the strike. Use the social media buttons on this post (Twitter, Facebook, and Reddit) to explain to your friends and family about why it’s important to stand with Chicago’s teachers. A number of Twitter users have already changed their Twitpics to the logo of the Chicago Teachers Union. Doing so on Twitter or Facebook will help spread the word.
  • Join The Fight With The PCCC:  Sign up to stay in the loop with our bold progressive activism at the top of this page.

We’ll keep you updated on the CTU strike and everything you can do to help the city’s teachers.

UPDATE: The Nation’s Dave Zirin has another way to help: order a pizza for striking teachers. You can call “Gus or Daisy at Primo’s Pizza at (312) 243-1052.”

UPDATE II: Read the story of why one teacher is striking here.

Posted on September 9, 2012 at 11:08pm by . Posted in , . 264 comments. Leave a response.