unions

The past six months has seen numerous one-day strikes by fast food workers across the country, in cities like Chicago, New York City, and Detroit. The point of these strikes is to draw attention to the low wages and little to no benefits that fast food and other retail workers receive.

Today, this strike wave hits Seattle, as workers at dozens of stores have started walking out.Ai??ai???Iai??i??m sick of seeing my co-workers and me essentially get pushed and pushed and barely be able to eat,” saidAi??Taco Bell employee Caroline Durocher to labor journalist Josh Eidelson. “And I think itai??i??s time that we pushed them back.ai???

Activists on the ground are taking pictures from the scenes of the strikes. Here’s a sampling:

Crowd chanting “we’ve got your back” (photo credit: @Molly_O)

Qdoba workers (photo credit: @GoodJobsSeattle)

Sign outside of a Taco Bell. (photo credit: @RaiseupMKE)

Arby’s workers on strike (photo credit: @Molly_O)

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An historical photo of the factory where the fire occurred. (Source: University of Illinois)

102 years ago today, there was a tragic fire at a Triangle Waist Company factory in New York City. Because the factory lacked adequate escape routes and other safety measures, 146 people perished in the fire, almost a third of the employees.

In the aftermath of the fire, the company’s two owners were brought up on manslaughter charges but acquitted. However, they did later face a civil suit where they were eventually forced to pay out $75 per deceased victim.

The larger social consequence of the fire was a renewed focus on worker safety, led primarily by the labor movement. The New York State Legislature created Factory Investigating Commission to investigate working conditions and factories and to author reports that helped stir lawmakers to pass a spree of labor and worker safety reforms.

The labor movement and later the public interest community continued to make worker safety a priority, and, in 1970, the federal government created the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to oversee the working conditions.

While OSHA and various other reform measures greatly improved conditions for workers, your right to be safe on the job is still far from ensured. In 2011, 4,609 workers died on the job; OSHA is so understaffed that its 2,200 inspectors are expected to oversee workplaces where 130 million Americans go to work.

And one way American-based corporations continue to deny their workers safe conditions is by shuttering factories here and moving overseas. For example, Wal-Mart was one major contractor at a garment factory in Bangladesh where a fire killed 112 people late last year. The company “reportedly decided against aiding factory upgrades that could have stopped fires like last month’s blaze at …

Last year, Michigan Republicans pushed through a radical “right to work” anti-union law. In the days before the law was passed, thousands of Michiganders protested, as it was being pushed through in a lame duck session so a number of defeated Republicans could vote for the unpopular measure.

During those protests, Fox News contributorAi??Steven Crowder claimed that a union protester punched him. The network ran video showing one protester punching Crowder, giving the impression that it was an unprovoked attack. That video has 1.4 million views on YouTube, and was used as anti-unionAi??propagandaAi??by the network.

Crowder soon filed a police report following the December 11 incident. But the county prosecutor,Ai??Stuart Dunnings III, has now said that he will refuse to prosecute. Dunning explained that he viewed an unedited clip of the same situation — captured by The Young Turks — and that it clearly shows that the protester who threw the punch was first pushed down, and that it appears that he was simply acting in self defense against a larger crowd that first attacked him.

Watch the unedited footage:

“Iai??i??m not holding that against him, but why would they provide the edited video? The longer video clearly shows the guy got pushed down and came up swinging,” said Billings.

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the Progressive Change Campaign Committee is circulating an online thank-you card for Schultz to credit his work on behalf of workers; by 3 p.m. it had more than 16,000 signatories. Perhaps such a number gauges the discontent among working class and union advocates in MSNBC’s decision.

Today is International Women’s Day, and governments and civil society around the world are celebrating it with events marking progress towards gender equality and calling for additional action to achieve full equality.

But few people know where the day originally comes from. In 1857, female garment workers in New York City staged mass protests against low wages and poor working conditions. Police attacked the demonstrators, forcing them to disperse, but the event helped spur the creation of the first women’s labor union.

By 1908, this women’s labor movement had expanded, and 15,000 women marched in March of that year for voting rights, better pay, shorter working hours, and an end to child labor. In May of that year, the Socialist Party —which won 900,000 votes four years later — declared that the last Sunday in February would be National Women’s Day. The first National Women’s Day was celebrated in 1909 and soon other countries jumped on board, marking it International Women’s Day.

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Wisconsin was the site over an epic struggle in 2011 to defend public employees’ collective bargaining rights. Backed by Koch brothers cash, Republicans were successful in rolling back public employee rights. In doing so, Republicans claimed that they were just concerned with budget matters and did not want to target unions specifically.

But a year and a half later, Republicans are now advancing a bill that has nothing to do with Wisconsin’s budget but everything to do with crushing unions.

House Republicans have introduced a bill that would allow private businesses to cut back on hours unilaterally, without having to talk to the unions or negotiate with their workers. As the Chippewa Herald notes, this law would be “in contrast to almost all similar laws in other states.”

Republicans are fast-tracking the bill, and it may get a committee vote as soon as Thursday. “It’s one more step toward their goal of ending the right of Wisconsin citizens to have their voice heard in the workplace,” said Democratic state senatorAi??Julie Lassa in a statement.

Recall that Republican Governor Scott Walker told a billionaire donor that he is pursuing a “divide and conquer” strategy with respect to unions — going after public ones first to take on private ones later. His strategy seems to be in action here.

Corporate lobbyists want to pass so-called “right to work” laws nationwide to weaken unions and crush organized labor. In Missouri, Republican lawmakers recently held a strategy session with a number of right-wing special interest groups where they laid out their plan to pass such an anti-union law.

At one point, Ai??Steve Hunter, a former Missouri lawmaker who took up work as a lobbyist after leaving public service, told the Republicans that they would lose donors if they don’t take up a radical anti-union bill:Ai??ai???If you donai??i??t take on the fights, and these guys that are giving money? I mean, this is just all basic 101. Youai??i??re going to start losing donors.ai???

Another speaker promises that if lawmakers push for this bill, “we want to make sure your backs are covered when it comes time for re-election. And thatai??i??s where we come in. To have the groundwork laid for you. So your backs can be covered.”

Progress Missouri captured these remarks and others in an audio recording of the entire meeting. Listen to it:

“Our legislators need to be listening to Missourians and solving Missouri problems, not following the orders of extreme billionaires and their secretive front groups,” said Progress Missouri Executive Director Sean Soendker Nicholson. “These bills are all about limiting the political voices of workers and the middle class on behalf of CEOs and corporations.ai???

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Dr. King on April 3rd, 1968, at the Mason Temple in Memphis, Tennessee.

As we celebrate Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day today, many Americans know this American hero as a champion of racial equality. But few know that he spent the last years of his life fighting for an end to the Vietnam War and a less militaristic foreign policy, or that he championed economic justice as well.

King spent the last days of his life working for justice for union workers in Memphis, Tennessee.

On April 3, 1968, King traveled there, where he delivered his famous ai???Iai??i??ve Been To The Mountaintopai??? speech, during which he endorsed a ai???human rights revolutionai??? based around eradicating racism, poverty, and militarism.

King had arrived in Memphis to support a strike by the cityai??i??s sanitation workers,Ai??who struckAi??to gain collective bargaining rights and better conditions following the deaths of two city workers in an accident. King called upon the city to respect the ai???dignity of labor,ai??? saying that all workers deserved fair treatment. He also said it was a crime for a rich country like the United States to pay some people starvation wages. Documentary footage from the AFSCME union captured Kingai??i??s address to the workers:

King implored people to think about a new kind of “unselfishness” in his last public speech, and asked people to support workers like the sanitation employees on strike:

That’s the question before you tonight. Not, “If I stop to help the sanitation workers, what will happen to all of the hours that I usually spend in my office every day and every week as a pastor?” The question is not, “If I stop to help this man in need, what will happen to me?” “If I do not stop to help the sanitation …

On Black Friday, there are expected to be up to a thousand strikes and protests at Wal-Mart stores — a result of poor wages and benefits and union-busting at the company.

On the Today Show this morning, Wal-Mart Chief Merchandising and Marking Officer Duncan Mac Naughton appeared to discuss the strike. At one point, host Savannah Guthrie asked him if he could guarantee that there would be no retaliation against workers who protested. He dodged the question, and when she followed up, he said they would deal with each case individually:

GUTHRIE: If someone does picket who’s an employee of your store, will they face retaliation, will they be fired, will they see their hours cut down.

DUNCAN MAC NAUGHTON: Savannah, we have a really open culture, it’s all about listening to our associates. It’s based in integrity, with respect to the individual. Our operators and our store managers always want to listen to the concerns of our associates, and we do that all the time, we’ll treat each case —

GUTHRIE: So there’s no ramification if somebody protests?

DUNCAN MAC NAUGHTON: We’ll treat each case individually, Savannah.

Watch it:

Wal-Mart has already been caught telling workers in private meetings that there may be ramifications if any of them go on strike or attend protests.

Click here to find an upcoming Wal-Mart strike or protest near you.

Wal-Mart is America’s biggest employer. It’s also one of its most anti-union, and has worked hard to stop workers from organizing. In 2000, ai???when a small meatcutting department successfully organized a union at a Walmart store in Texas, Wal-Mart responded a week later by announcing the phase-out of its meatcutting departments entirely.ai??? When a branch in Quebec, Canada, voted to unionize, the company immediately shut down the store.

But you can’t keep workers down forever. Josh Eidelson at Salon reports about a huge wave of one-day strikes that have hit Wal-Mart stores and suppliers nationwide:

For the second time in five days ai??i?? and also the second time in Walmartai??i??s five decades ai??i?? workers at multiple US Walmart stores are on strike.Ai??This morning, workers walked off the job in Dallas,Ai??Texas andAi??Laurel, Maryland; Walmart store workers in additional cities are expected to join the strike in the coming hours. No end date has been announced; some plan to remain on strike at least through tomorrow, when theyai??i??ll join other Walmart workers for a demonstration outside the companyai??i??s annual investor meeting in Bentonville, Arkansas. Todayai??i??s is the latest in a unprecedented wave of Walmart supply chain strikes: From shrimp workers in Louisiana, to warehouse workers in California and Illinois, to Walmart store employees in three states ai??i?? and counting.

ai???A lot of associates, we have to use somewhat of a buddy system,ai??? Dallas worker Colby Harris said last night. ai???We loan each other money during non-paycheck weeks just to make it through to the next week when we get paid. Because we donai??i??t have enough money after paying bills to even eat lunch.ai??? Harris, whoai??i??s now on strike, said that after three years at Walmart, he makes $8.90 an hour in the produce department, and …

This anti-union movie bombed at the box office.

Earlier this week, we educated you about the right-wing billionaire who producedAi??Won’t Back Down, a film that premiered on Friday that demonizes teachers unions. Since then, critics trashed the movie, over the objections of astroturf groups that are promoting it.

Now it appears that movie audiences agree that the film isn’t worth watching. Box Office Mojo reports that the film debuted in eigth place, which it says is one of the worst debuts ever for a wide-release movie:

In eight place,Ai??Won’t Back DownAi??debuted to an atrocious $921,000 from 2,515 locations. It will earn around $3 million this weekend, which will be one of the worst debuts ever for a movie inAi??2,500 or more theaters.

The anti-teachers union documentary Waiting For Superman — also produced by the same right-wing billionaire — also performed poorly at the box office. It appears that Americans are starting to tire of simplistic propaganda designed to demonize teachers but propose no constructive solutions for the American education system.

This anti-union movie premieres today.

On Wednesday, we exposed the right-wing billionaire behind the new anti-union movieAi??Won’t Back Down that’s releasing today in theaters. It seems like the critics are on to his game too — the movie has a pitiful 33 percent rating on the review aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes.

So the film’s promoters have taken a new route to try to boost the film: astroturf reviews. Ai?? Education blogger Jersey Jazzman and advocate Leonie Haimson has discovered that Matthew David, a staffer with Michelle Rhee’s StudentsFirst — which is working with right-wing groups to promote the movie — actually wrote a review of the film on the Rotten Tomatoes site in an attempt to boost its rating.

Here’s a screenshot of David’s review:

A few other StudentsFirst staffers also wrote reviews on the site, but they at least did identify themselves as members of the organization, unlike David. David is actually a former McCain rapid response staffer and Bush-Cheney campaign operative.

Interestingly, one of the other Rhee staffers who posted a review, Catherine Durkin Robinson, was previously caught offering the chance to win a gift card to individuals who would promise to post comments in favor of Rhee’s agenda.

What all of this means is that Big Money groups are doing everything to try to make their education agenda — one of disempowering unions and empowering private schools — popular. Unfortunately for them, the facts just aren’t on their side.

Last night’s Seahawks-Packers game enraged many football fans and led to widespread criticism of scab replacement referees brought in thanks to a lockout of the NFL’s unionized referees.

One group that has surprisingly come to the side of the unionized referees is prominent Republicans. Here’s four prominent Republicans who have suddenly realized the virtues of union workers thanks to the NFL lockout:

The Republican National Committee’s Communications Director: The RNC’s Sean Spicer said that the NFL should give the unionized referees “what they want” because the replacement referees are “horrible.” [9/23]
Senate Candidate Pete Hoekstra: Hoekstra just released an ad poking fun at his Democratic opponent by bashing “replacement refs.” [9/25]
Union-Busting Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker: Walker tweeted that we need to “returntherealrefs.” [9/25]
Republican Vice Presidential Candidate Paul Ryan: Ryan Ai??said it’s “time to get the real refs” during a campaign stop. [9/25]

It’s great that all these Republicans are backing the NFL referees, who are simply asking for a more fair agreement from their employers. But one has to wonder if they realize there’s a huge disconnect between backing these unionized employees in their labor fight while simultaneously throwing teachers, firefighters, cops, and other union workers under the bus.

Help PCCC fight for a progressive America that includes strong unions.

A pensions protest in Britain.

One of the way the modern conservative movement has undermined progressive goals like reducing income inequality and universal health care is by limiting democracy itself. For example, conservatives were successful in getting California to require a 2/3 vote — not a simple majority — to raise taxes, essentially letting small minorities prevent tax increases and force major cuts to public services.

Now, Illinois conservatives are pushing a similar effort in Illinois to attack public employee pensions. Illinois’s November ballot will include Amendment 49, which would require a three-fifths vote in order to increase pensions or other public retirement benefits.

ai???For decades politicians skipped payments, running up the pension debt. Now that the bill is due, theyai??i??re trying to blame teachers, police officers, caregivers and other public employees and retirees. Instead of putting in place an ironclad guarantee that politicians will pay their share going forward, theyai??i??re clamoring to change the constitution in a way that wonai??i??t do a thing to fix the funding problem,ai??? said Anders Lindall, spokesman for the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees union, in an interview with The Southern Illinoisan.

It’s not surprising that anti-union forces are pushing for a California-style attack on public pensions in the state. Stable private pensions that allow workers to retire with dignity have been in decline (partly due to the collapse of unions in the private sector). Public pensions remain the last real backbone for retirement security for workers, and if the right succeeds in crushing them, society’s responsibility to reward workers for a lifetime of hard work will be greatly undermined.

Illinois’s voters should soundly reject Amendment 49 because it is both an attack on public workers and an attack on …

A Chicago Teachers Union action from earlier this year. (Photo credit: Flickr user JeanPaulHolmes)

The Chicago Teachers Union ended its strike last week in a resounding victory for students, teachers, and parents. (See a list of what they won here.)

But anti-union forces don’t want to see working people continue to win victory’s like last week’s. Chicago AldermanAi??Patrick Oai??i??Connor, who serves as the city council floor leader for Mayor Rahm Emanuel, is suggesting that the city move towards banning teacher strikes in the future:

Chicago’s first teachers strike in 25 years should trigger a debate about whether or not teachers should be allowed to strike, Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s City Council floor leader said. […]Ai??”The anxiety leading up to the strike and the week they were off–the disruption it caused and the need for government and our constituents to scramble to find ways to keep their children safe–it’s worth discussing if you can avoid that,” said O’Connor, former longtime chairman of the City Council’s Education Committee.

37 states currently prohibit teacher strikes, and anti-labor forces are campaigning to expand these laws. Interestingly, post-Mubarak Egypt — a country which is still a long way away from becoming even an imperfect democracy — has faced momentous teacher strikes that the military government has been unable to put down. That, if anything, is a sad commentary on the lack of teacher rights in much of the United States.

The National Football League has been taking heat for its lockout of union referees, with theAi??NFL Players Association Executive Committee calling for the lockout to end.

Last night, the union referees got an unconventional ally: the communications director of the Republican National Convention. Check out his tweet about the scab referees brought in:

If they can even convince the RNC’s communications director that they’re right, one hopes that the NFL will soon end the lockout and address the union referees’ grievances.

The Chicago Teachers Union strike that ended last week was an important milestone for the labor movement. It resulted in a great victory for students and teachers, but it also showed other unions nationwide that they can fight and win, even against enormous odds.

So when theAi??Chicago Symphony Orchestra was told that their employees would see their health care contributions double in their next contract — from 5 percent to 12 percent — they decided they wouldn’t take it lying down.

CSO declared on Saturday that it would go on strike. Here’s one musician explaining why he’s on strike:

“We were negotiating all day today after having negotiated many times,” said bassist Stephen Lester, chairman of the Orchestra Members Committee. “They were trying to force us into a concessionary contract, reducing our benefits and making it difficult for the orchestra to pay for health care and keep our basic standard of life.”

The CSO strike is evidence that CTU’s strike is inspiring other unions to stand up for themselves and stop attacks on the wages, benefits, and working conditions of their employees.

The corporate-funded anti-union movement that has targeted locales from Madison to Chicago has a new target: the state of California. In November, voters will get a chance to vote on Proposition 32, which would disallow labor unions from using their funds to back political candidates.

Although the proposition’s backers say that it would restrict corporate money as well, the problem is that it is written in a way to still allow corporations to finance outside money groups to back candidates — meaning that it would weaken the political power of labor unions while doing little to stop corporations from continuing to have outsized influence.

The primary group advocating for Prop. 32 is the “California Future Fund for Free Markets,” which is running television ads in support of the measure. Last week, the California Secretary of State’s office released disclosures that show contributions to the organization. The one large piece of money going to the group is a $4,080,000 contribution from the “American Future Fund” (AFF).

AFF is actually based about 1,800 miles away from the state of California, in Des Moines, Iowa. Because of a loophole in the tax code that allows for highly political organizations to register as “social welfare organizations,” it’s impossible to know exactly who funds AFF because it is not required to disclose its donors.

However, we do know that Iowa businessman Bruce Rastetter, who runs of a major ethanol company, has admitted to donating to AFF in the past. And an investigation by the Center for Public Integrity found that Big Pharma gave $300,000 to the group in 2010. We also know that it is run by hard-right Republican state senator Sandra Greiner.

The battle over Prop 32 reveals the …

Today, the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) voted to end its strike. After seven long days of boisterous rallies and protests, the CTU agreed to the offer made by the city of Chicago through the leadership of Chicago Public Schools (CPS).

NaysayersAi??condemned the strike from the onset as harmful for the district and harmful for kids, but a look at what teachers won shows that it actually did a lot for the schools. Here’s a list of just some of the highlights, drawn from a CTU draft of what its members agreed to:

A REASONABLE SCHOOL LENGTH: Chicago originally proposed a 7 hour, 40 minute school day that threatened to overwork students and teachers (especially without proper compensation). CTU won a 7 hour day for elementary school and 7 hour, 15 minute day for high school
FUNDING FOR A COMPREHENSIVE EDUCATION IN ARTS AND MUSIC: CPS originally had proposed no funding for additional staff. CTU won funding for over 600 new positions, mostly for arts, music, and physical education — important outlets for a comprehensive education.
MAYORAL ACCOUNTABILITY: The original contract called for a length of five years, meaning that Mayor Rahm Emanuel would not be responsible for negotiating another one within his term. The new contract lasts for 3 years, meaning the next negotiation would be during the mayoral race and allow teachers and parents to hold the mayor accountable.
KEEPING HEALTH CARE COSTS DOWN: The original contract would’ve had a nearly 40 percent increase on families and couples. Now, there will be a freeze on health care premiums and co-pays for all CTU members.
FAIR EVALUATIONS: 70 percent of a teacher’s quality rating will be based on their practice rather than student test scores.
A MORE FAIR PAY RAISE: Originally, CPS …

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

The Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) strike enters its sixth day today. Negotiators are reportedly nearing a resolution, but the CTU wants to give its members ample time to weigh in on any proposed agreement.

Late yesterday, Mayor Rahm Emanuel moved to request a temporary restraining order that would force teachers to go back to work. Emanuel’s argument is that state law does not allow teachers to strike over non-compensation issues (click here to find out some of the reasons the strike is happening).

A few minutes ago,Ai??Cook County Circuit Court Peter Flynn denied this request. He said through a spokesman that he may consider instead holding the hearing on Wednesday, when many observers believe the strike may actually end.

“CPS’ spur-of-the-moment decision to seek injunctive relief some six days later appears to be a vindictive act instigated by the mayor,” said the CTU in a statement. “This attempt to thwart our democratic process is consistent with Mayor (Rahm) Emanuelai??i??s bullying behavior toward public school educators.”

Photo credit: Flickr user juggernautco

Rahm Emanuel is having a bad week. His anti-worker antics — like forcing the cancellation of a promised 4 percent pay raise — have brought about a massive teacher strike, and tens of thousands of people are marching against his policies.

But there is one group of people that have fallen in love with Rahm’s policies: Republicans and the far-right. Here’s a short and far from comprehensive list of some of the praise he’s gotten:

The Washington Examiner:Ai??The teachers union is waging a “small war againstAi??Mayor and former White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel.” [9/10]
Republican Vice Presidential Candidate Paul Ryan: “I’veAi??known Rahm Emanuel for years. Heai??i??s a former colleague of mine. RahmAi??and I have not agreed on every issue or on a lot of issues, but MayorAi??Emanuel is right today in saying that this teacherai??i??s union strike isAi??unnecessary and wrong.” [9/10]
News Corporation Owner And Fox News Kingpin Rupert Murdoch: “Three cheers for Rahm Emanuel standing up in Chicago.” [9/11]
Former Republican Presidential Contender Mayor Rudy Giuliani:Ai??”I hope he wins.” [9/11]

It’s clear whose side Rahm is taking — Rupert Murdoch and Paul Ryan’s.

Rhee’s organization has been intent on fighting teachers unions, even by parroting false figures. (Photo credit: Flickr user angela n.)

Anti-labor education activist Michelle Rhee likes to say that she isn’t partisan — even though she has worked with Republican governors to crush unions.

Today, the New York chapter of her advocacy organization — Students First — parroted talking points from the Heartland Institute, a global warming denying corporate front group.

In response to concerns from Chicago parents and teachers that students are being packed into over-sized classrooms, the StudentsFirstNY Twitter account retweeted a Heartland Institute advocate claiming that the average class size in Chicago is 16 students:

This statistic is wildly lower than any credible estimate of class sizes in Chicago. So we decided to look into it.

If you go to the page from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) dealing with Chicago, you’ll find that it actually doesn’t list class sizes. Rather, it has a teacher-to-student ratio. That ratio is 16.44 — this is presumably where the Heartland Institute staffer got the number from.

The problem is, a teacher-to-student ratio is not the same thing as class size. The districts and states that report data to the NCES label a variety of support staff and tertiary individuals as teachers, including a lot of people who do not have sole responsibility for a classroom. The NCES itself admits that this ratio is not the same as class size. Check out this page of “Fast Facts” — you’ll see that NCES numbers show a teacher-pupil ratio of 15.4 in 2009 but class sizes between 20-23 over roughly the same time period. Simply put, the Heartland Institute …

A new poll just released finds that the 29,000 teachers and support staff of the Chicago Teachers Union that just went on strike have a lot of support from the city of Chicago:

In the live survey done by McKeon & Associates, a Joliet-based opinion polling company, 47 percent [of registered voters] support the strike, 39 percent oppose it and 14 percent didnai??i??t know. The poll has a margin of error of 3.8 percent.

These poll numbers should serve as a warning to Mayor Rahm Emanuel and other city officials who so far have not been willing to offer a fair deal to Chicago’s teachers and the students and schools they are fighting for.

Yesterday, we reported that in addition to overfilled classrooms and leaky roofs, one of the issues that brought Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) to the point of striking is the widespread lack of air conditioning in schools. During a heat wave this summer, 21 summer schools without air conditioning actually cancelled classes out of concern for their studentsai??i?? health.

On Twitter, the Chicago Public Schools (CPS) system responded to our reporting on the air conditioning situation:

In a follow-up tweet, CPS insisted that “in extreme heat we make sure multiple fans are on, cold water’s available & move students to cooler areas.”

First of all, it’s important to note that no one is calling for the air conditioning problems to be solvedAi??tomorrow. The teachers of the CTU understand that these things take time and money.

The problem is that the Chicago Public Schools have been avoiding the issue by sidestepping it in negotiations and making no substantiveAi??commitments. Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel even callously dismissed teacher, student, and parent concerns about lack of air conditioning.Ai??ai???Itai??i??sAi??71 degreesAi??outside,ai???Ai??he said, either forgetting that summer will come around again or intentionally mimicking the non-credible arguments used by climate-change deniers during the winter.

While CPS is complaining about money concerns, it is also laying the groundwork to shift as much as $70 million away from the public system and to charter schools (which just happen to be mostly non-unionized). It also is planning to significantly lengthen the school day (without properly compensating teachers for the extended day). The city has used Tax Increment Financing to take money out of property tax funds and use them to funnel millions of dollars to wealthy property developers in a scheme the Chicago Reader has …

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

Chicago’s 29,000 public school teachers and support staff aren’t just on strike to defend their own wages and benefits. They’re also fighting for better schools for the communities they live in. Click here to learn about why Chicago’s teachers are on strike.

Here’s five facts — from a well-researched early 2012 CTU report — that you need to know about the abominable state of the Chicago Public Schools (CPS) system — facts that Mayor Rahm Emanuel would rather you didn’t know:

Class Sizes Are Among The Largest In The State: Chicago’s kindergarten class sizes in particular are larger than 95 percent of classes across the state. Sometimes kids are sitting in classrooms with 40 students for months as the city drags its feet on lowering class sizes. Right outside of Chicago, in the Matteson School District, the average class size is between 16 and 23 for most of a child’s education.
Students Lack Access To Arts And Music Education: Instruction in the arts and music is essential to educating gifted and responsible children. But only 25 percent of Chicago public elementary schools have both art and music instructors.
There Is A Severe Lack Of Social Workers And Counselors:Ai??Over 15,000 homeless children attend Chicago public schools. Yet there are only 370 social workers for the entire district. You do the math. Each social worker, if dedicated totally to homeless children, would have a caseload of 42 kids. Meanwhile, each school has only one counselor, meaning that schools with up to 1,200 kids have only one adult offering intensive counseling services.
160 Schools Don’t Even Have Libraries:Ai??Libraries give kids, especially impoverished kids, access to information that they’d never otherwise be able to attain. …