[Peace-discuss] [OccupyCU] Solidarity Event for the 26, 000 Striking Chicago Teachers!!!
Jenifer Cartwright
jencart13 at yahoo.com
Wed Sep 12 05:06:19 UTC 2012
Stuart, You left out the most important demand: not evaluating-paying-retaining-firing teachers based on students' scores on standardized tests (which, btw, are corporate coffer-fillers, speaking of mvtmnt to privatize public schls). Also on the CTU list: smaller class size, a more rounded curriculum (to include music and art), smaller class size, air-conditioned classrooms, maybe tchr health benefits, not sure... and salaries aren't a primary issue, as I understand it -- a sound bite for management to make the tchrs look greedy. Obama/Duncan/Emanuel are fighting for Race to the Top, aka No Child Left Behind -- both missions suck -- ask any tchr. That said, hopefully Obama'll support the tchrs if things aren't resolved soon.
--- On Tue, 9/11/12, Stuart Levy <stuartnlevy at gmail.com> wrote:
Puzzled by this, Wayne.
If workers in China lack effective labor protections, does that mean
that American workers should follow their example and give up what
remains of theirs? I'd rather see the reverse - that Chinese
workers should organize and exercise their power, to gain a more
equitable return for their valuable labor. As some of our own
ancestors did in the US. So we have weekends, and worker's
compensation for work-related injuries. And unlike Scrooge's
employees, most of us get Christmas off, and some few of us still
get paid for it.
It's not as though there's no money available (for Chicago teachers
or for American workers in general). Chicago is not an impoverished
city - they just allocate money according to power.
If Chicago teachers have actually succeeded in getting CTU
leadership that represents them, as opposed to getting along cozily
with management as their previous leadership did, good for them.
Given the overwhelmingly positive strike vote, it sounds as though
they are on the right foot.
It can be destructive to unions to focus narrowly on their own
members' benefits - that's an invitation to division, and discredits
the idea of unionization. Once heard Chomsky point out a crucial
difference between US and Canadian labor history: IIRC, after WWII,
the US United Auto Workers agreed to include medical benefits as
part of their members' contract, while the Canadian branch of the
same UAW refused to do likewise - they recognized that every
Canadian, in their union or out of it, should have medical care.
Now Canadians have better health care than Americans, far more
equitably, and at far lower overall cost.
One interesting thing I heard that CTU has been doing, that I'd like
to know more about: when making concessions, they have at least
sometimes demanded to see that the money saved will be used for some
social purpose - better support for school programs, community
centers, etc. - not just for tax breaks for commercial development
or etc.
Something else I'd like to know about the CTU situation: I'd heard
(from a teacher we spoke with during the anti-NATO protests in May)
that they've been forbidden from bargaining over class size. How
did that happen? This could be an issue that would divide teachers
from students: it's in students' interests to learn in smaller
classes. For teachers, smaller classes should be more effective
and easier to teach, but they might also mean less pay.
On 9/11/12 1:16 AM, "E. Wayne Johnson
朱稳森" wrote:
Not the billy club, but some discipline, sir.
Please consult your dictionary.
I don't like Chicago. It's too damn cold and way too much like
Chicago.
Besides, I am not a school teacher, I'm more on the order of a
Pig
Killer, cf. the guy in
"Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome". Our kind usually don't take no
school-teach jobs.
I didn't say the CTU was lazy, I said they wanted less work, more
money, and no objective evaluation. You will find those things are
true. You can also decide if laziness or some other
characteristic is
inferred.
The notion that school strikes are for the
benefit of the students is fatuous.
On 09/11/12 13:21, Daniel Werst wrote:
On a lighter note--Paul, Lincoln Hall is the building right
on
the West side of the Quad, north of Gregory Hall that looks
bright and
new after extensive renovations.
E Wayne--I find it somewhat contradictory that you admit
you
admit you would be unwilling to do the hard work of teaching
in an
undersupported school system like Chicago's and yet try to
paint the
CTU members as lazy.
I find it despicable that you slander the democratic action
by
workers to stop work in order to force improvements for the
school and
for themselves. Your authoritarian and depressing view of
human
potential and CPS students is indicated by your longing for
the billy
club.
Please stay the heck away and stew in you own ignorant
malice.
Everyone else--come out to discusss and support the strike!
Sincerely,
Daniel Werst
On Mon, Sep 10, 2012 at 8:18 PM, E.
Wayne
Johnson <ewj at pigsqq.org>
wrote:
Thanks for rolling out
the
unwelcome mat.
Reminds me of Nurin Karlin - "The Fat Cat Sat on the Mat".
"You think I'm stupid, said the Cat. I will not get off
the mat, and
that is that."
It is really quite unlikely that I will attend, even if
y'all desire
alternative POV's,
even as just a foil. You can probably find some local
similarly
deranged Archie Bunkers for that
purpose who might fit better than me.
I am not sure that I bullied anyone, though. Expressed
analysis and
disagreement hardly
constitute bullying, Louie. Please note that I doubted
there would be
any leadership change.
On the other hand, the percentage of support that
leadership gets is no
measure of the
wisdom of the direction taken. I do suggest that the CTU
is being
"misled". That doesnt
mean they are "unwilling". Jawohl mein Fuhrer.
Thanks for the links. I read the .pdf files. I was a bit
alarmed by
the number of photographs used to try to
evoke some sort of emotional visceral response, and
disappointed by the
lack of data
particularly the lack of any information providing a
correlation
between the things "requested" and objective response
criteria.
The main concerns seem to be that the CTU wants more
money, less work,
and no objective criteria for evaluation.
They want free rides for the children (good idea) and a
free ride for
themselves (wtf?).
I don't find them laying
the axe to the root
they're just bashing the leaves
looking for windfalls
and low hanging fruit.
They should change the name of their pamphlet to "Throw
Money!". Of
course that is too overt. Truly the net is set in vain in
the sight of
any bird,
and dodos are, alas, extinct.
*
I think that one fundamental problem is that Corporal
Punishment was
withdrawn
from the schools. Reading and writing and 'rithmetic,
taught to the
tune of a hick'ry stick.
Green Walnut sticks work about as well as green hickory if
you can't
find hickory.
Willow was what I really hate, don't you? Some of them
need the rod
more than others.
Some don't need it at all. Some just need to see the
stick, or just to
know it is there.
(Now you can "legitimately" call me a "bully".)
Calling the cops for discipline problems in the school is
a symptom of
the problem, not the problem.
Your problem may be "unfixable".
The CTU may be misjudging the public reaction, which
really may be
undesirable.
One function of school is babysitting. Teacher strikes
are a pain in
the ass,
particularly prolonged ones.
On 9/11/2012 7:07 AM, Luis Damián Reyes Rodríguez
wrote:
To all:
Everyone who feels deeply disturbed by E. Wayne
Johnson's ranting
should try to make it to the meeting this Wednesday
at 7pm in Lincoln
Hall 1028. CTU member Kimberly
Bowsky will be Skyping in.
Kim teaches at
the William H Seward Elementary School on
Chicago's
South Side. Within the
CTU, Kim is an activist of the Caucus of
Rank-and-File Educators.
Now, to E.W.J.:
Don't even try to bring your disruptive presence
this Wednesday: you
will not be welcome in this event.
Perhaps in a parallel universe where Ron Paul rules
your bullying
attitudes are the norm. Not here.
And maybe in that parallel universe, where you seem
to hang out too
often, the news have not arrived yet that the
+26,000 CTU members
overwhelmingly favored strike action: around
90% of members
voted, with 98% of voters in favor—after a law was
passed that raised
the minimum requirement to 75%! And have
you even bothered to
find out what the communities affected by the budget
cuts and school
closures have to say? They also support the strike
in big numbers. Why,
then, should the CTU change leadership?
Because CTU teachers are a bunch of fat cats?
Really?
The only thing that makes sense in your ranting is
that "this could get
ugly" in Chicago.
I hope, for the better, that people like you stay
away there too.
On Mon, Sep 10, 2012 at
4:51 PM, E.
Wayne
Johnson <ewj at pigsqq.org>
wrote:
Not even
Air
Conditioning?
Zomfg!!! Hoodathunkit?
I know, I know. An environment "Conducive to
Learning". Sort of a
Mantra it is.
See also: "It's for the Kids". Are we
convinced yet?
While I am highly sympathetic with the
situation and plight of the
Graduate Teaching Assistants, and
once upon a time, came out and spoke in their
favour, I have less than
Zero Minus sympathy
for the fat cats that comprise the CTU.
I understand that the goal is a) to head off
some sort of precedent
effect and b) precipitate a serious crisis.
While I would certainly not want to work or
live in Chicago or its
public school system even
9 nanoseconds per year let alone the whole
school year, I should not
feel convinced that the CTU are the good guys
in this struggle, even though their direct
opponents are likely neither
nice nor good.
Perhaps one of the smartest moves the CTU
could make is to quickly
remove its leadership and apologise.
Like that is going to happen.
I am sure that I am highly confused and
understand the matter very
poorly, but I
don't think that Old Mother pHubbard is
hoarding a vast trove of bones
in her cupboard
for these CTU dogs (cats).
This could get Ugly, and the outcome is
uncertain.
On 9/11/2012 4:06 AM, Daniel Werst wrote:
Hi,
I am a member of the campus branch
of the International
Socialist Organization, and we are
holding a meeting this week on
Wednesday at 7 PM to build solidarity
action for the 26,000 Chicago
teachers who are currently on strike
against efforts by the city to
make them easier to fire based on
standardized test results while the
district chooses not to provide many
students with art or music
classes, AP classes, decent class
sizes, or even air conditioning!
We have lined up a CTU teacher to
speak by Skype, and we
have
also spoken to the Graduate Employees
Union here at U of I, who will
provide the second speaker. The GEO is
fighting back against attacks on
the pay and working conditions of
Teaching Assistants who are commonly
forced to live on $14,000 a year while
handling big classes and making
the university work.
Our second goal is to car pool to
Chicago this Saturday
to
join
thousands of teachers, students,
parents, and labor activists in a
rally. Hopefully they will be
celebrating a victory in the strike or
else continuing the struggle and only
getting stronger! This meeting
should bring together as many
supporters of labor and people
concerned
for good public education as possible.
CTU Solidarity Rally:
Wednesday September 12th at 7PM
1028 Lincoln Hall on Campus
In Solidarity,
Daniel Werst
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--
Damián.
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