Chicago teachers rally against cutbacks
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VOL. 34, NO. 4, APRIL 2016 WWW.SOCIALISTACTION.ORG U.S. $1 / CANADA $2 CHICAGO—On April 1, the solidarity of Chicago Teachers, along with the solidarity of more than 50 union, community, and student organizations, was on full display before the entire city and state, and across the country. Nearly 20,000 teachers and support ers flooded the streets in a late-afternoon rally and march in Chicago’s “Loop,” capping a powerful Day of Action on the theme “Fund Our Futures.”
It was an inspirational day that began with picket lines at public schools organized by the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU), and continued in over 30 sep arate demonstrations, rallies, and teach-ins through out Chicago. All were coordinated by a broad coalition of labor and community organizations supporting the CTU and other public employee unions that are under assault by powerful forces determined to implement austerity by privatizing schools, breaking unions, and cutting desperately needed social services across the state.
The Chicago Teachers Union House of Delegates, representing nearly 28,000 Chicago teachers, voted overwhelmingly on March 23 to authorize the April 1 “unfair labor practice (ULP) strike to bring atten tion to the need for critical revenue solutions to stabi lize the city’s school district and protect students and families.” Eighty percent of more than 600 delegates voted for a resolution authorizing the one-day strike, while many of those opposing it favored a strike of longer duration.
A CTU press release states that the one-day strike represented “a direct response to continued attacks and efforts toward union-busting from Governor Bruce Rauner, Mayor Rahm Emanuel, and the mayor’s handpicked CPS [Chicago Public Schools] CEO, For rest Claypool.”
The current $5.7B annual budget of the CPS includes a shortfall of $1.1 billion, of which $480 million is owed by the state of Illinois but remains unpaid be cause Gov. Rauner has refused to approve a budget that releases funds for education and desperately needed social services across the state.
The Day of Action was endorsed by a wide range of labor and community organizations including Amal gamated Transit Union Local 308, American Fed eration of Government Employees Local 789, Bakery Confectionary Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers, Black Lives Matter Chicago, BYP 100, Coalition of Black Trade Unionists, Fight for $15, KenwoodOakland Community Organization, United Electrical Workers Western Region, and SEIU Health Care Indi ana, Illinois, and Missouri,.
Co-chair Johnae Strong from BYP 100 opened the downtown rally: “We are here today … united against austerity … those who are most impacted and mar Mark Ugolini / Socialist Action ginalized in this city have been living austerity for far too long. [We] proclaim that this is going to be a turn ing point in this city. We will no longer allow the death of a thousand cuts to continue in the city of Chicago.”
One of the many speakers to address the rally was Irene Robinson of the Kenwood-Oakland Community Organization (KOCO), one of Chicago’s most influen tial and respected community organizations. Robin son was one of 12 activists who participated in a 34day hunger strike last summer to protest a planned phased-out closing of Walter H. Dyett High School by Rahm Emanuel’s appointed School Board “CEO.”.
“I have nine grandchildren in CPS. ... Every last one of us, all the parents of Bronzeville … stand with CTU,” said Robinson. She described the deplorable condi tions of some South Side schools due to CPS neglect and repeated denial of funding for upgrade projects proposed by parents and staff. “We don’t have no li brary and we don’t have no books ... And [to] Rahm Emanuel and Bruce Rauner: Get your greedy hands off our children! We want an elected school board … We want a world-class education for all our schools!”
CTU President Karen Lewis was the rally’s featured speaker: “We’re outside the State of Illinois building … because the governor of this state has decided to hold everybody hostage. … We’re here for not only the (continued on page 11, in “Labor Notes conference was big and diverse”)
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Jean-Paul Pelisser / Reuters
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