Members First kick off first meeting of new school year
By Jim Vail
The new teachers group Members First - although not an official caucus - kicked off the new year with a meeting at Pompeii Restaurant in Pilsen last week, with about 25 members in attendance.
The new group was formed last year over frustration with the union's opaque budget and foundation financial dealings unbeknownst to members until the last June House of Delegates meeting revealed a deficit and mandated union employee layoffs (field reps filed a grievance this past summer and banded together to avert laying off two field reps).
Members First Therese Boyle - who will run for CTU president against Jesse Sharkey in the next union election in spring 2019 - said the group plans to distribute flyers in the schools and verified with the Chicago Public Schools that this action will constitute free political speech after CPS had issued a warning about restrictions on political electioneering with the upcoming state elections this fall.
The Members First (MF) Facebook page currently has about 3,700 members (including CTU leadership caucus CORE members) which features lively debates on issues affecting teachers. Kathleen Cleary, a retired teacher who helps run the FB page, said many teachers send personal messages because they are afraid of principal retaliation. She added that some people do not have FB accounts. MF and CORE both have FB & Twitter accounts.
MF members said it is important that all materials such as Members First t-shirts are made only by companies with union workers.
MF is currently collecting signatures to run Terri Hehn, a science teacher at Garvy Elementary School in Network 1, as a teacher trustee for the Chicago Teachers Pension Fund. There is only one trustee who is not a member of the leadership caucus CORE - Maria Rodriguez, who ran on the UPC ticket. It is very difficult for an independent candidate to became a trustee since it takes money and support that an establish caucus can provide. However, Rodriguez said she ran as an independent retired teacher trustee and won in the last election.
Boyle has been asking questions about CTU finances which revealed burning thru $5 million to result in the latest budget crisis. How much of the union's financial woes are due to a fall in membership (less teachers paying union dues due to falling student enrollment) or reckless overspending such as taking out a loan to buy $5 million in furniture for the new CTU headquarters has not been determined. The CTU - which is a private entity not covered under govern. regulations to provide open books - has been mostly mute on its spending priorities.
The caucus discussed the new officers for the CTU after Karen Lewis announced her retirement due to her illness. Jesse Sharkey is now serving as president, and Stacy Gates, who headed the political department, was slated to be the vice president (delegates need to vote her in). According to Viktor Ochoa, who will be Members First VP candidate, there was heated debate within the CORE caucus and in the executive board about who should serve as the VP. Gates - with the blessing of the leadership - has taken a huge role in financing candidates for office, many with close ties to the Chicago machine, such as House Speaker Mike Madigan - an at times vicious anti-union politician once seen wearing UNO Charter hats and going on trips to Turkey financed by a Turkish cult/charter operator called out for massive corruption. Some insiders believe the CTU can only operate in Springfield with Madigan's blessing in order to pass any legislation and fight Rep. Gov. Bruce Rauner's war on unions and paying a fair wage.
Boyle noted that the union is playing fast and loose with election rules by setting up three political political action committees (pac) and she asked if it's possible for a foundation to give a loan to the CTU.
Boyle's background in finance is causing a huge headache for the top brass at the union today. Parties not challenged in elections - last election no caucus ran against CORE - can be reckless and not open to transparency, like any govern or corporate entity in power.
"I want this crazy out of control spending to stop," Boyle told those gathered last Thursday. "The PAC is saying it's paying off the bank loan, but there is no form to document this."
Sharkey told the delegates earlier that the CTU members' $1 million dollar loan to the PAC (most of it going to the Chuy Garcia mayoral campaign which the delegates voted on) was being paid back in $100,000 installments.
CTU finances are murky considering that the CTU is paying rent to the CTU Foundation - which is controlled by the four CTU officers. Money is going back and forth to perhaps avoid oversight, and questions are now being asked over how the money is spent. For example, the CTU did not provide the annual audit reports until MF asked for it.
One CORE member said the leadership caucus will vote to choose between either Jackson Potter (CORE founder, CTU chief coordinator who will teach again this year) or Drew Heiserman, who sits on the PR CTU committee, to be the next trustee. The trustees have been feeling heat because they are supposed to oversee CTU spending.
The CTU sold the Fukes Tower for $48 million which was operated by the Foundation before purchasing and moving into the current CTU headquarters on Carroll Street. The Fukes Tower was used as subsidized housing in the 60's for retired teachers who did not earn much before the numerous strikes throughout the 1980's under Jackie Vaughn helped raise teacher salaries to a competitive level that they are at today.
The CTU leadership has built up a formidable caucus in which sources say those who work at the union - including lawyers, consultants, etc. - must pay into the caucus. Politics 101 - you pay to play!
By Jim Vail
 |
| Members First Therese Boyle & Viktor Ochoa. |
The new teachers group Members First - although not an official caucus - kicked off the new year with a meeting at Pompeii Restaurant in Pilsen last week, with about 25 members in attendance.
The new group was formed last year over frustration with the union's opaque budget and foundation financial dealings unbeknownst to members until the last June House of Delegates meeting revealed a deficit and mandated union employee layoffs (field reps filed a grievance this past summer and banded together to avert laying off two field reps).
Members First Therese Boyle - who will run for CTU president against Jesse Sharkey in the next union election in spring 2019 - said the group plans to distribute flyers in the schools and verified with the Chicago Public Schools that this action will constitute free political speech after CPS had issued a warning about restrictions on political electioneering with the upcoming state elections this fall.
The Members First (MF) Facebook page currently has about 3,700 members (including CTU leadership caucus CORE members) which features lively debates on issues affecting teachers. Kathleen Cleary, a retired teacher who helps run the FB page, said many teachers send personal messages because they are afraid of principal retaliation. She added that some people do not have FB accounts. MF and CORE both have FB & Twitter accounts.
MF members said it is important that all materials such as Members First t-shirts are made only by companies with union workers.
MF is currently collecting signatures to run Terri Hehn, a science teacher at Garvy Elementary School in Network 1, as a teacher trustee for the Chicago Teachers Pension Fund. There is only one trustee who is not a member of the leadership caucus CORE - Maria Rodriguez, who ran on the UPC ticket. It is very difficult for an independent candidate to became a trustee since it takes money and support that an establish caucus can provide. However, Rodriguez said she ran as an independent retired teacher trustee and won in the last election.
Boyle has been asking questions about CTU finances which revealed burning thru $5 million to result in the latest budget crisis. How much of the union's financial woes are due to a fall in membership (less teachers paying union dues due to falling student enrollment) or reckless overspending such as taking out a loan to buy $5 million in furniture for the new CTU headquarters has not been determined. The CTU - which is a private entity not covered under govern. regulations to provide open books - has been mostly mute on its spending priorities.
The caucus discussed the new officers for the CTU after Karen Lewis announced her retirement due to her illness. Jesse Sharkey is now serving as president, and Stacy Gates, who headed the political department, was slated to be the vice president (delegates need to vote her in). According to Viktor Ochoa, who will be Members First VP candidate, there was heated debate within the CORE caucus and in the executive board about who should serve as the VP. Gates - with the blessing of the leadership - has taken a huge role in financing candidates for office, many with close ties to the Chicago machine, such as House Speaker Mike Madigan - an at times vicious anti-union politician once seen wearing UNO Charter hats and going on trips to Turkey financed by a Turkish cult/charter operator called out for massive corruption. Some insiders believe the CTU can only operate in Springfield with Madigan's blessing in order to pass any legislation and fight Rep. Gov. Bruce Rauner's war on unions and paying a fair wage.
Boyle noted that the union is playing fast and loose with election rules by setting up three political political action committees (pac) and she asked if it's possible for a foundation to give a loan to the CTU.
Boyle's background in finance is causing a huge headache for the top brass at the union today. Parties not challenged in elections - last election no caucus ran against CORE - can be reckless and not open to transparency, like any govern or corporate entity in power.
"I want this crazy out of control spending to stop," Boyle told those gathered last Thursday. "The PAC is saying it's paying off the bank loan, but there is no form to document this."
Sharkey told the delegates earlier that the CTU members' $1 million dollar loan to the PAC (most of it going to the Chuy Garcia mayoral campaign which the delegates voted on) was being paid back in $100,000 installments.
CTU finances are murky considering that the CTU is paying rent to the CTU Foundation - which is controlled by the four CTU officers. Money is going back and forth to perhaps avoid oversight, and questions are now being asked over how the money is spent. For example, the CTU did not provide the annual audit reports until MF asked for it.
One CORE member said the leadership caucus will vote to choose between either Jackson Potter (CORE founder, CTU chief coordinator who will teach again this year) or Drew Heiserman, who sits on the PR CTU committee, to be the next trustee. The trustees have been feeling heat because they are supposed to oversee CTU spending.
The CTU sold the Fukes Tower for $48 million which was operated by the Foundation before purchasing and moving into the current CTU headquarters on Carroll Street. The Fukes Tower was used as subsidized housing in the 60's for retired teachers who did not earn much before the numerous strikes throughout the 1980's under Jackie Vaughn helped raise teacher salaries to a competitive level that they are at today.
The CTU leadership has built up a formidable caucus in which sources say those who work at the union - including lawyers, consultants, etc. - must pay into the caucus. Politics 101 - you pay to play!
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