From an activist in Chicago
By Jim Vail
I attended the teachers' strike at La Paz Acero (formerly UNO Charter) Charter School on Friday in cold and windy weather.
The teachers were picketing and just winding up early morning when I asked to address the teachers.
I told them that their strike is our strike. We know, as public school teachers, what their fight is about and how hard it is. The Chicago Teachers Union strike in 2012 began the fight back against the attack on teachers and public education.
I had to be careful when I said that our union fought against charter schools. We want the charter school teachers to earn the same salary and benefits as regular CTU teachers at the public schools. Charter schools were created to lower teacher wages in the name of "reform."
They cheered!
I also said it is a hard fight and I remember teachers getting angry and irritable as our strike continued into the second week. I told the charter teachers we at CTU and my school Hammond support them 100% and are here for them.
Together we win!
I did hear from a former student teacher at our school who is now the teacher at Acero Paz Charter School that a few teachers have crossed the picket line. I said this is not good, and they must stand strong and understand what is at stake. There were a few, only a few in 2012, who crossed out picket line. It was our solidarity that kept us strong.
Kudos to CTU for organizing the first charter school strike in the country! When we are all paid the same and treated the same in public and charter schools, there will no longer be a need to open a charter where money, neoliberalism and an attack on the public commons are the only reasons charters took off in the first place.
More on the strike from our wonderful NY activist contributor Marjorie Stamberg:
By Jim Vail
 |
| First charter school strike so that all charter teachers earn the same as CPS teachers! |
I attended the teachers' strike at La Paz Acero (formerly UNO Charter) Charter School on Friday in cold and windy weather.
The teachers were picketing and just winding up early morning when I asked to address the teachers.
I told them that their strike is our strike. We know, as public school teachers, what their fight is about and how hard it is. The Chicago Teachers Union strike in 2012 began the fight back against the attack on teachers and public education.
I had to be careful when I said that our union fought against charter schools. We want the charter school teachers to earn the same salary and benefits as regular CTU teachers at the public schools. Charter schools were created to lower teacher wages in the name of "reform."
They cheered!
I also said it is a hard fight and I remember teachers getting angry and irritable as our strike continued into the second week. I told the charter teachers we at CTU and my school Hammond support them 100% and are here for them.
Together we win!
I did hear from a former student teacher at our school who is now the teacher at Acero Paz Charter School that a few teachers have crossed the picket line. I said this is not good, and they must stand strong and understand what is at stake. There were a few, only a few in 2012, who crossed out picket line. It was our solidarity that kept us strong.
Kudos to CTU for organizing the first charter school strike in the country! When we are all paid the same and treated the same in public and charter schools, there will no longer be a need to open a charter where money, neoliberalism and an attack on the public commons are the only reasons charters took off in the first place.
More on the strike from our wonderful NY activist contributor Marjorie Stamberg:
15 Chicago charter schools affiliated with Acero Schools (formerly The UNO Charter School Network) are set to strike in the early morning of Tuesday, December 4th. Walk-outs have been planned for some time as negotiations have continued to stall. The Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) held a press conference on Monday to discuss the paltry proposal put forward by management, "which would still force UNO/Acero educators to continue to work, on average, more than 250 hours more and for upwards of over $13,000 less on average in the course of a school year than district educators." In October, 98% of the Acero membership voted to authorize a strike. Negotiations have been ongoing since before September.
An update from the union states, "The CTU is demanding smaller class sizes, increased special education funding, more autonomy over curriculum and grading, equal pay for equal work, additional resources for classrooms and students, and better compensation and treatment of paraprofessionals, who work for low wages despite their essential role in school communities." Included in their demands are calls for sanctuary schools and diversity in hiring. This battle comes on the heels of a September 26th action downtown where the union and its supporters drew five hundred people to fight for "education not boardrooms," and equal work for equal pay in a climate where workers are continually bombarded with tier systems and second-rate pay. The September rally was timely precisely because of the support brought out by charter school teachers in the wake of explosive class battles affecting teachers nationwide and class-struggle militants have closely followed the developments. This is another example of the heated working class struggle impacting teachers across the country, from West Virginia to Chicago.
The Facebook page of the Chicago Teachers Union-Alliance of Charter Teachers and Staff amalgamated with that of the Chicago Teachers Union as the charter workers have increasingly been brought into the fold. "A strike would affect 500 teachers, counselors and office workers, serving 7,500 students at 15 schools" according to Chicago's WGN9 news. Everyone in Chicago with a political pulse has kept eyes on the Chicago teachers and their willingness to strike, despite being perpetually hamstrung by the union bureaucracy, now led by CTU President Jesse Sharkey, supported by CORE and the ISO. We need to remember the lessons of the 2012 strike where after militant pickets shook up the city, a give-back contract was forced down teachers' throats, after the House of Delegates first voted it down.
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