Kathleen Cleary

Second City Teachers Interview with Members First Facebook Face

Kathleen Cleary on left.

Second City Teachers interviewed the creator and coordinator of the Members First Facebook Page - Kathleen Cleary. Under the dark clouds of censorship, the vibrant teachers facebook pages are alive with commentary, questions and debates, though they are monitored. The three heavy weights are Members First FB with 5.4K followers, Chicago Educators with 6.6K followers and the CTU Members Only FB page with 8.9K followers. Although Members First lost in the election, they are a force online and continue to challenge the ruling party in cyberspace. MF set the tone for developing a vibrant online forum for teachers that caught the CTU off guard. An open war between the MF and Core (CTU leadership caucus) has led to an eventual truce in the rough and tumble jungle of social media.  

Can you tell us about your background. Where and what did you teach and for how long? When did you retire? 

I grew up in a bilingual, immigrant family in a working class neighborhood on the south side of Chicago. My father was a proud member of Amalgamated Transit Workers-Division 241-CTA. I learned at an early age the importance of unions. I have family and friends who are union members and can see first hand how their unions are member driven. In 1970 I was accepted into the Cooperative Urban Education Program at Chicago State University. This program was housed in Robbins, where I student taught. I started in CPS in 1974 as an 8:30 substitute for $40.00 a day. I was happy to get the sub job as there was a teacher surplus. I taught 1st through 8th grades on the south and west sides of Chicago for 38 years. I spent half of my career teaching general education and half teaching special education. My first school was at an upper grade on the west side. It was a strong union school with a diverse, cohesive staff who took pride in helping the new teachers survive CPS. 

Kathleen Cleary on far left

What made you want to be a teacher? 

I had some really great teachers and I had some really poor teachers. I wanted to be like the great ones and not like the poor ones. 

How did you get involved in Members First? 

When I retired from CPS I became a CPS substitute teacher. I started hearing negative comments about CTU leadership from former co-workers and from teachers I met while subbing. I really couldn’t believe what I was hearing. When a CTU delegate named Therese Boyle contacted me asking if I wanted to become involved is a new caucus called Members First I said, “Yes”. I then attended the HOD meetings as a visitor and was shocked at the rudeness towards the delegates displayed by leadership and “inner sanctum” delegates. I was now a believer! 

Were you actively involved in the union as a teacher? 

I walked every picket line between 1974 and 1987. I was the photographer who took pictures of scabs crossing the picket line. “Substance” members George Schmidt and Leo Gorenstein memorialized the pictures on picket signs. I took the orders for “Substance” as it was the only source of truthful information about CPS. I was a school delegate for 25 years, an elementary-vice president, an LSC teacher representative and chair of the CTU special education committee. I also attended CTU delegate workshops, labor conventions and the CTU legislative dinners where I had the pleasure to meet many legislators including former president, Barack Obama. 

What is the problem with the CTU today? 

CTU no longer represents the average teacher or PSRP. CPS is a tough employer and in my 38 years with CPS I always knew CTU had my back - that is no longer the case - members still have to deal with CPS but can no longer rely on CTU-member services have been cut and grievances now take two years. Just like an abusive principal who divides the school staff, CTU leadership appears to have divided the members. There is something seriously wrong with CTU and how they treat members. In 2018 I attended a general CTU retiree meeting and was appalled that CTU had designated a staff member to guard the donuts so that no retiree could take more than one donut. The retirees are a valuable resource and could really help CTU but instead CTU is busy guarding the donuts. 

What needs to be done? 

There’s a leadership election in 2022 and after 12 years of inadequate representation, crappy contracts and dwindling benefits from this leadership it is time for a change. Members First will challenge the current leadership. In 2019 we received 5,000 votes to leadership’s 10,000 - 10,000 disenfranchised members didn’t vote - hardly a mandate. There were 80 schools that experienced some kind of irregularity so the votes did not count. MF had very little exposure and even less money in 2019. In 2022 we definitely will have the exposure and hopefully will have enough monies for campaign literature. 

When did you start the FB Members First page? 

The Member First Facebook page was started in spring of 2018. The administrators are current and retired delegates. 

Did you think it would turn into such a popular social media platform for Chicago teachers? 

No, but I think the popularity of the site is due to CTU’s inept communication and the anonymity we offer. CTU has many employees who have never stepped foot in a CPS classroom and it shows. 

Can you tell us how the Members First FB page differs from the other teachers fb pages, such as CTU Members Only & Chicago Educators? 

The Members First Facebook page is a safe place for members to engage in respectful discourse. Some of the other sites allow comments that allow bullying, FERPA violations and vile, disrespectful language. Members First has four rules and although we have had to remove about 55 union brothers and sisters we do appreciate that 5,000+ members act professionally towards each other. We are happy to post questions or articles for members who desire anonymity. We know what it is like to be at a school with an abusive principal. Many of us veteran/retired teachers and PSRPs remember the Alexander Russo District 299 blog. Alexander Russo allowed posters to be anonymous and actually helped teachers and PSRPs get rid of abusive principals and even an area administrator. We feel the Members First site helps everyone have a voice without the fear of repercussions. Members First Open Forum is a place to get information, ask questions and support each other. It is an Open Forum where our members are allowed to post and share articles from many sources. We believe that our members are intelligent enough to read an article and make up their own minds. We try to show both sides of an issue just as we teach children that there are two sides to an issue. The enemies of public education, teacher unions and public pensions are out there and not always in obvious places. We encourage sharing which is evidenced by our Share button. We also allow non-CTU members to join our site which has garnered criticism. The SECAS and other non-CTU unions members work in the schools and in the classrooms with us. We work together to make the school successful so why would we exclude? We are safe, we allow members to post/share and we include - that’s a huge difference between MF and other sites. 

Do you see a problem with censorship in our union? 

Yes, members who dare to ask questions on the CTU sites either have the questions deleted, are personally attacked or blocked. The repetitive, rhetoric becomes tiresome to teachers and PSRPs who have worked all day and just want the facts. CTU only allows one side of an issue to be presented. The two official CTU FB sites are union sites paid for with union dues so members need to file an unfair labor practice if they are blocked from CTU sites without cause. MF is a CTU caucus site run by volunteers and receives no monies from CTU. As a school delegate, I had 100% membership and represented ALL dues paying members regardless of their politics-that was my job - what exactly is CTU’s role these days - is it as a union or a political entity? 

How much do you work on the FB page? It looks like you are a full time media specialist. 

I am a voracious reader. I’ve been reading the Sun-Times daily since I was in grammar school. I am laughing at the “media specialist” because when I started teaching we used mimeo machines and now I am teaching online. I do appreciate the teachers and PSRPs who send me articles or post articles I may have missed. 

How has the Members First FB page made a difference? 

After Members First lost the election in 2019 we had to make a decision about whether to shut down the site. We agonized over this because many people had contacted us to ask us not to shut down the site. Our MF administrators who are delegates are busy and like all delegates, have taken on more responsibility. Part of the decision was mine and it was based upon my anger that when we started MF, fellow union brothers and sisters would call us names on the site, call us names on other sites or PM me semi-threatening texts. I grew up in a tough neighborhood and when someone comes at me I don’t run … We decided to keep the site open. We receive lots of positive feedback from members who say it is their “go to” site. We can tell from the “insights” FB tracker on the site that many people are reading the posts so we know we are reaching members. I really wish I could answer this question by stating that the presence of MF has caused CTU to reflect, regroup and analyze their behaviors, but unfortunately their arrogance will not allow them any actions that would unify our broken union. 

What is the CTU doing right in your mind? 

I believe that CTU did a great job in increasing the salaries of the PSRPs in the last contract. It was long overdue. I was encouraged to see contract language in the contract regarding special education, but very disappointed that members are reporting that CTU is not enforcing the special education articles. I have asked for the number of grievances filed and the dispositions regarding special education. For the sake of transparency, I think this information should be available to the members. We are unable to attract and retain teachers especially special education teachers. Teachers, especially those in shortage areas, are not going to hang around with a target on their backs waiting for two years for CTU to work on their grievance - they leave CPS. 

What are your thoughts on the latest reopening fight? 

The CTU allowed the clerks, assistant clerks and tech coordinators to be sent into schools that did not have adequate PPE and then allowed the pre-k and cluster teachers to be sent in … why? CTU only reacted due to blowback from members which is another indicator that they are out of touch with the rank and file. 

What are your thoughts on Mayor Lightfoot and her battle with the Chicago Teachers Union? 

Mayor Lightfoot was not CTU’s choice and members have been paying for it ever since. CTU had members go back with 6 days of unpaid strike days - never before in the history of CTU have we ever gone on strike and not been paid for the strike days. Veteran teachers continue to be screwed, but when I look at the make-up of the union leadership I see why. 

Why did you have to remove some people from MF fb. Some teachers with Core complained about this.

MF has a process to remove posters who do not follow the 4 simple rules. It is a group decision not an individual decision. Some of the removed posters are on social media ripping MF to shreds and then complain that they don't have access to MF - actions have consequences. Personally, I believe that because CTU official media sites allow/promote these behaviors that people forget that MF is a caucus site and we want respectful discourse. Teachers and PSRPs need to be able to post without being attacked.

We do our best to vet members and have removed fake accounts. We decline more than we accept.

What do you think of Janice Jackson & Paul Vallas? I see you run articles or comment favorably about them.

Paul Vallas is not a friend of public education. It is my personal opinion as a retiree who worked for CPS for 38 years. I have a lot of respect for Janice Jackson. Unlike former CEOs she came up through the system and seems to truly care about students. Janice Jackson is home grown, grew up in Englewood and went to my alma mater CSU. She taught high school and then became a principal - she knows the system. I believe her detractors need to understand her South Side roots. I have watcher her at press conferences and CBOE meetings and she can not be intimidated by those who have personal agendas. Janice Jackson has a tough job and receives very little praise yet she perseveres. I think Janice Jackson is the best CEO for CPS during these turbulent times.

How would you categorize the fight between Core & MF? Did it get too nasty on fb?

When MF started the blog we were attacked by Core. We took the high road and lost. We were professional. I believe that members are intelligent enough to see that after 10+ years of Core leadership that it is time for a change. 

It is sad that MF gets PMs from members who are afraid to even post questions - we do it for them. A union is supposed to protect ALL of its members, not pick and choose. This does not make for solidarity and may in fact contribute to teachers leaving CPS or CTU. The 2 year backlog on grievances is a deal breaker for many teachers - looking at today's news about a 10-year-ol lawsuit to get jobs back - who can wait that long?

Please feel free to add anything I may have not asked. 

I would like an education reporter to write an article on: 

-CTU finances - no monies for retiree donuts or the calendar book so we must be in bad shape 

-CTU Foundation finances - Where is the 63M from the sale of Fewkes Towers which was built with union monies? 

-Which community organizations and politicians have received monies from CTU? We need an explanation on where the funds come from: PAC, dues or dues being passed through via the IFT/AFT 

-How much Is United Working Families receiving from CTU?

-Number of grievances filed since 2010 and the dispositions Number of lawsuits filed by CTU since 2010 and the summaries 

-Which schools have a stack of grievances against abusive principals? 

-How many grievances were filed involving special education and the dispositions? 

-Why have the three employee groups NOT represented by CTU in the CTU offices been without contracts for at least 2+ years? 

-How many grievances have the employee groups in the CTU offices filed? 

-Why hasn’t the 2019 CTU contract book been printed for the members? 

-Where is the list of employees working for CTU and their qualification? 

-Have there been any payments on the Chuy Garcia million dollar loan? 

-Since the CTU compound has been closed for a year will the savings lower the member dues? 

-Why can’t all future HOD meeting have a remote component for delegates? Some delegates have child care/elder care responsibilities and work at the edges of the city-takes an hour to an hour and a half to get to the HOD meeting from Hegewisch. Female dominated profession and all that… 

-Will the election in 2022 be conducted online by an outside company so that we don’t have a repeat of the 2019 election where we had 80 schools with missing ballot boxes, missing sign-in sheets or boxes never picked up? 

-Will CTU practice the hyper-democracy it espouses?

Homeless Teacher

THE CURIOUS CAR THAT NEVER DROVE AWAY

A homeless American substitute teacher helped by his former student 

By Stephen Wilson

 

A substitute teacher who was homeless after sending his
payment back home to Mexico to support his family!

It is still there! That is what got Steven Nava pondering a lot every morning and night he passed by the grounded car that lay in the car lot, on his way to work. He noticed a lot of belongings stashed up in the car leading him to put two and two together. The driver was evidently homeless. Many thoughts passed through Steven's head such as, "How does the guy in this car deal with the dreadful weather conditions?" "How does he handle the cold?" and "How can anyone get used to living there?" 

The car was parked within the vicinity of Steven's home. "Who was the person who lived rough in this car?" Steven kept watching and wondering until he caught sight of the unlucky man. He was stunned by what he saw.  The resident turned out to be his former substitute teacher, 77 year old Jose Villarruel. He had been present at 12 lessons of Steven's at the Fontana High school in the San Bernardino county of California. Steven remembered the teacher as a 'great funny and helpful educator.'

When Steven approached and asked how Jose ended up on the streets he answered that he had lost his work when the pandemic had led the school to switch to on-line lessons. The only income Jose had was a social security benefit payment and most of that was sent to his very ill wife in Mexico. Since he could no longer afford the household bills he decided to live in his car.   

Steven gave him 300 dollars to help out. But he knew this wasn't enough. He had to do something much more! He stated, "I had a mission to help the teacher who was going through a difficult time during the pandemic". But how could he help? Then he had a brain wave. He made a public appeal on Twitter called 'Go Fund me'. The aim was to raise 15,000 dollars . But even that goal struck some people as being too ambitious. To his surprise he managed to raise 27,000 dollars {1.9 million rubles}. And many of his former students had fond memories of their former teacher recalling how helpful, kind and cheerful he was.

 

The teacher himself always told his students to never give up on pursuing a project they believed in even when faced with difficulties. It seems that Steven took this advice to heart. Jose told himself, "I must not give up and I have to go on, and on, with what I have to do for this stage to pass". And in deed, this stage passed! Steven Nava presented the pleasantly shocked teacher with a check for 27,000 dollars on his birthday!

 

It is a pleasant but still sad story to read. How many people, especially teachers, are living in cars? And what if Steven Nava had not noticed the plight of the teacher? For many people go by in 'an urban trance' or are wholly absorbed in their mobile phone gadgets. It is not always a case they are bad or totally indifferent. They are living in their own worlds oblivious to the world around them. Why on earth are so many teachers denied the right to a decent living? Why is there no effective safety net to prevent such a dire situation when a 77-year-old teacher is forced on to the streets after losing his job due to the lock down, or cuts in public spending? A substitute teacher who has lost his job should not have to rely on chance charity intervention. An ambitious and adventurous socialist government with a bit of imagination could prevent such cases. And a stronger teacher union which fights for the protection of workers as well as their wages, can make a difference.  

 

There is not just one teacher such as Jose Villarruel on the streets but many. Homeless activists even have a term to describe living in a car called 'Vehicle residency.' This is a polite way of putting things! An estimated one out of four homeless people in America are living in cars. There is nothing romantic about this predicament. They live under the constant stress of having their cars pillaged by thieves or can be fined by the police for violating 'restricted parking places'. They are more  often always on the move to avoid harassment. In England there are stories of impoverished teachers living in improvised boats on canals and in Russia, some homeless sleep in the foyers of apartment buildings, underground passages, wooden sheds and even abandoned dachas. 

It is practically impossible to estimate the exact number of homeless teachers in America as work becomes more precarious, incomes fall and spending cuts rise. What we can say is there are way too many. Those teachers are not homeless because of personal shortcomings, laziness or incompetence, but because of an inefficient and ineffective system which refuses to offer people what they basically deserve after working hard all their lives: an affordable home, decent pensions and accessible medical care that is free! It is time more people noticed and acted!  Many cases such as Jose's are preventable.

  

I acknowledge the aid of  an article by Jillian Eugenois in Yahoo on March 14th, 2021 which seems to be one of the best written about this case as well as the reference from Fox 11 and Russian version on Metro.

CTU Politics

Struggle Against Union-Busting in the Pandemic

Chicago Teachers in the Eye of the Storm

For Teacher-Student-Parent-Worker Control of Reopening Schools

By Class Struggle Education Workers

A student holds a sign outside meeting on “defunding” Chicago's school police. All police and security guards out of the schools, and out of the unions!
(Photo: Voices of Youth in Chicago Education)

For over a month, a tense stand-off between the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) and Mayor Lori Lightfoot – who controls Chicago Public Schools (CPS) – was the focal point in a nationwide tug-of-war over reopening schools, many closed since last spring due to COVID-19. Union-bashers like Forbes magazine (4 February) called on the CPS to “learn from the 1981 air controllers strike,” where Ronald Reagan declared the walkout illegal and fired every striker. In mid-January, Lightfoot locked out nearly 150 teachers from Google Classroom accounts and cut off their pay for continuing to teach remotely and refusing the CPS order to return to elementary schools, even as city residents were being told to stay at home. Union members reported that buildings were “filthy” and “in various states of disrepair” with inadequate ventilation.

The media has portrayed the conflict as the union opposing opening schools, yet the CTU put forward a number of specific demands for safely reopening. What the fight was really about was union-busting: a high-handed mayor backed by super-rich privatizing education “reformers” (including well-connected Democrats) sought to force the teachers to their knees. A barrage of anti-CTU articles (including in the Sun-Times, part-owned by the Chicago Federation of Labor) was part of a national drive to blame teacher unions for keeping schools closed and to stir up parents against them. While the CPS was forced to backpedal, even as talks were in final stages, the mayor went ballistic, accusing the union of “leaving us with a big bag of nothing” and again raising the threat of a lockout. In short, this was a fight for all workers.

The clash in Chicago is part of a surge of labor battles across the country in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic. In some places, workers have taken the initiative, as in the strike last May by fruit packinghouse workers in Yakima, Washington, and more recently the Teamster strike at the giant Hunts Point produce market in New York City in January as well as the drive for union recognition under way at Amazon in Bessemer, Alabama. More commonly, employers are out to bust unions and organizing drives with lockouts and brass-knuckled intimidation tactics. The Guardian (26 January) reported on “US companies using the pandemic as a tool to break unions,” highlighting the lockout of Chicago teachers and the Portland Trail Blazers basketball team owners’ replacement of IATSE[1] arena workers with non-union managers.

In that “Framework for Resumption of In-Person Instruction,” approved by a 2-1 majority vote of the 25,000-member CTU on February 9, CPS still refused to agree to provide vaccination for all teachers before being required to return to school, and did not provide accommodations to teach remotely for all who have household members with medical risk. 

The CPS initially had no plan for vaccinating teachers; in the agreement, the city agreed to provide 2,000 immediate vaccinations for pre-kindergarten and special education staff, and “at least 1,500 first vaccine doses per week to CPS employees.” Pushing back the dates for students returning to school (K-to-5 on March 1, grades 6 to 8 on March 8), a month after originally planned, will enable more teachers and staff to be vaccinated. (Now the school board has done a  full 180 and is talking about requiring vaccination.) CPS agreed to juggle schedules to provide more accommodations for those with at-risk household members, while gratuitously forcing some on unpaid leave rather than letting them teach remotely. State regulations require masking for everyone in schools.

For Union-Led Teacher-Student-Parent-Worker Control of the Schools

A key issue is the demand for an elected Board of Education to replace mayoral control which has been a hot issue for decades. The virulently anti-labor Chicago Tribune (4 March) headlined, “Fight for an elected CPS board ‘not going to go away’.” Lori Lightfoot supported this demand until she was elected mayor. Now she says, “We would never have opened without mayoral control.” She still claims to be for an elected school board, but comes up with all sorts of reasons why it’s not practical right away. One thing is true, though: in any election these days big money will play a big role. Leading capitalists have shown they are prepared to spend millions on influencing (buying) school board elections and pushing charter schools, in Los Angeles (Eli Broad), Oakland (Michael Bloomberg), Seattle (Bill Gates) and elsewhere.

As schools were reopening in New York City last fall, Class Struggle Education Workers stressed that this is a key moment to “fight against mayoral dictatorship, and for educator-led control of the schools by councils of teachers, students, parents and workers.” Even elected school boards preside over huge bureaucracies and are subject to pressure from bourgeois politicians and billionaire “philanthropists” pushing charters, standardized tests (Common Core, S.A.T.), teacher evaluations (merit pay, test scores), etc. Public education, with its steady cash flow, attracts contractors, vendors and privatizers, all seeking to turn the schools into profit platforms amid the falling profit rates of decaying capitalism. And they all want to break the power of teachers unions.

To defeat this onslaught and provide quality education for all, it is urgent to take control of the schools out of the grip of the Democrats, plutocrats and educrats and place it in the hands of those actually involved in public education. 

Break with the Democrats – Cops Out of the Schools!

A serious fight to win all the union’s safety demands, as well as to ensure drastically lower class sizes (see “Chicago Mayor Tries to Bully Teachers: “Show Up or Showdown,” below), would have required a hard-fought strike against Democratic administrations from Chicago to Springfield and Washington. The union leadership was not prepared to do that. On the contrary, from the CTU in Chicago to the AFT and NEA nationwide, the teachers unions are bound hand and foot to the Democratic Party. In many states they constitute the Democrats’ apparatus, doing most of the phone-banking and door-to-door canvassing. Yet despite Joe Biden’s claim that he would be “the most pro-union president you’ve ever seen,” the Democratic Party is a capitalist party, defending the interests of Wall Street, Silicon Valley, Wal-Mart, Loop bankers and the Chicago Board of Trade against the working people, including teachers.

This fight is a continuation of a long history of Democratic Party attacks on the teachers union in Chicago. In 1995, Democratic mayor Richard M. Daley – citing the fact that the CTU struck nine times between 1969 and 1987 – imposed mayoral control of city schools. He also pushed through Section 4.5 of the Illinois Labor Relations Act, allowing the CPS to refuse to bargain over various school issues, notably class size. Daley, who held office for 22 years, from 1989 to 2011, also looked for every opportunity to axe union jobs and privatize. Democratic mayor Rahm Emanuel (President Barack Obama’s former chief of staff), in office from 2011 to 2019, campaigned for office by declaring war on the CTU. Democratic mayor Lightfoot, called for repeal of Section 4.5 in her election campaign, but reversed course on taking office.

One important reason why the CTU didn’t fight for smaller class sizes in the recent stand-off is that its leaders hope they’re about to overturn Section 4.5. This blatantly anti-labor law only applies to bargaining with “an educational employer whose territorial boundaries are coterminous with those of a city having a population in excess of 500,000” (guess where in Illinois that might be!). Bills to repeal it have been passed by both houses of the state legislature and the legislation is now on Democratic governor J.B. Pritzker’s desk awaiting his signature. Sharkey and other CTU tops doubtless want to make nice with the governor (who was endorsed in the 2018 election by the Illinois Federation of Labor and the CTU executive board, but not the House of Delegates), to show that they can play by the rules.

Yet those rules, and capitalist “law and order” generally, are stacked against labor, workers and the oppressed. Whether it’s Section 4.5 in Illinois or New York’s no-strike Taylor Law, these are measures by which capital ties the hands of workers’ organizations. Another is SB7, the bill approved in 2011 by CTU-endorsed Democratic governor Pat Quinn that amended the Illinois School Code to require three-quarters of all members of a bargaining unit (like the CTU) to vote to strike for it to be legal. Labor bureaucrats often hide behind these anti-union laws to head off calls for militant action. CTU then-president Karen Lewis actually supported SB7 and CTU leaders met secretly with Democrats in preparing it. But in order to defend the unions, it is necessary to prepare the ranks to defy such laws. Playing by the bosses’ rules is sure to lose.

Lewis died on the eve of the CPS-CTU deal and was widely eulogized, in particular for standing up to the bully Rahm Emanuel early on. Yet in the 2012 strike, after a vigorous week on the picket lines, when “King Rahm” called on the courts to ban the walkout, the CTU leadership under the Caucus of Rank and File Educators (C.O.R.E.) buckled, ramming through a sellout contract. The settlement was followed by the racist closure of 49 Chicago schools in 2013.

C.O.R.E. has been deeply enmeshed in Democratic Party politics since winning control of the union in 2010.[6] Even as a supporter of the now-defunct International Socialist Organization when he was union vice president, Sharkey has endorsed Democrats over and over. The CTU pushed hard for Democrat Jesús “Chuy” García for mayor in 2015, for Obama and now Biden as U.S. president. In the 2020 election the CTU endorsed 43 candidates for the state legislature, all Democrats. And last December, Sharkey and other local AFT leaders penned a letter to president-elect Biden, presented at a photo op with AFT leader Weingarten, saying that “having one of our own in the White House” gave them “hope.”

Despite the blatant efforts to nail the unions by one Democratic mayor after another, the AFT and CTU leaders’ strategy is to chain union power to this bosses party, even as it keeps kicking them in the teeth. As Jim Vail of the Second City Teacher blog (1 February) noted, one of the main forces behind Mayor Lightfoot’s diktat ordering teachers back to school no matter what, was the sinister outfit Democrats for Education Reform (DFER), which has long attacked the CTU, and teachers unions in general. During the standoff over Chicago schools, DFER president Shavar Jeffries “said powerful teachers unions are standing in the way of bringing back students,” according to an AP (31 January) dispatch. The group, a creature of multi-billionaire hedge fund operators who seek to feed off charter schools, earlier put forward CPS CEO Jackson as a candidate for Biden’s education secretary.

Now Biden’s U.S. Department of Education has sent letters to state education departments saying that they must hold federally mandated standardized tests this year, even though most students around the country are having remote instruction. This is ridiculous! It can’t measure “the impact COVID-19 has had on learning,” as the tests were not held last school year, and this year conditions are so chaotic, with online learning burnout and traumatized students, it’s impossible to measure anything. 

There is also the presence of police in the schools, where they criminalize African American and Latino students. Last summer, as tens of thousands marched in Chicago along with millions across the U.S. to denounce racist police murder, the CTU called a demo to “defund the police,” attended by many students. On June 24, the school board voted 4-3 to keep cops in the schools. In December, the CTU called on CPS to hire more counselors, and fund them by “reallocating funds from the Chicago Police Department.” We have explained that the calls to “abolish the police” are a liberal/reformist utopia, while simply transferring money from one budget line to will change nothing.[8] But we have long called for getting all police – and security guards – out of the schools, and out of the unions.[9] As schools reopen, the CTU should insist that they be cop-free. Starting now!

This underscores that the battle over the schools must be part and parcel of the broader struggle against racist capitalism. As we have noted, Joe Biden was not only the author of the infamous 1994 Crime Bill that escalated mass incarceration in black ghettos, but also in the 1970s he made a name for himself leading the segregationist pack in Congress in opposing school integration through busing. Yet desegregating Chicago’s schools must be a top priority for teachers in a city where 60% of the population and 83% of the 341,000 students (pre-pandemic) are black and Latino. 

Oust the Bureaucrats – For a Class-Struggle Workers Party!

Most of the left has acted along with other “progressives” as a cheering squad for the CTU leadership. This includes the Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL), which had not a word against the Democratic Party (“Chicago Teachers Union’s commitment to democracy pays off,” Liberation, 2 February); and the Maoist Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO), which called in the 2020 election to “defeat Trump,” i.e., vote for Biden (“Chicago Teachers Union ratifies framework agreement for return to in-person learning,” Fightback, 11 February). In These Times (10 February), speaking for the right wing of the Democratic (Party) Socialists of America (DSA) gushed: “After Threatening Strike, Chicago Teachers Set ‘New Standard’ With Safer School Reopening Plan.” Jacobin (20 February), for the DSA “lefts,” was more equivocal, citing Sharkey saying, “This is not the agreement you deserve.”

Socialist Alternative (SAlt), on the other hand, sides with keep-the-schools-closed advocates who voted against the agreement, criticizing Biden and the Weingarten leadership of the AFT (“Chicago: Lessons from the Fight Against Lori Lightfoot’s Reckless School Reopening,” 1 March). While SAlt criticizes “CORE’s capitulation at the bargaining table in 2021,” it looks back to its “fighting roots.” Yet even before taking office, C.O.R.E. leaders were bureaucrats-in-training. After a long wish-list of liberal/reformist demands, SAlt calls to “completely transform our current education system,” but doesn’t say what that would consist of or how it would come about (nothing about socialist revolution, of course). And the fake-militant posturing is belied by SAlt star Seattle councilwoman Kshama Sawant’s announcement that she had joined the DSA.

Then there are the rabid wannabe union-busters of the “World Scab Web Site” (WSWS), which has been pushing the keep-’em-closed line with a phantom “Chicago Educators Rank-and-File Safety Committee.” At the same time, it called on workers at Amazon’s warehouse in Bessemer, Alabama to vote “no” on union recognition.[10]

The Chicago Teachers Union has periodically gone on strike against Democratic mayors who have attacked labor rights. It has opposed racist school closures and called for rent abatements, though typically those demands serve as window dressing and evaporate when it gets down to concrete strike demands. It has won some notable strikes, such as the first-ever charter school strike in December 2018, when 15 CTU-represented charters affiliated with the Acero chain won salary realignment with the CPS pay scale, reduced class size and a commitment to be sanctuary schools for undocumented immigrant students. But more often the C.O.R.E. leadership has sold out at the bargaining table, just as its bureaucratic predecessors did.

At bottom, the CTU/C.O.R.E.’s “social justice unionism” is simply a more activist version of simple labor militancy and “union democracy.” It is incapable of taking on the capitalist state, or breaking with the Democratic Party, and is in fact subordinated to them. Yet those are the tasks at hand. As we wrote of the 2012 strike: “Only class-struggle unionism that openly fights against capitalism can defeat the class war on workers and the oppressed. The unions were built by ‘reds’ who relied on the working class not the employers and their government” (in “Chicago Teachers: Strike Was Huge, Settlement Sucks”). What’s needed is to cohere a class-struggle opposition to the class-collaborationist CTU bureaucrats, to break with the Democrats and all capitalist parties and politicians, and build a workers party fighting for a workers government.

Next up: reopening the high schools

To read the entire article click here:

http://edworkersunite.blogspot.com/2021/03/chicago-teachers-in-eye-of-storm.html 

. ■

---

[1] International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees Local 28.

[2] See “The Fight Over Reopening Schools Is a Class Battle,” The Internationalist No. 61, September-October 2020, where we analyze the evidence showing limited spread of the coronavirus among children (particularly those of elementary and middle school age) and the damage to students’ education, social development and mental health of remote-only schooling. Experience from school reopening in the fall only confirms these facts.

[3] See “A Class-Struggle Program to Reopen New York City Schools Safely,” The Internationalist No. 61, September-October 2020.

[4] See John Dewey, “New Schools for a New Era,” in Marxism and the Battle Over Education, The Internationalist special supplement (2d. edition), January 2008.

[5] See “Chicago Teachers: Strike Was Huge, Settlement Sucks,” The Internationalist, September 2012.

[6] See “Lessons of Chicago CORE,” The Internationalist No. 33, Summer 2011.

[7] See “Teachers in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Stop Work to Stop High-Stakes Test,” in The Internationalist, Summer 2012.

[8] “‘Abolish the Police’ Under Capitalism?” The Internationalist No. 60, May-July 2020.

[9] Security guards should be removed from SEIU Local 73 (representing CPS staff) and from the schools altogether. Along with aggressive treatment of students generally, CPS security guards have been accused of hundreds of cases of sexual misconduct a year.

[10] See “How the ‘World Scab Web Site’ Aids the Bosses,” The Internationalist, January 2021

 

Class Struggle Education Workers (CSEW) is part of the fight for a revitalization and transformation of the labor movement into an instrument for the emancipation of the working class and the oppressed.  See the CSEW program here.

 

Posted 6 days ago by CLASS STRUGGLE EDUCATION WORKERS

Story Telling

A STORY IS STRONGER THAN A TSAR

Why I like Andrei Platonov's Tale 'Wool Over the Eyes'

By Stephen Wilson

 

           If any story is well-worth telling it's Andrei Platonov's alluring and charming fairy tale 'Wool over the Eyes'. I recommend this to any teacher and lover of anecdotes. This story is one of the folk tales which I love to tell. And one of the reasons I adore this story is that it seems to work at all the story telling events I perform it at. Practically most audiences find it amusing. Of course, how you tell this yarn is undeniably important. But as a story people tend to find it amusing, alluring and thought provoking. Before telling this story I keep it a secret that it is a Russian folktale and that it was written by the Russian writer Andrei Platonov. I try to get the audience to guess the nationality and author of this revised version of an old folk tale. Some people answer back that it is a Scottish or Irish tale which indicates the similarity of so many tales over the World. Unfortunately very few spectators guess that it is a tale written by Andrei Platonov. It seems Platonov is an unjustly neglected author! And even people who are aware of Platonov through his novels such as 'The Foundation Pit' and 'Happy Moscow' tend to overlook the charming fairy tales in his collection 'The Magic Ring'. That is all the more reason why people should make more of an effort to tell this story in either Russian or English.

 

The story 'Wool Over the Eyes' has many catch phrases. Many people are fond of quoting a character from Bulgakov's 'The Master and Margarita', who theatrically declares with gusto 'Manuscripts don't burn'. It became a kind of war cry for the intelligentsia who interpreted it as implying no amount of repression can repress or destroy brilliant artistic works. Less people are aware of a phrase from Platonov's  story where the author states, 'A Story is stronger than a tsar.'

 

The title of this tale in Russian is Moroka or {морока} which can have many meanings in Russian such as being rendered disorientated, confused or losing one's grip on reality. It can also mean being deceived and led up the garden path. For instance, my wife Svetlana told me, "Once we got lost in the forest for five hours and could not find our way out. When we got home our neighbor Tamara told us we had got lost because the forest spirit had disorientated us through his magic. And the verb for this is 'morochit' or {морочить}."There are countless stories where Russians still claim they have got lost in the forest because of the malice of wood spirits called Leshii. I can well understand the translation of this word confounding people, but what astonishes me is why do we read in the Russian version that  the soldier orders wine but in the English version it becomes vodka! {Russian Magic Tales from Pushkin to Platonov edited by Robert Chandler}. Apart from this liberty in the English version the tale is well translated.

 

The tale is endowed with lively dramatic dialogue and action where events smoothly unfold. There is plenty of humor and sharp wit in this story which amounts to a duel of wits between a soldier and a tsar. A colleague Maria Koroleva liked to quote Platonov's famous statement on the importance of collecting and publishing such tales. Platonov once stated, 'It is essential to publish the entire corpus of Russian folktales. This body of work, in addition to the artistic and ethical value, must also serve as a material repository for the treasure of the Russian language, our people's most precious possession'. But we should do much more. Not just publish but tell those stories face to face and fully restore the bedroom stories so as to bring them completely to life! Maria Koroleva wrote, 'The ancient art of the oral poetic tradition - is the deepest and brightest of all our activities. A tale can be a blessing on the listeners, bring consolation, and bestow the gift of experience, and return us to the belief in miracles where the hero lives in each of us.'{2010}

 

The tale 'Wool Over the Eyes' can be told not just for amusement. It can also instruct listeners about how telling an innocuous story could lead to punishment, imprisonment and even death. In Scotland and Ireland a poet could be put to death for telling a story during the 16th century. Platonov knew the danger of telling stories from bitter experience. His major works were banned in Russia and Stalin referred to him as 'scum'. Platonov found refuge in rewriting some old Russian folk tales.

 

The basic plot of the story revolves around a soldier who is discharged from the army after 25 years of service. But before returning to his village he thinks he will look foolish unless he can claim to have seen the face of the tsar so he goes to the tsar's palace to do this. The soldier has one great gift; he can tell stories in such away the listener is bewitched into thinking that the events around him are really happening. The tsar also likes to tell stories and pose riddles for people to resolve. He presents three riddles for the soldier to resolve which the soldier does. The soldier is rewarded with money which he spends in a nearby tavern. In the tavern, the soldier spends all his money on wine but orders more. The inn-keeper, who is quite mean, asks whether he has enough money to pay and the soldier lies 'yes'. The inn-keeper asks the soldier to tell him a story. The soldier tells a story in such a way he convinces the inn-keeper he is a bear. Since he is a bear, who needs no inn, he should just drink and invite everyone for free to his place. "Let's drink and feast! Be a true host- bid the world be your guest! Bears can't be landlords - and we can't let your goods go to waste". The landlord wakes up to find all his inn devoid of furniture and that the soldier is nowhere in sight. He has vanished. The inn-keeper protests to the tsar in vain that he has been tricked by the soldier.

 

The tsar finds the soldier and orders his men to bring him to his palace. The tsar believes the soldier won't be able to 'pull the wool over my ears. ' Unfortunately, to the tsar's horror, the soldier does this very thing. He convinces the tsar he is a fish and the fish swims into a net where he is caught, taken and decapitated. The tsar awakes from the story gripping nervously to his head. In anger, the tsar orders the soldier to leave and for everyone in the kingdom to deny him work and an abode. The soldier finds himself blacklisted and 'persona non grata'.

He is eventually allowed to stay overnight at the home of a peasant in exchange for telling stories. The soldier tells around 100 stories which greatly moves his host to tears. When the peasant listens, halfway through the tale he smiled. Then he began to listen more deeply. Towards the end of the tale he quite forgot who he was. He was no longer a peasant, but a bandit. Or he was tsar of the ocean, or just one of the poor, but a very wise wanderer- or perhaps a fool. But really nothing was happening at all. There was only an old soldier- sitting close by, twitching his lips and muttering away.'

 

The host being grateful, tells the soldier that listening to his tales is a pleasure as 'It's a joy to the heart and food for thought'. The host offers everything in his home to the soldier for his travels and asks him to drop in again any time. So the soldier ends up wandering from house to house earning his food by telling stories.

 

When telling this story it is important to involve the audience by asking them rhetorical questions as well as asking them to solve riddles. You can choose other riddles for people to solve rather than the ones from the stories. If any of the audience are brave enough you might ask them whether they want to tell one of the stories the soldier might have narrated! I don't see any harm in rewarding any of the audience with a small prize for solving a riddle or telling a poem or story! Another question you might ask the audience from time to time is, 'What do you think happened next?' or even the question which Platonov asks in the story 'What does a soldier do after sentry duty? What do you think? ' Platonov's answer is 'He tells stories!' But the audience can come up with their own answers! In reality soldiers did not just tell stories, but often had to mend their clothes, grow their own food and practice all kinds of trades just to get by otherwise they would have starved!  And what about the soldier? Is he a shaman or a con artist? I think the audience must draw their own conclusions!

 

The story in English can be found in Penguin classics -Russian Magic Tales from Pushkin to Platonov, Edited by Robert Chandler, New York, London, 2012.

 

In Russian you can find it in Школьная Библиотека, Андрей Платонов, Неизвестный цветок, Москва, 2012

 

HOD 3-21

Report on the Meeting of the House of Delegates on March 3, 2021

By George Milkowski

I. Officer Reports

A. Recording Secretary Christel Williams-Hayes – Christel had a family emergency so there was no report from her except approval of the minutes of the previous House meeting.  This item was presented by Maria Moreno.

B. Financial Report Kathy Catalano – Kathy said Union dues provide 90% of our budget and we have received $1,007,236 more in dues at this time compared to last year and have $453,256 more after our “pass throughs” to the IFT and AFT.  However, we also have $452,755 more in unbudgeted expenses due to COVID related action plus $111,363 more in costs for meetings. so we have about a net zero situation.  Our current excess in funds is $186,327.

C. Recording Secretary Maria Moreno – Our membership is up by 164 and currently stands at 28,311, of which 1,748 are retiree members.  

    Maria announced that a list of 27 candidates running for 17 retiree delegate positions will be mailed out.  This list is just to inform retirees as to who is running (I am) and an actual Scantron ballot will be mailed out on March 17.

D. Vice President Stacy Davis Gates  - Stacy took some time off.  Jesse said she really deserved this as she did so much during negotiations with the CPS over in person re-opening.  Plus, Jesse’s mother was ill and died in December and Stacy took on the lion’s share of work of running the Union at that time.

II. President’s Report – Jesse Sharkey

Pres. Sharkey recognized the feelings of clerks and techs who ended up going back into the school buildings when the CPS ignored the ruling of an arbitrator.  He understands that they feel like “canaries in the coal mine” and that some CTU members are disappointed at the agreement with the Board but he feels that our unity is important and now we have to concentrate on enforcing the agreement.  He said the new safety committees in schools are critical, especially since the CPS has $280,000,000 in COVID relief funds available to mitigate any problems.  He also assumes that high schools will re-open following the existing pattern but it is more complicated as teens are more likely to transmit the virus and it is impossible to have small pods of students in the high schools.

III. Item for Action

At  two previous meetings there were proposals that the Union give $2,000 to those members who lost income when they were locked out of teaching by the Board when they refused to re-enter school buildings.  A Union committee looked at the situation and decided a flat $2,000 grant would be unfair as some lost only a day or two of income while others lost 3-4 weeks on income.  Instead, the CTU has set up a “hardship committee” to which those who lost income can apply for grants and receive them after they document their loses.  Jesse estimates it would take about $300,000 to make everyone whole and so far the Union had about $203,000 available for those in need; $100,000 came from the AFT and about an$103,000 came from a GoFundMe site.  The CTU will ask all members who can to contribute to the fund.  The motion passed 84% to 9% with about 8% abstaining.  Delegates were also asked to agree to contribute and most of us, myself included, agreed to donate over $100 each, resulting in an additional $40,000 raised for the fund.  One delegate asked if we had a court case trying to get the money from the Board.  Jesse said yes but he felt it is unlikely we would win.

IV. Department/Committee Reports

A1. Organizing – Rebecca Martinez – The CTU has had bout 300 members who came in for training for the new school safety committees.  Rebecca stressed that delegates cannot let principals get control of these committees.  The CTU has prepared a preliminary checklist for the committees to use since the CPS has not agreed to a common checklist in concert with the Union as the CPS had said they would do,

A2. Grievance Report – Zeidre Foster – The Union has received a lot of complaints about the CPS dragging its feet on accommodating a number of members under the aegis of the Americans with Disabilities Act.  

The CTU is defending members who have been or have been threatened with discipline for speaking to parents about the return to schools.  Of 114 cases 80 have been dropped and the CTU expects to win the remaining 34.  In regard to this, the CTU filed an Unfair Labor Practice last week.

B. Political/Legislative - Kurt Hilgendorf – Kurt announced that the Governor has still not signed HB 2275, the bill that would fully restore bargaining rights to the CTU.  All are urged to call his office and ask that he sign it.  The Chicago number is 312-814-2121.

We need to work on passage of SB2497/HB2908.  This legislation would establish an elected representative school board in Chicago.  Chicago is the only school district in the entire State that does NOT have an elected school board.

The CTU also asks that you contact your legislators to sponsor and support SB577/HB114.  If passed this law would require charter schools to agree to neutrality in attempts by employees to form a union.

Lastly, HB 18 would have tenured teachers be evaluated every three years instead of every two years.

C. CTU-ACTS – Chris Baehrend – Chris reported that some charter schools want to re-open with lower safety standards than the CPS.  Passages schools is the most stubborn.

Cicero High School announced a return to school without negotiations with the union.  They had previously said they would negotiate before re-opening.

Lastly, Chris reported that his school, Latino Youth, is on its 28th week of faculty and staff ignoring orders to return to the buildings and there has been no actions taken against anyone

V. New Business/Questions and Answers

Charlotte Brent (retired) asked what is to be done if a student doesn’t wear a mask.  Jesse said that unless they have a verifiable medical reason, they have to wear one.  

Karen Soto (Waters) asked who is in charge of the air quality monitors that are supposed to be used in every room if the engineer is assigned to more than one school and therefor not always available?   Jesse said to talk with the principal for starters.

Sandi Hoggatt (Kenwood), a new delegate, asked about the salary of CTU staff.  Jesse  explained that those matters are determined in May and June and are part of the CTU’s annual budget.

Mary Esposito (clinician) asked what is to be done when Pre – K staff were denied 3 ¼ hours prep time that everyone else was given.  Jesse said that this issue has been raised with the CPS already and so far they are ignoring us on it.

Karen Trine (Young) asked about a CTU constitutional amendment that would allow PSRPs in a school to become a union delegate or alternate delegate.  Jesse said the Union is looking into developing such an amendment.