CTU Election Shows Many Did Not Vote
By Jim Vail
CORE - the Coalition of Rank & File Educators - won the recent Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) election over Members First.
Core won about 66 percent of the vote to Members First 34 percent.
The win proved Chicago teachers want to keep their leadership as we head into new contract negotiations and a possible strike.
The vote totals show 9,565 CTU members voted for President Jesse Sharkey and his team, while 4,840 voted for Members First.
However, more teachers and clinicians and teacher aids did not vote for anyone. There are more than 26,000 members.
For a union that prides itself on getting out the vote, this is quite disturbing.
What does that mean when so many of our union brothers and sisters do not vote?
Just like the local elections here where less than 50 percent of the population vote for our mayor - people probably don't think it makes any difference.
Is it disgust, apathy or hopelessness?
I can speak as a teacher to say I am overwhelmed in the school trying to stay afloat amidst mounting paperwork (computer work), mandates, webinars, more forms to fill out, behavior reports, etc, etc, that union politics may not be at the top.
Still, the CTU brags how it has increased the number of teachers voting in the state elections, up to 70 percent.
But what about voting for our union leadership?
It appears unions play a subservient role to the Democrat Party by getting out the vote.
But politics starts at home.
Whether we like it or not, the union plays a big role in our lives as teachers. Either we agree with the direction of our leadership - or not.
But it isn't so simple. Do we really have a say in how our lives are governed? The schools have turned into a cold, corporate environment that no union election can fix - or can it?
The voters said yes to Core. But what do most of our teachers who didn't vote think?
By Jim Vail
CORE - the Coalition of Rank & File Educators - won the recent Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) election over Members First.
Core won about 66 percent of the vote to Members First 34 percent.
The win proved Chicago teachers want to keep their leadership as we head into new contract negotiations and a possible strike.
The vote totals show 9,565 CTU members voted for President Jesse Sharkey and his team, while 4,840 voted for Members First.
However, more teachers and clinicians and teacher aids did not vote for anyone. There are more than 26,000 members.
For a union that prides itself on getting out the vote, this is quite disturbing.
What does that mean when so many of our union brothers and sisters do not vote?
Just like the local elections here where less than 50 percent of the population vote for our mayor - people probably don't think it makes any difference.
Is it disgust, apathy or hopelessness?
I can speak as a teacher to say I am overwhelmed in the school trying to stay afloat amidst mounting paperwork (computer work), mandates, webinars, more forms to fill out, behavior reports, etc, etc, that union politics may not be at the top.
Still, the CTU brags how it has increased the number of teachers voting in the state elections, up to 70 percent.
But what about voting for our union leadership?
It appears unions play a subservient role to the Democrat Party by getting out the vote.
But politics starts at home.
Whether we like it or not, the union plays a big role in our lives as teachers. Either we agree with the direction of our leadership - or not.
But it isn't so simple. Do we really have a say in how our lives are governed? The schools have turned into a cold, corporate environment that no union election can fix - or can it?
The voters said yes to Core. But what do most of our teachers who didn't vote think?
No comments:
Post a Comment