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| Dr. Jackson of CPS |
The
day has come, and the Chicago Teachers' Union announced
that it could not accept the offer from Chicago Public Schools and Mayor Lori
Lightfoot, and that the strike would begin as planned on Thursday,
giving no solace to the mayor and School District Supervisor Janice Jackson, in
what can only be called the very last thing wanted, this early into the
former’s term in office, just over 140 days.
In
anticipation of the strike, CPS and the mayor’s office announced that classes
would be cancelled the day for the strike --- a move designed to help parents in child care, and to
lessen the optics that the national media would pounce on in the nation’s third
largest school system with over 300,000 students, and 24,000 teachers.
As
in 2012, playing to school of public opinion, has mostly been in the union’s
favor, with supporters expressing their engagement, before Thursday, and in a
neat trick, Lightfoot has come out of this battle with her reputation largely
intact, with only 12 percent blaming Lightfoot in a recent Chicago Sun Times/ABC Channel 7 poll.
This is in direct contrast with the last strike in 2012, where former Mayor Rahm
Emanuel, who became the villain, in what was a teachers v. him battle where he
wanted them to work longer hours without additional compensation.
Not
all is fair in love and war, as the old adage states, and there were throngs of
school teachers and staff, wearing red shirts near their schools, with signs that read, “Our Strike/Your Watch” - addressed directly to
Lightfoot.
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| Ms. Weingarten |
This
is clearly a power play between a long underappreciated workforce, and a city
divided by race and social class, where the differences are seen most starkly
in education, right behind housing; and, unfortunately Lightfoot, being new, is
the perfect scapegoat, in the war of words.
“We’re
going to teach the new mayor a lesson,” says American Federation of Teachers
president Randi Weingarten adding fuel to the fire.
Since
Chicago got “home rule” to govern its education, during the administration of Richard
J. Daley, those lines became hardened, and despite the more liberal policies of
his successors, and son, Richard M. Daley, prying loose the vice of
discrimination became even more difficult in an education district that is
mostly black and brown, and mostly, recently, funded solely by a real estate tax;
so, it does not take a genius to figure out who was on the losing side, for so
long.
Enter
Lightfoot with her mandate of change, and who was not the favored candidate,
the plot thickens, with the defeated candidate, Cook County Board President
Toni Preckwinkle, still in power, in that office, and also the local head of
the Democratic National Committee, and in a blue city, and in a blue state, that
counts for a lot; and, it was no surprise to see the near tear--stained face of
Preckwinkle during her concession speech.
Recently she announced that had she been elected mayor,
there would be no strike; which might have been true, but as one person later
said, "She would have given a blank check to the CTU and bankrupted the
city, and then we'd be like Detroit."
While the CTU has vigorously denied that their endorsement of Preckwinkle, and not Lightfoot,
had anything to do with the increased, and loud demands, for written promises for more social
workers, nurses, and libraries in a city mired in red ink, (to the tune of $838
million), and a pension crisis of $28 billion, those numbers cannot be
ignored, say its critics.
As
we said before, “Adding to the ire between the two was a commissioned poll,
from March, that showed a victory for Lightfoot, “to finish first among 14 candidates
vying to replace” Emanuel, which CTU Vice President Stacy Davis Gates called
“trash.”
“Sharp
rhetoric is not unknown in Chicago politics, but this time, on the backdrop of
a weakened city finances, with the historic election of a black woman, in a
city with nearly a 35 percent black majority, adds another dimension to an
already burdened financial future.”
Putting Lightfoot on the ropes, nationally, and to
embarrass her, seems to be more important, say some than finding a middle
ground, or even, going back to work while negotiating, but this seems to have
been never considered, and as Lightfoot has often said, they were bound and
determined to strike, in what seems more and more to the mayor's supporters, as
a take-down of her, as Weingarten noted.
In the recent past, the Chicago Sun-Times and The Chicago Tribune urged the union to take the offer
of a 16 percent pay raise, over 5 years, to no avail, bringing this stalemate,
which teachers said that they hoped to be short, but is apparent, now that the union is prepared to keep it ongoing, and has sent key negotiators, from the 40 member team back to the picket line, as the news cameras roll.
CTU
has also been somewhat disingenuous claiming, in a press release, that “CPS gets upwards of $1 billion additional dollars a
year from the state of Illinois to lower class sizes, which are among the
largest in the state; support students in poverty . . . and address CPS’
demonstrated need for wrap-around supports for students who confront trauma and
violence. Yet CPS and the mayor have refused to commit to investing that
billion dollars in real equity on the ground for school communities.”
“But, in fact, CTU’s own
filings with the independent fact finder in the labor dispute indicate that most of that $1 billion went to CTU members' pensions,” says Crain’s Chicago Business
columnist Greg Hinz, who said that nearly three-quarters of that went to teachers’
pension plans, unmasking Lightfoot as the villain, they want her to be.
“Yes, according to CTU’s own filings, $380 million
from a property tax increase and $211 million from the state went specifically
to shore up the fiscally weak Chicago Teachers Pension Fund. And revenue from
the property tax hike is expected to bring in almost an additional $100 million
a year on top of the $380 million,” he continued.
While
the mayor has said that she is “disappointed” - how to clear the decks without
the money remains a conundrum for many city hall watchers. Of course, the mayor
could as columnist John Kass suggested, slash her
salary and compensation offer, and provide the money for the so-called wrap
around services, but that Machiavellian move could cost her good will in any
later negotiations; but it’s not entirely a pipe dream, say others.
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| Mayor Lightfoot |
"From
a financial standpoint, we always have to keep in mind the taxpayers. CPS is
just on the other side of pretty significant crisis and we don't have unlimited
resources, but having said that, we put very generous offers on the table both
for teachers and support personnel and I'm hopeful that we'll be able to bring
them back to the table and resolve all the other open issues."
The 1995 law that says that teachers can only strike on wages and
compensation is a major sticking point, and maybe, Lightfoot will have to go
Gov. J.B. Pritzker hat in hand, for another change, and an IOU?
“There’s a finite amount
of money that’s available,” she said. “As you know, we’re barely two years away
from a moment when CPS was on the verge of insolvency. There’s not an unlimited
pool of money, and I wanted to make sure that we made that point very clear.”
The rhetoric has gone back and forth with Sharkey, being
the loudest, saying, according to the local CBS
station, "Criticized the city’s offer of $1 million over the life of
the contract to reduce class sizes in grades 4-12, and $2 million over the life
of the contract to recruit and train new nurses, social workers, and case
managers. He said that would be only enough money for two teachers and four
nurses, social workers, or case managers per year for all of CPS."
The visit of presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren has
also given CTU more national attention, and while Warren did not attack
Lightfoot, the implication that support was needed, or else, has contributed to
the circus like atmosphere, surrounding the strike.
“I’m here because the eyes of this nation are upon you.
They have turned to Chicago for you to lead the way. For you to show how the
power of standing together is the power of making real change in this country,”
Warren said.
She also gave her final benediction to the union's
position, when she said: “Everyone in America should support you in this
strike ... you don’t just fight for yourselves, you fight for the children of
this city and the children of this country."
.Updated, 22 October, 2019, at 5:35 p.m. CSDT
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