Tue May 13, 2008 at 10:46 PMBy: not Does "The Coalition" Stand A Chance? Not,

and Chris is not esq.



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Tue May 13, 2008 at 11:03 PMBy: --------------- Does "The Coalition" Stand A Chance? ----------------

Tue May 13, 2008 at 11:55 PMBy: Andy Does "The Coalition" Stand A Chance? It does not matter.You guys have our support.We do not need paid staffers attacking Union members.You are brave.
Kugler they assaulted you .You should press charges.

Wed May 14, 2008 at 12:01 AMBy: "Not" stupid Does "The Coalition" Stand A Chance? What the word Esq exactly means?
My best friend said:Of course I know what the ETC means...
ETCETERA.....

Wed May 14, 2008 at 1:05 AMBy: not Does "The Coalition" Stand A Chance? Not is far from stupid..............

Mary stated:
Now the President is asking for dues increase doing nothing about schools closure and membeship shrinking.
Save us ,Dr.Kugler and Chris,Esq.


Kugler is PhD. Chris is not esq.

Per Dictionary.com
Abbr. Esq. Used as an honorific usually in its abbreviated form, especially after the name of an attorney or a consular officer: Jane Doe, Esq.; John Doe, Esq.

Wed May 14, 2008 at 1:38 AMBy: George N. Schmidt Does "The Coalition" Stand A Chance? "...Do you think this new coalition has a chance of resolving the internal strife within CTU and returning the CTU to the job of protecting teachers and making schools better for everyone? Or do you think that the situation isn't so dire and can be handled through the pre-existing CTU caucuses, PACT and UPC?..." (Alexander, yesterday)...

Don't forget CORE and Teachers for Social Justice. The more the merrier. Just have everybody link to Substance and smiles all around.

The big news for the next two months will be the upcoming American Federation of Teachers convention (launching July 10 at Navy Pier; Democratic presidential aspirants expected).

Talk about "News"...

And Marilyn Mumbles will be co-chair of the event, thanks to her being President of the host local. What a town! Maybe we can get the AFT delegates to picket Mayor Daley at City Hall, like AFT did against the union busters in New Orleans about eight years ago during the convention there (in the pre-Katrina days). After all, Daley has used charter schools and Renaissance 2010 to eliminate more union jobs in CPS than there are jobs in all but the largest cities in the USA.

Picket Chicago's mayor during the AFT convention. Nice touch.

Wed May 14, 2008 at 7:32 AMBy: uh Does "The Coalition" Stand A Chance? What's up with the pic of just the ladies' asses on the home page?

The "Coalition" may want to get the web designer to change that.

Wed May 14, 2008 at 8:42 AMBy: Kugler - CPS Accessable Recording Does "The Coalition" Stand A Chance? May 7 HoD-Question of Privilege


Here is a link to the recording someone sent of how Marilyn and her cronies suppressed democracy at the last House of Delegates meetings.

Towards the end you can clearly the hacks yelling me down even after the Sargent-of-arms took the mic from me and forced me to sit down.


May 7 HoD-Question of Privilege

Wed May 14, 2008 at 9:05 AMBy: Ihate the UPC Does "The Coalition" Stand A Chance? What coalition? You mean the fraud that was established to take the heat away from themselves and focus the rest of us dummies on a 'new coalition'? Where were the new coalition members at the May house meeting? Did even one of them get to a mike and ask a question? No. Only UPCers did. It's all a front. Grab as much money as you can... that's all they think about. Don't worry about teacher firings, the union officers are safe.

Wed May 14, 2008 at 11:42 AMBy: Bridgeport Teacher Does "The Coalition" Stand A Chance? I have posted before, and have been watching from the sidelines as well. I am meeting with my school's union members tomorrow and I will let them know that I will NOT vote for the budget. That the only way to stand up for the people who elected me their delegate is to refrain from passing a vague budget that is obviously covering up many problems whether intentional or accidental.

I can not in good conscious vote for something so vague, imprecise and ridiculous. I can spend 30 million dollars a hell of a lot better than the union has...Using excel and balancing a budget is NOT brain surgery. Spend the money you have, cut back on things you can't afford, save where you can. The end.

Wed May 14, 2008 at 12:23 PMBy: YIKES Does "The Coalition" Stand A Chance? A true coalition will emerge from all the groups who are meeting. The old calculus of UPC/PACT doesn't add up anymore. There are disenchanted members of both those caucuses. What this blog needs is cogent, intelligent discussion. We've had enough of the name-calling. Let's get some facts, have members decide on how to proceed and stop with the silliness. It's counter-productive.

1. Is it a fact that when the current administration took office there was a $5 million surplus? If so, where did that money go?

2. When the previous administration was in place, did they lower dues AND increase expenses?

3. Is it true that staff members get an annuity paid for by our dues? It doesn't matter whether it's 21% or 14%.

4. Why does the Union have to borrow money over a 4 year period? Doesn't that simply allow this administration to encumber a subsequent administration?

5. According to the AFT accountant, this problem did not occur overnight? He called it a "structural issue" leading back to Healy and Vaughn.

6. Is it feasible to say that more than $1 million could be saved by cutting several jobs at the Mart and/or discontinuing the annuities?

My concern is that I have money taken from my check in order to save for my retirement. Why can't our leadership "save" like we do instead of being given an annuity? Is that why we only deal with VALIC now???

Wed May 14, 2008 at 2:03 PMBy: Chris to:I hate the UPC Does "The Coalition" Stand A Chance? Dear "I hate."...I strongly believe that your emotional stage is justified.
Remember majority of the Coalition believe in honest,friendly way to solve our problems.
If you have any question ask my electorate at Orr regarding my morale and amount of courage I was forced to demonstrate.
Somebody must to be involved in the dirty job in order to survive.
We have a rights to complain but it will go nowhere..
Do you agree?

Wed May 14, 2008 at 2:11 PMBy: Chris to: I hate..sorry for mistyping Does "The Coalition" Stand A Chance? Be happy.The end of the school year around the corner...

Wed May 14, 2008 at 2:20 PMBy: not Does "The Coalition" Stand A Chance? Yikes,

You are so right. There is a lot of work to do. The problem is that the people who call themselves organizing this "new" coalition have a history of and continue with the nastiness and name-calling. That behavior is not conducive to coalition building. Persons having differing opinions etc. are berated and condescended to. That behavior is not conducive to coalition building.

So the answer Alexander is NOT....not this one.

Wed May 14, 2008 at 2:38 PMBy: Chris to:Not Does "The Coalition" Stand A Chance? The Coalition is built on strenghts of all of us.There is no president,tresurer and paid staffers etc.
People get together as a last chance not to be destroyed by few money hungry individuals.
"Not" please just join the Coalition.There is a lot of work to do in order to provide true services to our member.
After all VOTE NO to the budget.

Wed May 14, 2008 at 4:52 PMBy: not Does "The Coalition" Stand A Chance? Did I miss....

Your final statement speaks volumes. These are not the caliber of people that most hard working, polite individuals wish to affiliate with. If you read through various threads that have any Union posts you will get a clear picture of whom these people are and what their focus, goals etc. are. There are a lot of questions but people who demean, criticize and degrade as these "coalition" members have are not the answer.

Read the following threads and decide for yourself if you want to align yourself with that group.

High life Strife at CTU
What happened at the house of delegates meeting
March, April, May
Union President ....Respect

There are some horrible posts from the very people who are now trying to get people to join them. Please. Not.

My first post on this thread quotes a couple of them. Many people tried to remind them that they should be careful of what they say and that it might come back to haunt. Well, here it is.

Not

Wed May 14, 2008 at 6:37 PMBy: It is a start to take back our union Does "The Coalition" Stand A Chance? To answer Alexander's question, if the coalition does not stand a chance then our union does not stand a chance. This coalition may be transformed, different alliances may develop, many agree we have to stop laying down. We have to fight the closings, we have to fight the layoffs, and we have to yes fight among ourselves in order to figure out where we are going. I think it is called democracy, its messy, but that is what it is.

Wed May 14, 2008 at 7:28 PMBy: George N. Schmidt Does "The Coalition" Stand A Chance? Upcoming CTU (and other teacher) events (open to all members, and creative others):

June 4. Plumbers Hall. House of Delegates meeting. The proposed budget for 2008-2009 is supposed to be debated and up for a vote. Since Marilyn Stewart avoided answering all specific questions about how she's been wasting money at the May meeting (and apparently pulled another fast count in order to prevent the questions from continuing), the House has to reject the budget she's proposing.

Transparency is not difficult, but for all the talk about reforming union finances (now that the union has spent itself into a hole), Stewart refused to provide any serious details about the sweetheart contracts she has given herself and her inner circle of friends and cronies. The June House meeting packet should include the complete contract of every officer and every union staff member -- including the all-important fringe benefits.

Is it true that CTU staff are the only people in the world who have a 53 week "year"?

Are CTU staff getting paid double pensions? (Their regular pensions into CTPF, plus an "annuity" paid by the union that it the equivalent of a 401-K that no other teacher gets).

How much money is being paid every month for the "expenses" of each of the union staff -- each one from Marilyn Stewart on down itemized? Since teachers are lucky to get that $100 "supply money" (how many schools take it for a centralized copying program, for example) why does Stewart give herself and her inner circle a (rumored) monthly expense account of $1,500 (or more).

The amazing thing about the May House of Delegates meeting is that CTU's officer walked in to present a "budget" to the representatives from every school and managed to refuse to answer any specific questions.

At that level of sheer arrogance and dishonesty, Marilyn Stewart (and her gnawing inner circle) are without peer either historically within the CTU or among the CPS unions today.

How dare she demand that teachers pay $870 per year in union dues and then refuse to tell the teachers -- dollar for dollar -- every penny she has awarded herself in pay, benefits, pension, and perks (of which the list seems quite long)...

Wed May 14, 2008 at 8:33 PMBy: Chris to:all Does "The Coalition" Stand A Chance? Thanks to all especially people who get angry because of my comments.
To 'Not' I am deeply sorry I will not pay for the battery.
By the way we are not diplomats here.We are fighting for the life
of whole teaching community in the City of Chicago.
Am I overagressive?Very likely you are right,I am possibly overagressive.
But remember we have to make choices taking under consideration our effectiveness.I am not going to smile to those who willfully and knowingly hurt our brothers and sisters.
I may use inappropriate words to those who are not doing what they paid for.If you believe that my language should be more balanced I am sorry for my openess.I can swear but I will never sell out people who rely on me.Excuse me.

Wed May 14, 2008 at 9:18 PMBy: Chris to:All Does "The Coalition" Stand A Chance? Thanks again and apologize if you feel it would be appropriate.
Definitely I have only one face.I will not sell you out,my friends.

Wed May 14, 2008 at 9:39 PMBy: thanks Does "The Coalition" Stand A Chance? you said it brother.

I am waiting for the next House meeting!

BRING IT ON!

Gonna thrash the joint!

Mad Max

Wed May 14, 2008 at 9:48 PMBy: John Moran Does "The Coalition" Stand A Chance? To Not:

If you are so proud of what you say and believe, why don’t you identify yourself? Many other people have done that. You criticize them for what they say. When you truly believe in what you say, you’re willing to take the heat for those comments. What are you hiding? Possible Mart connection?

Wed May 14, 2008 at 10:22 PMBy: me too not "The Coalition" Does Not Stand A Chance? Stay on point and answer the question Alexander asked.

Do you think this new coalition has a chance of resolving the internal strife within CTU and returning the CTU to the job of protecting teachers and making schools better for everyone? Or do you think that the situation isn't so dire and can be handled through the pre-existing CTU caucuses, PACT and UPC?

There is an old saying: You attract more flies with honey than you do with vinegar. And the coalition has been straight vinegar from the beginning.

Perhaps iInstead of the constant personal attacks on the ctu president, her staff, and other bloggers they should have presented issues. Those issues should have been presented in an intelligent, organized fashion (yeah, using proper grammar, punctuation, and spelling) If you can’t write get someone to proof read. They should have stepped forward as professionals; not angry, ranting and raving.

They should have taken peoples opinions respectfully, even thanked them for them as they collected data and developed a plan.

Instead they come on this site and rant and rave and curse and belittle, and write nasty fithy stuff. They degrade anyone who does not have the same opinion and then ask you to join the cause; the new coalition.

And Chris jumps up and down and actls like he is the only person who has lost a job and that gives him the right to mistreat other people. No one is picking on him; he put himself out there.

Look at private industry, the automobile industry, the airlines and more. At least in a school system with 600 schools you have a better chance of finding another position. Some of these people are truly just out there.

Kugler, Absolutely support your colleagues/friends during difficult but Doh’t get pulled into the negativity pit.
]

Wed May 14, 2008 at 10:43 PMBy: What? Does "The Coalition" Stand A Chance? Not such a dire situation? Nothing wrong with the pre-existing caucuses?? Are you living in a cave or what?

Wed May 14, 2008 at 11:23 PMBy: Former Harper Teacher Does "The Coalition" Stand A Chance? I have been displaced this year and it is all just part of the Daley/Duncan tag team event. No one has mentioned the role they play in the school closings. hmmmmm This is part of the big picture; the big game. Dick gets what Dick wants. Watch what happens to schools, neighborhoods, and people when the Olympics comes to town

This entire issue of a new coalition is silly. CTU is a 75 year old established Union backed by IFT and AFT. There may be some boat rocking right now; it is not the first time and CTU will survive. This group or Coalition won't go anywhere but back to the Parthenon.

I read all this madness and attend the Union meetings and attended hearings and everything else. Like everything else, by the time it becomes public the rubber stamp BOE has moved on to the next catastrophe.

Thu May 15, 2008 at 12:51 AMBy: George N. Schmidt Does "The Coalition" Stand A Chance? "...Do you think this new coalition has a chance of resolving the internal strife within CTU and returning the CTU to the job of protecting teachers and making schools better for everyone? Or do you think that the situation isn't so dire and can be handled through the pre-existing CTU caucuses, PACT and UPC?..." (Me too not, yesterday about 2200 hours).

Back in January, when some of this CTU tooting began (after Marilyn's December 26 "love letter" -- the "In Solidarity" thingy -- to Arne Duncan was unveiled) some argued here that a little patience and civility were in order. Marilyn was 'misunderstood.' She was really a tough fighter, a union leader, blah blah blah. Just you wait and see.

Then came February 2008 and the latest CPS hit list.

First came the January 23 announcement of the latest Renaissance 2010 Hit List from CPS (19 schools, remember). The announcement was quickly followed by the "hearings" (February 4 - 16) about all those school closings, reconstitutions, consolidations, and privatizations (Gladstone is soon to be in the hands of Nobel Street Charters, Inc., for example).

What did Marilyn and the overpaid and undercompetnent staff at the Merchandise Mart do?

Nothing. Actually, worse than nothing. They barely got to all the hearings. How many did Marilyn herself go to?

When Stewart's people spoke at the hearings (at the Edison hearing, for example, they were eerily silent while the last African American children were purged from the schools north of the Kennedy and west of Harlem), their remarks were often inane, always irrelevant, and many times downright stupid. That's all a matter of public record for all to read (and, in the case of some of the You Tube, see). So the vocabulary lesson at this point is: inane; irrelevant; stupid. Add you own, but can anyone really preach that people who have witnessed or suffered this should be polite? Are you nuts? That's like when the rapist grabs you telling you not to fight and scream...

So by February 1, the vocabulary list is inane, irrelevant, stupid. Corrupt is coming, since nobody in Chicago sells out this big time without a payoff....

The hearings were incredible. Without prompting, thousands of teachers, parents, students, principals (yes, principals!) and community leaders (including an alderman or two) mobilized, while Marilyn and her "team" tried to derail as much militancy as they could, either by boring people to death or by sending them on Snipe Hunts (see "PUSH", below).

The hearings? In one case, an officer of the Chicago Teachers Union -- part of Marilyn's faction -- thanked the President of the Board of Education for firing more than 350 CTU members! That's a fact, on both transcript and tape: "Thank you..." (Duh).

As the February 27 Board of Education meeting approached, people were mobilizing across the city. What did Marilyn and the overpaid and undercompetent staff at the Merchandise Mart do?

Marilyn told people facing a professional firing squad to go to the February 23 Operation PUSH meeting! Of course, Marilyn forgot to mention that two Jesse Jacksons (Jr. and Sr.) and one aldermanic Jackson (Sandi) would not be at the PUSH meeting, but, hey, let's get on TV and tell the Board (huh?) that we don't like this. Let's frown really loudly. Remember: Jesse Jackson (Senior, not the Congressional Junior) had, barely two years ago, dragged Harper High School and a media entourage all the way out to Naqua Valley for a publicity stunt when Jesse Jackson Sr. (not the Congressional Junior, who seems back in bed with Mayor Daley on this stuff) was all concerned about the fate of Harper High School.

PUSH wasn't where the PUSH was going to come from. No political Jacksons, just one of the beer guys.

But Marilyn then added insult to injury (and irrelevance, banality, and stupidity; the vocabulary list gets longer) by complaining (in the March Chicago Union Teachers) that the union members didn't heed her (rather racist, in light of the schools she forgot to invite to PUSH, like Edison and Irving Park Middle) and that's why mean old Richard M. Daley and mean old Arne Duncan could get away with being mean to some of the CTU members --

Copernicus

Fulton

Harper

Howe

Morton

Orr

Those victims of this latest push towards publicity stunts ("turnaround" teams) and privatization (everybody's betting that DeLa Cruz will soon be given away to UNO just as Gladstone was given away to Noble Street.

But the best was yet to come. The Agenda for the February 27 Board of Education meeting came out, and it was clear to everybody that Arne Duncan was going to go through with the attacks on the 18 schools on the latest CPS hit list. Yes. The number had been reduced from 19 to 18. By then, everyone knew Abbott had clouted itself off the list; so what?

So... on the even of the February 27, 2008, meeting of the Chicago Board of Education, what did Marilyn Stewart and the overpaid and undercompetnent CTU staff at the Merchandise Mart do?

They held a press conference that was supposed to unleash the Preacher Patrol against the closings! At the Mart. But the preachers had already taken their game to the highest bidder (as usual; and that will always be Daley; corporate Chicago; and Arne Duncan) so when the press corps arrived at CTU for the press conference, we didn't see any of the preachers Marilyn had promised (I later saw them over at CPS on Clark St., cutting a couple of more deals with Duncan; maybe some more "crisis intervention" jobs to pray along at taxpayer expense every time some kid gets gunned or batted down?)...

Undaunted, Marilyn Stewart hosted a press conference at which she complained not against the closings, really, but against the fact that Arne Duncan hadn't made CTU (and the "Quest Center" and "Fresh Start") junior partners in the firing of all those teachers (and other union staff). I've gone back over notes and tape of that February 25 press conference, and its still breathtaking in its combination of ignorance and betrayal.

By that time, anybody who didn't already know that Marilyn had cut some major deal with Mayor Daley's boys last August had to have realized that this whole series of non-events from CTU was a cover up. Try to look militant (like in early August) and keep the members from noticing you've sold out.

Finally, there was the February 27 Board meeting.

Massive protests, all following the participation of thousands of people in the hearings earlier in the month. Had Marilyn mobilized anybody via those overpaid and undercompetent coordinators and field reps who are now her dwindling Palace Guard, Clark St. would have been filled with people. Heck, one Spanish language radio disk jockey was good for more people in a protest than the President of the Chicago Teachers Union.

And just to let Arne Duncan, the Board members, and the public know that Marilyn was in full Sellout mode, Marilyn wasn't even at the Board meeting. So --

no protest from CTU...

one of Marilyn's underlings bringing official greetings from CTU...

And the Board votes unanimously and without debate to close, privatize, reconstitute, and otherwise screw 18 public schools and...

What did Marilyn and the overpaid and undercompetnent staff at the Merchandise Mart do?

Some people might say Marilyn did nothing.

Actually, if you look at the record from August 1, 2007 to now, it's a lot worse than that. I don't know (yet) what kind of deals Marilyn struck, but if she didn't get a lot more than all those preachers Arne buys up by the bushel every time they protest, she's missed her final call, so to speak...

The only wonder is why the members who have been sold out by CTU and screwed by CPS's lies aren't more angry as June 30 approaches...

And more rude...

And more organized.

Thu May 15, 2008 at 6:09 AMBy: To:Because they are rude Does "The Coalition" Stand A Chance? your dream.......

Thu May 15, 2008 at 6:28 AMBy: To:Retired Principal Does "The Coalition" Stand A Chance? Exactly.You are 100% right.They need a strategy to block staffers and the small group frm the UPC.
They need to be rude and proactive.

Thu May 15, 2008 at 6:41 AMBy: 1.04 Does "The Coalition" Stand A Chance? DoJo

Hollywood movies are not a real good example to use for such a serious
matter but I remember a scene from the Movie “The Karate Kid” when
Pat Moreno takes his pounded friend to the karate school to talk the teacher.
Low and behold the teacher is the problem. He wants to kick both Pat and
The kid’s asses right there. Moreno looks around, and says “NO” your dojo.
This seemingly cowardly retreat was the smart move. The dojo was the home ground of
these bullies.
Once long ago I was a union delegate .Even in the Nixon years it was apparent
The monthly CTU meeting was not the place to create change. This dojo was too
heavily controlled by the bullies. Anyone really serious about real union reform
must realize that simple fact. Personally I like the story of the Tennis Court Oath
from the French Revolution. Get them out of there dojo and watch them run.

Thu May 15, 2008 at 10:15 AMBy: AnnAnonymous Does "The Coalition" Stand A Chance? Dear Bridgeport Teacher.I am sure you can find the Constitution and by-laws on the Coalition Website http://www.coalitionsdu.org

Thu May 15, 2008 at 10:29 PMBy: Great Does "The Coalition" Stand A Chance? Impressive website and quite independent..indeed

Fri May 16, 2008 at 6:20 AMBy: To:All Does "The Coalition" Stand A Chance? Thanks,George.VOTE NOW during the June meeting .Otherwise you will dig your grave-Union will die-it is a planned UPC job.

Fri May 16, 2008 at 4:26 PMBy: To:Old School Does "The Coalition" Stand A Chance? It was a great idea.We could buy a building instead paying 94K monthly.We could pursue other issue like amendment to the Constitution(recall/impeach provision).
TOGETHER WE STAND VOTE NO on June meeting.

Fri May 16, 2008 at 8:06 PMBy: Coalition is an idependent organization Does "The Coalition" Stand A Chance? No President,no officers,no association with UPC

Fri May 16, 2008 at 8:37 PMBy: Kugler - Exact Number and Names ......................................................................................... of the delegates are secret. The Stewart administration has not released the delegate list as requested on many occasiuons by many delegates.

Marilyn Stewart:
remarks by president marilyn stewart to the house of delegates regarding the proposed
2008-09 ctu budget
May 13 , 2008
http://www.ctunet.com/news/hot_topics/StewartRemarks5.2008.php

I promise you the following three things as we work together to solve this problem:
1. Information:
You will receive timely and accurate information that reflects our true financial picture. The House of Delegates deserves information and transparency in our budget review, and you will have it..

This is her speech from May 7. The way I read it is that the union is now completely transparent and now the delegate should be released and posted on the ctu website.

Fri May 16, 2008 at 10:08 PMBy: Go Marilyn,Go Does "The Coalition" Stand A Chance? We love you anyway...when you are silent..

Fri May 16, 2008 at 10:14 PMBy: to alexander Does "The Coalition" Stand A Chance? at any given house of delegates meeting, there is anywhere between 650 and 850 delegates. the more members at a school, the more delegates the school has. some schools have 5 or 6 delegates.

the upc caucus is in the leadership position at the moment. they select the sargeant at-arms, set up the agenda strategically to their benefit, direct the sound people when to turn the mics on and off, but most importantly, call opposition members out of order when they feel threatened. you see, they also hire the parlimentarian.

the upc doesn't want to run the union DEMOCRATICALLY. the more the delegates know, the less they have for patronage. if they are trying to be honest from this point on, it's because they have been caught.

they have been caught because of the high level strife inside the CTU.

Sat May 17, 2008 at 2:25 AMBy: Kugler - Union Meetings All Week Does "The Coalition" Stand A Chance? As far as i see the coalition is stronger everyday.

We do not have nice offices.

We do not have high salaries.

We do not have scabs working for us.

We have people that believe in the union.

No matter what affiliation.

We are the union.

Solidarity Forever

Sat May 17, 2008 at 3:59 AMBy: history repeats Does "The Coalition" Stand A Chance? organized working men

Sat May 17, 2008 at 4:07 AMBy: A terrible crisis is coming Does "The Coalition" Stand A Chance? Delusive Imaginations

Sat May 17, 2008 at 4:28 AMBy: Watch Me Does "The Coalition" Stand A Chance? Stand Up


I'm coming into the arena

Sat May 17, 2008 at 6:22 AMBy: George N. Schmidt Does "The Coalition" Stand A Chance? Someone should make a list of all the information Marilyn Stewart won't allow the members to read on the union's own website (www.ctunet.com).

There is no archive of the CTU budget documents. No way you can do year-to-year budget comparisons (which is the only way to begin to make sense of all the rhetoric in the context of actual spending).

There is no archive of CTU newspaper editions. One thing Marilyn Stewart did when she took power was delete back issues of the Chicago Union Teacher from the Debbie Lynch years. It was as if she could wipe clean the history with one of those Donald Trump moves.

There are no complete records of the meetings of the House of Delegates. To ensure full transparency, this might even include the stenographer's transcript of the meeting (which was kept for more than 50 years, and might still be kept for legal purposes).

There is no information about the contracts the union has with its own employees and employee unions. None. No CTU member can learn, for example, whether the rumored "53-week year" is true, or whether some CTU staff are now getting money put into the Credit Union (on top of their regular pension contributions and those annuity contributions).

And that's just a start.

But apparently we are now going to be allowed to tune in to "Radio Marilyn" at ctunet.com...

If this weren't so sad, it would be slapstick. But at $870 per year union dues (teachers), who's laughing but the people who are ripping everyone off?

Sat May 17, 2008 at 6:35 AMBy: CTUyears have 53 weeks! Does "The Coalition" Stand A Chance? That's right. Under the current contract CTU negotiated with its officers and staff, there are 53 weeks in the year. Ask Marilyn how that miracle was done while she wasn't looking.

Sat May 17, 2008 at 9:39 AMBy: Kugler - The Facts Lie #1 Does "The Coalition" Stand A Chance? LIE NUMBER ONE

her is what she says on the ctu web site


here is the Field rep contract that goes beyond her presidency.
CTU Office Staff Agree 07-11

To reiterate...
* No contracts beyond the term of the president MS

Sun May 18, 2008 at 12:46 AMBy: Just the facts Does "The Coalition" Stand A Chance? What is a coalition? Wrote:
‘It was good for the CTU that Lynch beat Reese in 2001’
– Yes

‘It was good for the CTU that Stewart beat Lynch in 2004’
– not so sure

The Stewart Administration (among other things):
refused to enforce the Contact
refused to help the PATs
allowed Ren 2010 proceed without meaningful opposition
made amendments to the 2004 Contract without membership approval
raised CTU staff salaries and benefits (over $1.2 mil a year)
removed hundreds of members from CTU committees
gave Daley and Duncan Carte blanche in closing schools and firing teachers and PSRPs
negotiated the dreadful 5 year contract without job protection for members
depleted the CTU treasury of $5.5 mil surplus and created a $6 mil debt.

If Lynch were re-elected* and did NOTHING from 2004-2007, we would be better off.
*She actually may have been re-elected. The AFT ignored volumes of evidence that was presented proving fraud, over 1,000 missing ballots, ghost voters, etc.

‘It was fair to give Stewart's people a chance in 2007’
– really?
Was it fair that the Stewart administration spent three years lying, cheating and stealing from the members and blaming it on Lynch? Has the UPC ever played fair? This is a union.

‘It will be good when Stewart gets defeated in 2010’
- if there’s anything left of the union

In order for a coalition to succeed:
it needs to be open and available to all union members
it needs to keep from being distracted by personal insults and attacks
it needs to be a forceful presence at House meetings
it needs to gain respect from delegates and members
it needs to have strong leadership and the ability to communicate effectively with all CTU members
it needs people to check their egos at the door and work for the common good

Can a new coalition defeat the UPC? Yes, it will take dedicated and capable union members, but it may be the only way to save the CTU.

Sun May 18, 2008 at 2:37 AMBy: Answer for What's so new? Does "The Coalition" Stand A Chance? Fri May 16, 2008 at 4:30 PMBy: What's so new about...

Does "The Coalition" Stand A Chance?
What is so new about this coalition?

Isn't it being headed by Ted Dallas?


Ted is the big man......




Tue Apr 29, 2008 at 8:47 PMBy: Chris to by:1:04

CTU President Wants Respect -- From Her Own Treasurer
Dear by:1:04
The Coalition would like to work with all members regardless of affiliation.TD is known by his former colleagues as a good and effective delegate from Wells.
We can not reject any experienced Union activist at this time.
Welcome TD,DL and others with the ability to help us to remove MS from her post.We have to stop destruction and corruption-it is to be or not to be for ALL of us.Next election?it is a long way to go...Theln we will make a decision -the best one for the future of our profession in the City.

Sun May 18, 2008 at 4:41 AMBy: George N. Schmidt Does "The Coalition" Stand A Chance? Just to take one small example of the hypocrisy discussed above:

As we're reporting (May Substance) the day after her "reelection" Marilyn Stewart signed a contract to "work" part-time for the Illinois Federation of Teachers for an amount (beginning at $90,000 per year) that is greater than the average Chicago teacher is being paid working full-time. In addition to pay which will increase each year, Stewart is getting an IFT "pension" on top of the two pensions she is getting through her job with CTU.

And that "part time" IFT job is contracted until December 2010.

But the next CTU election is in May 2010.

Unless Marilyn is as bad at chronology as she was at budget math, December 2010 is after May 2010, so she already has a contract that violates her supposed promises.

How does one spell hypocrisy?

Sun May 18, 2008 at 5:11 AMBy: Kugler - so I do not forget Does "The Coalition" Stand A Chance? How much does a car detailing cost?

this is just a reminder for me to look something up later in the week and post the information when there are more readers.

damn im having fun.

Sun May 18, 2008 at 6:32 AMBy: Retired Principal Does "The Coalition" Stand A Chance? Where can you find a copy of the current CTU Constitution online?

Sun May 18, 2008 at 8:22 AMBy: ??contract gains?? Does "The Coalition" Stand A Chance? Small steps, what about all the givebacks in this contract? The only gain I see in the MS contract is the three year tenure, and I'm not so sure that's a big deal. Only time will tell.

Sun May 18, 2008 at 9:37 AMBy: Chris to:NOT Does "The Coalition" Stand A Chance? Thank you for your comments. We all are in the learning curve.
I am not going to make another joke...just e mail me if you want .

Sun May 18, 2008 at 9:36 PMBy: CTU constitution Does "The Coalition" Stand A Chance? To gethe union working and smart copy the link below and share it with others you know.

Transparency.


constitution.PDF

how-to-run-a-meeting.pdf

Sun May 18, 2008 at 11:50 PMBy: I would love a $90,000 part time job Does "The Coalition" Stand A Chance? Is there anyone reading this blog who would have turned down the offer of a part time job at the IFT paying $90,000? Of course not. So stop hating.

Mon May 19, 2008 at 6:27 AMBy: Retired Principal Does "The Coalition" Stand A Chance? George thanks!

Tue May 20, 2008 at 2:47 AMBy: George N. Schmidt Does "The Coalition" Stand A Chance? Have I missed something, or is the Chicago Teachers Union's Department of Leaky Roofs and Mouldy Walls (er, excuse me, "School Security and Safety") truant from the hearings at which parents and teachers from all over Chicago are presenting, often in dramatic form, capital needs.

Since May 7, CPS has been conducting its capital hearings. (No capital budget; only input from schools being taken).

As far as I've covered and can tell, these hearings are of no interest to the Chicago Teachers Union's $200,000 per year officers or staffers. Even the guy who is doing the job I once did and seemed to think (until the body count got too high to miss) that it was all about "environmental issues" (other than dead kids and live gangs).

Now I realize that CTU staffers have many other priorities. These include keeping two of the officers from doing any communications with the members, making sure most of the field reps do as little as possible for the members, and maintaining the dwindling credibility of Marilyn Stewart through Donald Trump-style management bullying, careful scripting or meeting "remarks" and financial "reports", and laborious ghost writing of all scribblings attributed to the President of the Chicago Teachers Union...

But, there is lots going on in the real world, and some of it's concentrated and focused. This month (May), the Board is holding its "Capital Hearings" (although, truly droll, without any capital budget information) and next month the Board will hold its annual Budget Hearings.

The Chicago Teachers Union, as usual, missed the stuff. But what is truly amazing is that the Chicago Teachers Union threw in the Board's announcement about the schedule for the "capital hearings" and then managed to miss them.

"The Chicago Public Schools will be hosting a series of public hearings throughout the month of May on its capital-improvement program. The hearings will be held throughout the city. They give students, staff and community residents an opportunity to provide input on the planning process for the 2009 Capital Improvement Program, which details what school construction, upgrades and maintenance will be scheduled.

"The hearings will be held from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. on the following days:

· Wednesday, May 7: Walter Payton College Prep, 1034 N. Wells St.
· Thursday, May 8: Bell Elementary School, 3730 N. Oakley Ave.
· Wednesday, May 14: Jackson Language Academy, 1340 W. Harrison St.
· Thursday, May 15: Pershing West Middle School, 3200 S. Calumet Ave.
· Wednesday, May 21: Lindblom Math/Science Academy, 6130 S. Wolcott St.
· Thursday, May 22: Morgan Park High School, 1744 West Pryor Avenue

Registration for each of the hearings will run from 4 to 5 p.m. Each hearing will be open to questions and comments pertaining to the capital needs of any Chicago public school. Public hearing sites are accessible to people with disabilities, and sign language interpreters will be present. If residents need more information on the hearing, they can call CPS Department of Operations at 773.553.2905, TTY 773.553.2699..."

Anyone want to be whether Marilyn Stewart will be at Lindblom or Morgan Park (Thursday or Wednesday)? Or -- just maybe -- someone might be interested in asking how CPS can hold hearings on its "capital budget" without presenting the public with a "capital budget..."

Or is it just me who longs to re-read Alice in Wonderland as these wonders unfold?

Wed May 21, 2008 at 5:53 AMBy: George N. Schmidt Does "The Coalition" Stand A Chance? Aside from Marilyn's Big Three closest advisors and scab buddies, how many others among the highest paid CTU staffers has a second job or outside business that Marilyn considers OK -- as long as the person in question sides with Marilyn Stewart on every issue. If a CTU lobbyist or publicist can't live on $150,000 to $200,000 per year (without working a second "job" or running a small business on the side, often on company time), why does the CTU leadership expect teachers to live on a third of that?!

Wed May 21, 2008 at 11:43 AMBy: Corruption 101 Does "The Coalition" Stand A Chance? The union is calling and contacting the Board to take measures against members that are doing there duty as elected union officers and delegates.

YES the UNION is actively contacting people to influence another members position as an employee.

Is this legal?

Almost time for the feds to step in.

Wed May 21, 2008 at 3:32 PMBy: When You do Does "The Coalition" Stand A Chance? your principal will get a call from someone telling them to stop the activity of an internal union matter.The MO is the same just look at the letter Marilyn wrote to arne and refuses to discuss with the delegates.She is a complete anti-union person who is actively working against all the rank and file on a daily basis. she is using our dues money to work against us. she is using our dues money to enrich herself and her cronies.

Thu May 22, 2008 at 8:03 AMBy: Is it true? at Hyde Park Does "The Coalition" Stand A Chance? Is it true that field rep said to our delegate "you gonna be shoot"?

Thu May 22, 2008 at 9:16 AMBy: To:Dick son(sorry for misspelling) Does "The Coalition" Stand A Chance? What is a name..........Do you know him?

Thu May 22, 2008 at 9:59 AMBy: And... Does "The Coalition" Stand A Chance? This is why Marylin can't be IFT president anymore and had to take the other part-time position. If Debbie had not created the law Marylin would be IFT president also.

Thu May 22, 2008 at 12:40 PMBy: Ihatethe UPC Does "The Coalition" Stand A Chance? The last page of the field reps' "contract" says subject to approval of multi-year contracts by the House of Delegates. Anybody know when we 'approved'?
That is quite a document and contract. Too bad teachers and ESPs don't get what the Field reps get. It adds about another $50,000 in perks. And when I call I field rep, I'm told to call HR at the Board myself. Isn't that their job? Debbie may not have been perfect but we now have no union at all. We just have each other and we need to be militant on our own.

Thu May 22, 2008 at 3:17 PMBy: Karen Lewis Does "The Coalition" Stand A Chance? Bottom Line - Vote No on this insipid budget.

Thu May 22, 2008 at 8:52 PMBy: Don't Think So Does "The Coalition" Stand A Chance? Haven't heard that Pact and The Coalition have merged or anything.

Thu May 22, 2008 at 10:23 PMBy: To:hahaha Does "The Coalition" Stand A Chance? You are really stupid.Can't you count how many people will be displaced thanks to Stewart?

Thu May 22, 2008 at 11:08 PMBy: hahahahah Does "The Coalition" Stand A Chance? Haven't heard that Pact and The Coalition have merged or anything


sorry, left td out. he and dl have been talking.

Tue Apr 29, 2008 at 8:47 PMBy: Chris to by:1:04 CTU President Wants Respect -- From Her Own Treasurer Dear by:1:04

We can not reject any experienced Union activist at this time.
Welcome TD,DL and others with the ability to help us to remove MS from her post.We have to stop destruction and corruption-it is to be or not to be for ALL of us.Next election?it is a long way to go...Theln we will make a decision -the best one for the future of our profession in the City.

Mon May 19, 2008 at 2:00 AMBy: George N. Schmidt

Does "The Coalition" Stand A Chance?
2. "The Coalition". A growing number of people, including former UPCers Ted Dallas and Linda Porter, whose meetings have numbered about 45 people each of the past two months. UPCDU has been meeting once a month at the Parthenon Restaurant.

Fri May 23, 2008 at 3:45 AMBy: George N. Schmidt Does "The Coalition" Stand A Chance? "...George, since you named where CORE and PACT meet, did you not name where Marilyn meets because you don't know and haven't been invited?..."

You're right. I'd cover it if I were invited. It's definitely news, just like the 700 people who attended last night's (final) capital budget hearing at Morgan Park High School.

Ooooops.

Both CTU and the rest of the Chicago media missed those 13 buses and that filled auditorium at Morgan Park, too.

Yeah. We'll be at the next "Old UPC" meeting next time somebody let's us know the time and place (it will be a team, since we're working more in video nowadays, too).

So let us know, here or elsewhere. I personally think the members of the Chicago Teachers Union need the most openness and true transparency on these kinds of matters. If paid union staffers are assembling for a caucus meeting at, say, 3:00 in the afternoon, that's "news" -- especially since they are usually the same staffers who never return their phone calls from working teachers and PSRPs.

Fri May 23, 2008 at 8:39 PMBy: yes, reece was horrible too Does "The Coalition" Stand A Chance? You are so right George, Reece (rest his soul) was the beginning of the privatitization issue. People defend Stewart because they know, as you state that she did not start it and has no power to stop it.

In order to stop it we must first identify the real problem. Again, how about pointing at the real problem-Dick, Rufus, Arne? Skip picketing the AFT, how about picketing Dick-he is spending out tax dollars, raising our taxes dollars, re organizing schools and gentrifying neighborhoods so CPS employees have to live in Chicago, but can't afford it. He could order Arne and the rubber stamp board to do a lot to benefit the CPS but he doesn't. A great portion of our salary pays the salaries of Dick and Arne in taxes. And now look to Springfield, they are giving themselves a raise on our taxes. And let us not mention the County. All this energy is spent beating on marilyn when we have much bigger issues we need to rally against. We spend much more money in taxes than in union dues. And you have the option of withdrawing from the union. You can’t withdraw from taxes.
Look at your gas prices. Chicago pays the highest price for gas in the nation.

When is the next mayoral election? City council election? County election? Elections for the state?

If the coalition was rallying around some real everyday life issues they would get more support and respect.

But this continuous CTU and MS attack. Bah humbug.

Come on; attack me too and tell me "Yu must be stafer;destroy union;dmocratic ya da; ya da.

Fri May 23, 2008 at 9:28 PMBy: cut the shit:to yes,reece was horrible too Does "The Coalition" Stand A Chance? the chicago teachers union was the last organization left in the city able to dent the daley armour. the leadership decided to bow down and sellout. we had the bodies and will to do it. ms and her advisors were chicken. they didn't want to fight. the teacher's did. now we have to wait for the new leadership to protect jobs and provide the security teachers deserve.

Fri May 23, 2008 at 9:38 PMBy: kugler - union Does "The Coalition" Stand A Chance? iam in in a union to support my brothers and sisters.

the union is to protect our jobs.

Join another organizations to fight those others issues.

Do not mix apples and oranges.

Keep you thought process on the goal of a unified strong union that advocates for the rights of the membership.

Happy Holiday.

Fri May 23, 2008 at 9:45 PMBy: Nope Kugler Does "The Coalition" Stand A Chance? No Kugler, this is our issue. The control of the Chicago Public Schools is in the hands of the Mayor and his croonies. The union has had minimal power since the Mayor took over control. The mayor has worked hard to destroy unions citywide and all the nastiness, back stabbing, etc. is playing right into his hand. Coalition doesn't support unity; they are deeply rooted in continuing to destroy the union. perhaps coalition is in pocket of mayor and part of his plan to destroy CTU.

Fri May 23, 2008 at 10:01 PMBy: kugler- if you can not.................................. ............................................................................. ..........control your own union how are you going to run a city?

take control of the union, clean up the budget, fight for the members, stop the school closings and then you can have 30K strong force to go against the city.

I am part of the coalition and my record of grievances and advocacy for members and students clearly shows my stand on the issues.

you can visit my school web site if you have any doubts of who I am.

Dr. Kugler

Fri May 23, 2008 at 10:21 PMBy: Porkhead Does "The Coalition" Stand A Chance? What does any of this have to do with the teachers' contract? The bottom line is MS threw away an opportunity of a lifetime. We could have walked!!
"If the coalition was rallying around some real everyday life issues they would get more support and respect "
Do you have any sense at all? This is our livlihoods, are careers. This as real as it gets. You completely dismiss it because for you are running scared. The simple fact is that you know the end is near. The coalition is made up of individuals with a desire to right the wrongs you have committed to the membership. There is no hidden agenda. Just the facts. That's all folks.

Fri May 23, 2008 at 11:04 PMBy: out of the box Does "The Coalition" Stand A Chance? Think out of the box,

It is understandable that many are angry regarding the loss of jobs, closing of schools etc. But it is time to think out of the box.

You scream about wasted union dues but then you talk about organizing a boycott of the delegates meeting so the budget cannot be voted on. That is a waste of our dues money. We will still pay the expense of having the meeting, whether you show up or not. And then we will have to spend money on another meeting to bring the budget to the floor again. Think out of the box.

I am sure George and other CPS Veterans can tell you the history of how the mayor got control of the school system and began his union busting program. This did not just begin with this group of officers. The mayor has been busting unions, pitting members against one another citywide.

The coalition speaks of unity.
True unity does not involve disrupting house meetings, trying to organize a protest at our parent union’s conference, blasting our president publicly, criticizing one another, calling each other stupid and "staffer" because opinions differ. Unity does not involve splintering off into various factions. Unity does not mean public humiliation, divulging personal correspondence on a public blog, "airing our dirty laundry", Unity does not mean name calling, abusive language.

Anyone who has ever been fired, released, down-sized from a job is bound to be upset but that is the risk we take when we accept a job; it might get taken away from us.

Yes, I said OUR president because until there is an election she is our president, whether you like it or not.

We need to be unified, not at each other’s throats.

Fri May 23, 2008 at 11:29 PMBy: or ... Does "The Coalition" Stand A Chance? .......if she is removed from office.

Fri May 23, 2008 at 11:39 PMBy: Nate Dickson Does "The Coalition" Stand A Chance? Field Rep for Wells did not show up to four E3 evaluations all four veteran teachers plan to be dismissed.

By the way the principal has only two years experience and she just canned four teachers with the green light from the union.

Union called the Wells principal and said if TD shows up to have him arrested. Union actively refusing representation to its members.

out of the box
in the box

hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

maybe you two are right we should wait a few more years.


Thanks
Buddy

Fri May 23, 2008 at 11:59 PMBy: got some money ......................................................................................... on that

Sat May 24, 2008 at 12:41 AMBy: George N. Schmidt Does "The Coalition" Stand A Chance? "...I am sure George and other CPS Veterans can tell you the history of how the mayor got control of the school system and began his union busting program. This did not just begin with this group of officers. The mayor has been busting unions, pitting members against one another citywide..." (Out of the box, yesterday).

The city's ruling class (Civic Committee; editorial boards; others) wanted to bust the public employee unions and privatize as much as possible for a long time. During the last year's of the veto power of the School Finance Authority (1990-1995), fundamentalist "free market" millionaires like Martin Koldyke (then chairman of the SFA) were relentlessly beating the drum for "choice" and privatization wherever they had power.

Their moment came in 1994-1995, when the Republicans controlled all three power positions in Illinois Government (House; Senate; Governor's Mansion) and they were able to join with Mayor Daley in passing the "Amendatory Act" to the School Reform Act of 1988. The Amendatory Act was all about privatization and union busting. It immediately abolished, for example, career service; it forced the privatization of custodial jobs. Down the road it was aimed at the CTU, but in its early years it destroyed the livelihood of thousands of people in the other unions (custodians in Local 46, SEIU; lunchroom workers; engineers).

The Amendatory Act also stripped the people of any say over who served on the Chicago Board of Education (it became appointed by Daley) and stripped two unions (the Chicago Teachers Union and the Cook County College Teachers Union) of collective bargaining rights that all other teacher unions in Illinois had (including the right to bargain over, for example, class size and seniority).

Tom Reece and the United Progressive Caucus, then leading the CTU, supported Mayor Daley and the "Chicago School Reform Board of Trustees" (headed by Daley's former Chief of Staff Gery Chico) and the "reformed" school administration (headed by Daley's former budget chief Paul Vallas). In 1996, Reece (along with the other officers, especially Pam Massarsky, who was Recording Secretary at the time) invited Vallas and Chico to a House of Delegates meeting and proceeded to orchestrate what amounted to a craven love-in with the two of them (and in the shadows, the Daley administration and its union busting).

I was the only delegate at that meeting to get to a microphone and ask a critical question. While Vallas stood beside Reece at the podium (remember: of a union meeting), I took the floor (I was at the time delegate from Bowen High School) and asked when the administration was going to restore truant officers, so Chicago public schools would have the resources like the rest of the state.

Vallas said he wasn't going to do it, that the old Chicago truant officers had been drunks, etc., etc. So while the officers of the Chicago Teachers Union stood by his side, the newly minted "Chief Executive Officer" of the Chicago Public Schools bashed one group of CTU members (the truant officers).

But that wasn't the most important part. What followed included UPCers expressing anger that I had been rude to Mr. Vallas and Mr. Chico, who were, according to Mr. Reece and Ms. Massarsky, our "friends."

That craven posture continued for the next five years. At the February 1999 meeting of the Board of Education (held at Brentano school and picketed by PACT over teacher firings), Tom Reece took the floor as President of the Chicago Teachers Union and proclaimed (while Pam Marrarsky cheered wildly) that the Vallas Chico Board of Education was "the best we have ever worked with..."

Later in that meeting, Vallas and Chico encouraged a crack addled mother of a gang banger I had been dealing with at Bowen to take the floor (the mother; not the banger) and spend ten minutes talking about what a racist I was. (That was a month after I had been suspended for the publication of the CASE tests in Substance and was facing not only termination by a lawsuit claiming $1.4 million "damages" on behalf of CPS for my supposed violation of the CPS CASE "copyrights").

Reece had the virtue of consistency during that entire period. As late as his last run for CTU President (2001), he continued to preach his alliance with Vallas and Chico and how good things were as a result. Vallas made it very clear in the media (especially Crain's Chicago Business) that he wanted Reece, not Lynch, to win the CTU election.

The problem for Lynch after her election victory in May 2001 was that she had to organize the political muscle to restore all of the union's bargaining rights by eliminating the Amendatory Act in Springfield. (It had been held Constitutional under Illinois and federal law, by the way, for those who say "sue them!"). What Ms. Lynch and the union got was a partial restoration of rights. During those key two years, UPC actively worked to sabotage that program of the union. The sabotage included an attempt to organize a boycott of the 2001 LEAD dinner, which is when the union's members have the most contact with politicians.

There is a lot more history than this, but the outlines of the UPC policies facing privatization and the mayoral takeover of CPS are very clear. This is probably one of the reasons why, to this day, the CTU website doesn't contain any back issues of the Chicago Union Teacher or records of those House of Delegates meetings from back to the late 1980s or so. The union's own publications and written records document those sellouts, year after year. There was a page one cover on the Chicago Union Teacher after Vallas and Chico were cheered by Reece and the UPC in the House of Delegates showing all of them smiling at one another. This came at the time that Vallas and Daley were busting "career service" jobs and privatizing as much as possible to contractors whose record of corruption would still make names like Duff and Levine look like saints -- if those contractors were every investigated.

Remember the "property managers" that CPS had for a time? Ashley's? That was all union busting against SEIU, just as the busting of the bus companies was against the Teamster drivers of the school buses.

While Reece and the officers of CTU cheered Vallas and the mayor's school board, the other unions were being undermined or, in some cases, destroyed in the name of corporate "school reform" (i.e., massive privatization).

"First they came for..."

Sat May 24, 2008 at 1:28 AMBy: Condemning????????? Does "The Coalition" Stand A Chance? convicting and banishment are better terms.

Sat May 24, 2008 at 8:03 AMBy: I remember Does "The Coalition" Stand A Chance? When Lynch defeated Reece, Vallas and Chico stepped down. Vallas gave the mayor some lip and was run out of chicago. Chico stepped down the right way and now's he's the Park District Board President.

When Vallas and Chico were removed, it was one of the happiest and exciting weeks of my life. At least we can thank PACT for that.

Sat May 24, 2008 at 12:36 PMBy: There you go again Does "The Coalition" Stand A Chance? ...schmidt, stick around.

There you go again ridiculing other people’s opinions. That behavior does not perpetuate unity. Those comments were not meaningless to teachers; they are the truth. Maybe you were not here when many agencies fought, met, and testified against the closing of Meigs Field and regardless, Mayor Daley had it destroyed in the middle of the night. That is what he is doing to the school system. Those who have been around a while recognize that. It is not about supporting stewart; it is about recognizing the situation. No union pres. at this time would have been able to stop the Daley demolition crew. The solution is to start at the top and get rid of Daley etc. If we keep focusing on minutia, by the time we wake up he will have closed all of the CPS schools. And he knows that we are greatly distracted and too busy abusing one another.

Think outside the box.

Sat May 24, 2008 at 2:48 PMBy: kugler - no action Does "The Coalition" Stand A Chance? all I see is writing and ideas.

action on the ground solves problems.

rank and file action against those who hurt the membership is the answer.

as the members understand and adapt to the fight and who is the enemy the battle will grow and the organized resistance will be come stronger.

when you become strong people will flip to your side because they will not want to be wiped out.

there are many small victories and battles being waged as we speak. those of you writing if you do not want to get dirty in the trenches then at least do some legal and historical research so when issues of law and precedent come up then we have the back up to win every battle we start.

any help is appreciated and all communications are confidential.

get involved.

csdu@live.com

Sat May 24, 2008 at 3:10 PMBy: 1.04 Does "The Coalition" Stand A Chance? Kluger



4. High school and grammar school teachers will have different locals.

5. All political parties are welcome to share in our PAC money.

6. The CTU will setup an office of Information and Education to help
our friends and destroy our enemies.


Next

Sat May 24, 2008 at 3:31 PMBy: Kugler - Locals Does "The Coalition" Stand A Chance? Would the locals be in CTU?

Then that might make sense because there are different issues for each group. There could be elections to an executive council from the two locals and then this exec. Council could rotate representatives into the president office. This would help stop the Cronyism that is hurting the union.


there are also models of decentralized unions that are based out in the field and not sitting back in a nice office away from the blood and guts of the daily struggles of the rank and file membership.

Sat May 24, 2008 at 4:51 PMBy: Chris to:1:04 Does "The Coalition" Stand A Chance? Hello.Would you be so kind and compile names of our"supporters"who collecting our PAC money who also supported the 1995 Amendatory Act?
Thanks

Sat May 24, 2008 at 5:14 PMBy: 1.04 Does "The Coalition" Stand A Chance? chris

I will do that it may not be till tomorrow buy I will dig that out

Sat May 24, 2008 at 6:35 PMBy: Today's conversation was good untill... Does "The Coalition" Stand A Chance? the current conversation was decent, educational, and professional until Chris joined in. Kugler, perhaps you and the coalition members better rein him in if you want people to stick with you. He does not exemplify your mission of unity. he is no better than the union staffers he supposedly is fighting against. he is turning a lot of people away because people remember debbie lynch coming to pact meetings thrashing and degrading people (i was there for them). that turned many people away from her.

those of us who have been in the system 35 years have watched that machine, as someone else described it. did you even read the history george gave. if you weren't here chris then you should not criticize people's conversation about it. "perhaps common sense has left your body."

kugler, are they still voting on the charter issue in springfield? what was that bill number? absolutely any senators or house reps who vote yes to charters in chicago should loose our financial support; no matter how much. and they should loose all 65,000 votes at the next election. our voting strength can impact the state just like labor impacted the aldermanic election in chicago.

action starts with sound ideas.

the history is interesting.

Sat May 24, 2008 at 7:44 PMBy: to: there you go again Does "The Coalition" Stand A Chance? ren 10 would have been over if the ctu leadership had the guts to stop it. the ctu leadership bullshitted the membership. they told everyone they were ready to strike. they passed out glossy cards with the officers pictures on them. remember,what will happen in 2007, they said. what happened was either stupidity, no guts, or a sellout. any way you slice it, the leadership dropped the ball bigtime. the meigs field situation and all the other crap you are talking about has nothing to do with what stewart, massarsky,and ostenberg did. all three of them and anyone else who negotiated the current contract should have had some courage. now we must suffer for four more years.

Sat May 24, 2008 at 8:46 PMBy: Misinformation Posted Notice Does Mary McGuire the Union has posted incorrect information regarding the Charter school expansion bill on the Chicago Teachers Union website.

www.ctunet.com/

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
CTU Lobby Report
...read more


In addition to the critical issue of school funding, the members tackled:

• opposition to SB 2404 which adds 40 more charter schools to Chicago's current number;
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


The correct Bill number is SB 2402.
Bill Status of SB2402

Please change this error immediately as there are members who are interested in this legislation and misleading information on the Union website is detrimental to the membership.

In addition it is erroneous and corruptive behavior that we pay our dues and there is no quality control to what is posted as information on an official union website.

Correct this error immediately.

Please post a response to this communication explaining to the membership how this error could happen.


Dr. John Kugler
Union Delegate
Hyde Park Career Academy

Sat May 24, 2008 at 9:19 PMBy: Dallas Cheerleader/Coalition Member Does "The Coalition" Stand A Chance? Daley this, Daley that. Yes, he is the Mayor of Chicago. Yes, he is a powerful and wealthy man. Yes, he is connected to everyone. The question is what would he have done if the chicago teachers walked out? Dallas says that the possiblity existed if there wasn't an agreement, that the mayor would want to fight. Did he mean a fist fight against Dallas? It was actually said during the negotiating session, according to Dallas, that if there wasn't an agreement, the mayor would fight. Did he mean that he would have put Stewart in a choke hold? C'mon, someone tell me what kind of a fight the lead negotiator was talking about? Let's think of all the possibilities here. I have grown to respect you more and more from your postings Mr. Schmidt. Tell me, what kind of a fight between the mayor and the teachers would have occured. I would like some details. Does it mean he would have fired 30,000 teachers? Would have LOVED to be in on that!!

Sun May 25, 2008 at 3:37 AMBy: George N. Schmidt Does "The Coalition" Stand A Chance? "...clarification. The election of 2010 may remove current officers; she won't be removed prior to that..." ("she won't be removed", Friday, May 23, 2008).

Officers can also leave office if put out by the membership for cause and/or through resignation.

I for one am one of the thousands of current and retired CTU members who built this union through strikes and hard work and who agree that hiring a scab over thousands of union members for more than $100,000 per year for union work is cause.

The fact that Marilyn Stewart, the President of the CTU, is going to stand in front of the national convention of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) in less than two months and not be called out for hiring a scab as a union staffer is disgraceful.

The Chicago Teachers Union got to be Local 1 of AFT by being a militant union, from the days of Margaret Haley and Toby Schein (later Prinz, one of the founding members of the Chicago Teachers Union when the old factions were unified into a K-12 "Local 1" in 1936) all the way through the strikes led by Jacqueline Vaughn through this day. Thousands of teachers and other school workers made sacrifices and walked picket lines to build this union. Those of us who are now retirees -- who dedicated much of our professional lives to building this union, often picketing in Chicago winters -- have been insulted over and over by Marilyn Stewart and her scab group.

This president should resign now.

Every day that scab is paid by our union dues is an insult to every union brother and sister, living and living in memory (and in our hearts).

Every meeting at which this scab herd is not called out is a disgrace to those memories as well. Thanks to these people, the Chicago Teachers Union has gone from being a lion to being worse than a lamb. At least lambs still have teeth and bleat loudly when injured.

Sun May 25, 2008 at 1:36 PMBy: EPD Does "The Coalition" Stand A Chance? Did our current $100,000+ Springfield lobbyist, Traci Cobb Evans, cross the picket line(s)? This could all be resolved by Ms. Cobb Evans making a statement. Or, since she works at the CTU office, why doesn't someone just ask her; then publicly state her answer in the CTU paper. It’s a YES or NO answer.
About the CTU paper....would it be reasonable for individual schools to ask to be released from the school paper delivery? Most of the staff would prefer to save the money and simply have the paper online. Sure we would miss the bountiful pictures of Ms. Stewart but the money saved would be for the greater good.

Sun May 25, 2008 at 3:54 PMBy: Kugler - Scab is a Scab Does "The Coalition" Stand A Chance? There are at least three eye witness accounts of the scab crossing the picket line. She even admitted it to the executive council before the last election. MS, TD, JO, LP, MO, MM, LB and others are witness to her admission.

Be very careful what is stated as fact because soon people will be put under oath and then it is five years in prison for lying.

I stand by my reporting and until there is proof that I am wrong what I reported it is a fact.

All Cobb-Evans has to do is produce her pay stubs showing she did not get paid that week including CPS payroll archives.

I will write a retraction.

This fact alone that the President knowingly and willingly gave her friend the scab a high paying position with the union is enough to have her and the scab barred from the union for life.

There are many more incidents that are more serious violations of the union constitution.

Sun May 25, 2008 at 9:56 PMBy: good ole US of A Does "The Coalition" Stand A Chance? As we all celebrate Memorial Day it is a shame that you would ridicule that African American woman. You trash talk her because she won’t rise to your accusations; she ignores you. That is her right. She won’t defend against your useless banter. Good for her. One thing for sure, even if she did respond to those accusations you would still have something horrible to say. You try to intimidate her and anyone who might support her practicing her rights. You try to violate her inalienable rights. Shame on you.

And on this week-end we are suppose to be commemorating those who sacrificed their lives so that we could have inalienable rights. Perhaps you don’t know the history of Memorial Day:
According to Professor David Blight of the Yale University History Department, the first memorial day was observed in 1865 by liberated slaves at the historic race track in Charleston. The site was a former Confederate prison camp as well as a mass grave for Union soldiers who had died while captive. The freed slaves reinterred the dead Union soldiers from the mass grave to individual graves, fenced in the graveyard & built an entry arch declaring it a Union graveyard - a very daring thing to do in the South shortly after North's victory. On May 30, 1886? the freed slaves returned to the graveyard with flowers they'd picked from the countryside & decorated the individual gravesites, thereby creating the 1st Decoration Day. A parade with thousands of freed blacks and Union soldiers was followed by patriotic singing and a picnic.
The official birthplace of Memorial Day is Waterloo, New York. The village was credited with being the birthplace because it observed the day on May 5, 1866, and each year thereafter, and because it is likely that the friendship of General John Murray, a distinguished citizen of Waterloo, and General John A. Logan, who led the call for the day to be observed each year and helped spread the event nationwide, was a key factor in its growth.
General Logan had been impressed by the way the South honored their dead with a special day and decided the Union needed a similar day. Reportedly, Logan said that it was most fitting; that the ancients, especially the Greeks, had honored their dead, particularly their heroes, by chaplets of laurel and flowers, and that he intended to issue an order designating a day for decorating the grave of every soldier in the land, and if he could he would have made it a holiday.
The alternative name of "Memorial Day" was first used in 1882, but did not become more common until after World War II, and was not declared the official name by Federal law until 1967
So Traci, where ever you are, “Stay the Course”. You have a right to ignore this stupid stuff.

Sun May 25, 2008 at 10:09 PMBy: Chris Does "The Coalition" Stand A Chance? We all public employees.Anyone has the right to obtain the copy of any check stub.
Therefore there is a very simple way to finish discussion about The Called Scab woman.
Have a Happy Holiday,Mrs S.

Sun May 25, 2008 at 10:59 PMBy: Shocked, Shocked, Shocked Does "The Coalition" Stand A Chance? "...We've all done something 20 years ago we're ashamed of??? Get over it you say?" I'm sorry, but unless the scab paid back her filthy lucre, she is NOT forgiven. The problem with this modern mentality is that since we haven't had a strike in 20 years, it's easy for her to get away with what is tantamount to union murder. There are too many dues-paying, non-scab members of the CTU who are far more worthy of such a lucrative position.

And as far the efficacy of said scab, the fact that our legislature has bought into this charter school madness is ridiculous. If charter schools are so terrific, why don't we see them in the affluent suburbs???? Oh that's right, socio-economic ills can only be exacerbated by non-union teachers who "care" about more than a paycheck. Why don't we just have teachers work for free like the nuns in Catholic schools - oops, they don't teach anymore. Most of those teachers have second jobs to MAKE ENDS MEET!!!

We either have a union or we don't. Right now, we have a weak sister, but we're not alone. The goal of the entire Republican party is to bust unions, and these fake Democrats like Daley prove there is only one party in American and it's the Party of MONEY - there are just two branches. That's the main reason why we need to stop giving those hacks in Springfield another nickel. That's what they understand. So if they can't answer our needs, we can't answer theirs.

So for us to "get over 20 years ago", she needs to pay back the wages she took while scabbing, or find something else to do, because she is seemingly, not particularly adept at her job!

Sun May 25, 2008 at 11:10 PMBy: can you prove she scabbed SEIU Local 1 Does "The Coalition" Stand A Chance? my neighbor called me into this discussion. where is the proof?

if there was some irrefutable documentation that this individual had scabbed i might agree that the earned wage should be repaid. but if there is no proof. so, just because some one says it....come on...even you don't adhere to that kind of justice or injustice.
does your union maintain a log from previous strikes?
SEIU

I do agree with you about giving money to legislators who vote against us; cut them off.

Sun May 25, 2008 at 11:22 PMBy: Chris Does "The Coalition" Stand A Chance? Keep smiling .Black is beautiful.Keep your blood pressure under control.I love my wife.She is not only sexy she is intelligent.Thats why I need to have some quality time.
Good night.

Mon May 26, 2008 at 12:00 AMBy: we are bleeding Does "The Coalition" Stand A Chance? There is no healing when we are bleeding.

Ask her to resign and then the healing can begin.

Mon May 26, 2008 at 1:28 AMBy: racist would say race is not an issue Does "The Coalition" Stand A Chance? Many people don't realize that they are racist but their actions and beliefs demonstrate otherwise.

a racist would say that race is not an issue.
a racist would say that a black woman has no right to put in play her 6th amendment rights. innocent, having no need to defend, until proven guilty.

at the end of the day you have no proof that she scabbed except for three people who claim to have seen her.

at the end of the day there are people of different races and it always matters.

Mon May 26, 2008 at 1:57 AMBy: race will always matter, especially it you are not a member of the majority. Does "The Coalition" Stand A Chance? If race does not matter tell this program: Union Leader of America Scholarship-Diversity Scholarship. It is a $500 to $3000 scholarship for women or minorities only. I hope some CTU members applied for it because most members are women.

Helping more women and people of color become union leaders

Embracing its mission to enhance the value of union membership and support a stronger labor movement, Union Privilege has developed a scholarship program to help more women and people of color become union leaders. The program provides annual awards up to $3,000 to help future leaders with the cost of continuing their education or training in order to pursue their union career goals and leadership skills. unionplus.org

If race did not matter these programs would not be needed nor would they exist.

race always matters.


Those who say race does not matter should wake up. Below is the last speech from Sandra Feldman, former President of the AFT. Just note how many times she refers to race directly or indirectly as poverty. It is everywhere. read what she says about reconstitution in 1997, nationwide occurence.



AFT Convention, July 14, 2004
Washington, D.C.
Keynote Address
Sandra Feldman, President

Welcome. It is truly energizing and gratifying to see you.

The fact you’re here bears out the theme of my talk today—which I hope you will understand and forgive if it seems to get personal.

First, every one of us here could be somewhere else—relaxing, vacationing, even working. Yet we’re here because we support an organization, a union that has made a great difference in our lives, and the lives of so many others—and we want it to continue to strengthen and to grow.

We’re here because we’re believers. I surely am, and that is what I want to talk about today in my final address as president of AFT.

Two months ago, we marked the 50th anniversary of the Brown v. Board of Education decision. Much has been said, debated, written—about the meaning of the decision and its importance, and I’m not going to reiterate all that. I believe it was extremely important, because though it didn’t end segregation, the highest court in the land said that deliberate school segregation is unlawful. And much good followed from that, as did a great deal of serious struggle.

I was still in high school at that time. The AFT, in 1954, was a small but growing organization. But it was the only teacher organization to support Brown before the court. We were also the only teacher organization to expel our segregated locals in the South after the decision—which is why we are the smaller organization in the South to this day. Tomorrow, we are giving Eleanor Holmes Norton our Bayard Rustin Human Rights award. And it is well-deserved.

Of course this wasn’t the first time AFT had sacrificed size to belief. In the 1930s, when the communists took over the teachers’ union, the pro-democracy leaders who had lost, broke away and formed a much smaller union.

I start with this bit of history because it signifies something very important about this union we belong to: It has always been a union of believers. Not ideologues—but believers in the cause of public education, the needs of children and working families and the need to protect democracy so we can make our many fights.

Now don’t get me wrong—we love to party. But we don’t come here as revelers. We come to make serious policy about serious issues—and then dance all night.

I got to Brooklyn College in 1956, and the civil rights activities Brown had spawned were in full force. The great civil rights leader Bayard Rustin came to campus and held a rally to recruit students to participate in a march for integrated schools. I met lifelong friends like Rachelle Horowitz, who later became AFT’s political director, and Tom Kahn, who later became AFL-CIO’s international affairs director. And we all became followers of Bayard Rustin. Off campus, at movement functions, we met Eleanor Holmes Norton, whose leadership and contribution to the movement is immeasurable and continues to this day.

Through the late ’50s and early ’60s, freedom rides, sit-ins, and the 1963 March on Washington, we and thousands of other young people, of all colors and ethnicities, did our parts. And so did activist members of AFT across the country.

And I want to try to describe how we all felt.

I’m talking about myself, but I know that all of the people involved shared most of the feelings I had. And I know some of them are in this room today.

During college, my friends and I, including Eleanor, joined the Harlem Congress of Racial Equality—CORE. And we carried on many activities, all nonviolent. We were trained in civil disobedience and passive resistance. We spent weeks sitting in at the construction site of the new Harlem hospital that was being built, to force the integration of that workforce.

We had some unpleasant encounters with the building trades, I’m sorry to say, but it wasn’t always because of them; we also did some foolish things—like laying down in the street in front of a bulldozer. Years later, we all kissed and made up and worked well together from then on.

We also traveled. This New York girl got on a bus every weekend to integrate the Howard Johnsons up and down Maryland’s Route 40, and I have some vivid memories of being herded about by cops and dogs and being shoved along with many others into a stuffy, dirty Baltimore jail until the movement sent lawyers to get us out.

The most dicey, and probably more than a little foolish, thing that some of us did was go around Harlem one day with U-Haul trucks and pick up garbage that had been left in the streets for weeks—old mattresses and box springs, broken furniture, rotting piles of newspapers, all kinds of junk. We had a statement calling attention to the lousy housing conditions poor people in Harlem were living in, and at 5 p.m. we drove onto the Triboro bridge and dumped all the garbage we had collected and stopped the traffic going home. "You’re going home to nice neighborhoods," our statement said. "We just want you to take a look at how poor people are forced to live."

But the working people on their way home didn’t appreciate the logic or the traffic jam—especially when they understood what we had done.

So they started to leave their cars and advance on us (we were sitting amid the garbage—passive-resistance mode).

Fortunately, the cops got to us first.

The local Queens jail, with its overstuffed toilets and completely disdainful staff, was a haven compared to the anger we’d have faced from those irate drivers.

I tell this with some amusement, of course. But I tell you for a reason: And that is to try to explain that though we were scared, and perhaps sometimes mistaken, we were prepared for beatings and even worse, for the cause of equality and justice.

What my friends and I did wasn’t the most dangerous by a long shot—not at all. Others went to the deep South, and of course Andrew Goodman, Michael Schwerner and James Cheney, young idealists, were murdered, and they weren’t the only ones.

Then there were the black citizens who lived on the front lines, who suffered cross burnings and death threats and the students who sat in lunch counters in the deep South, and those who walked through jeering mobs to get to school. They believed in a real cause.

Which leads me to the AFT. From its beginning, AFT was a cause. It was a trade union that had always had as its mission the betterment of its members and the children they served, from the time of its founding by John Dewey and other reformer educators.

And AFT members served needy children, in large part. If you look at the earliest copies of our newspaper, you will see pictures of huge classes of immigrant children and other poor children in cities across the country where the AFT was organizing. You will see exposés of unsanitary conditions and the lack of books and supplies.

You will see—in the roster of teacher activists who formed the union—social reformers who were fighting for decent healthcare and living conditions for their students as well as themselves and their colleagues. You will see women—forced to play a back-seat role in other organizations and in their schools—lead a crowd of school teachers—school teachers—in demonstrations and rallies and stirring—not just their followers, but bystanders—with their oratory and their righteous cause.

For example, early in the last century, when Margaret Haley of Chicago couldn’t get the administrator-dominated organization in that city to support her demands on behalf of the classroom, she went to the AFL and formed a teachers’ union—the AFT—Local 1. And that was before women even had the right to vote.

Teacher unionists wanted better pay, yes, of course. They also wanted the opportunity to learn their craft better and to practice it more meaningfully. They wanted the respect and dignity they knew they deserved—sound familiar?

And they wanted what was needed for their students—the children of other people entrusted to them. And they were ready to fight for it.

And, my dear sisters and brothers, that is the combination that made us—and makes us—different. In my opinion—better. That combination of militant trade unionism, the intellectual underpinnings members and leaders brought to it, and the passionate dedication to improving the public schools and the lives of those we served—starting with children, but carried over in our work with patients and clients in later years. That is what made us better, stronger.

As we sit here, there is no denying there has been a lot of progress. Yet, despite the progress, we still have two school systems in America—wealthy and poor—still often separated as much by color as by class.

AFT is a large union now. We represent urban and suburban districts, and our members fight for what is right in both. But we will never be fully successful if we don’t achieve equity—and that fight takes great solidarity. Because it is very easy for haves and have-nots to turn against each other—or, at the very least, not to help each other. But it takes believers to do the right thing.

Just look at the funding debate in New York State almost four years after one of the most sweeping decisions on providing what urban kids need—they’re still fighting over it today. One—because it means spending a lot more money on poor kids, and two—because of the serious compromises that need to be made to achieve equity. It takes believers who care about all the children.

And I’m proud to say—that is who we are.

From coast to coast, AFT is fighting not just for equitable school financing, but for funding for what we know works, especially for poor children—smaller classes, quality preschool, better prepared teachers, extended time.

We are solidly with the rest of labor fighting to organize to raise wages of workers in all sectors, for full employment and decent housing and universal healthcare. We know that when families do well, children do well in school, though we’re always striving to help them do better, and to keep standards high.

And we know that many poor children, with their serious health needs and lack of attention and exposure to wide experiences in their earliest years, need a lot more than schools can provide them.

But let’s face it, schools would be providing a lot more if teachers had a real voice and the wherewithal to do what we know works.

Imagine where poor children would be today if starting in the ’50s, instead of ugly fights to prevent integration, we had immediately provided every school and district with well-prepared teachers and smaller class sizes, quality early childhood education and quality afterschool programs and summer school for the children we know need that time.

Fifty years of caring and doing what teachers were demanding, what children needed—we wouldn’t have solved all the problems; an achievement gap might still be there if poverty persisted—but poverty might have been severely lessened over those generations if children had come out of school better educated.

Instead, color and class, so powerful in America, slowed us down.

And yet we still made progress. In the ’60s, we won Title I, and services started flowing into poor schools—and AFT was a major player in that fight.

In the ’80s and ’90s, we led the fight for high standards and accountability and serious attention, truly for the first time, began to be paid to the terrible neglect—all across the country—of the schools poor children attended.

Right now, in the passions over No Child Left Behind, I fear that neglect could return, and I’m proud that AFT still upholds the basic framework of high standards and accountability despite what is wrong with this law. But what comforts me most is this: NCLB, Bush version, will be a blip on the screen by this time next year when President John Kerry has had the time, with our help, to fix it and properly fund it.

We’re going to be talking about that crucial election quite a bit all week, but right now I want to talk about AFT’s continuing role, and the charge I hope you will continue to take very, very seriously: the charge of fighting for high quality schools for all children.

When I became AFT president in 1997, many of our districts had been suffering something called "reconstitution" as a result of early accountability provisions in the Title I law. Excessing or layoffs of teachers without rights, putting in new staff who had not a clue about what to do—you remember.

And I urged us—I had been faced with this as president of UFT—to think through an AFT response: to fight like hell, of course, for the rights of our members, but also to propose a program that would work to reach out to parents, and to fight to turn around those low-performing schools, not simply to defend them.

I exhorted us not to tolerate or condone the continuance of schools that neither you nor I or any mayor, governor or other elected official wouldn’t send our own children to. Yes, we needed to protect our members’ rights, and we could do that; we could and did negotiate agreements for them to be treated with integrity and respect as these schools were redesigned.

And, in the AFT way, we put together a committee of savvy leaders and educators and came up with a program: Redesigning Schools To Raise Achievement, which has now been adapted in different forms all across the country—although we don’t always get credit, of course.

And, what is it? It’s a compilation, based on research, of what the teachers and kids need to succeed: professional development, smaller classes—especially in the early grades, extended days, summer school and in many places, extra pay not only for the time, but for different roles teachers are playing.

We didn’t just say "no." We created a prototype that works.

Ah, if only we controlled the schools the way right-wingers are always accusing us of doing. The kids would be so much better off than they are now, with every new superintendent throwing out the work his predecessor did, and starting something new and untried.

For example, I am both amused and saddened when I see the mess over social promotion in my hometown.

In September of 1997, shortly after becoming AFT president, I gave a speech at the National Press Club about an AFT study that called for ending social promotion but making it clear that neither social promotion nor retention is a successful strategy despite their widespread use, which our study uncovered.

We must intervene before students fail, I said then. We must provide preschool and improve its quality. And some years before that, I had called for the same things as UFT president.

Now a new mayor and superintendent in New York have awakened—but, oh, the terrible mistakes they are making—because like almost every new administration, they decide to reinvent the wheel.

In 1999, we came out with AFT’s reading program: Teaching Reading IS Rocket Science, and began to develop projects in several cities, where we’ve now demonstrated that teachers—approached properly and given intelligent, substantive training by experienced colleagues—will not only welcome the new methodologies coming out of research, but find them useful and helpful for their students.

It isn’t easy to get teachers who have been around a while to teach reading differently—but AFT’s credibility makes it possible.

Same thing with the issue of teacher quality. We’ve never been defensive or disingenuous about the need to upgrade teacher preparation—in college and in the elementary and secondary classroom.

We know from our members—and from our own experience—that most new teachers are woefully unprepared for the reality they face in the classroom. And we know that even experienced teachers need ongoing support.

We’ve never supported keeping incompetent people; we know the harm one such person can do to a school and to kids. But we’ve also seen over and over how with peer support from an experienced master teacher, such a person can change 180 degrees and if not, out they should go—after appropriate and streamlined due process.

We have opposed emergency credentials and out-of-field teaching, and we have been open to new roles and different salary arrangements, movement from vertical to horizontal schedules, incentives for teaching in hard-to-staff schools, extra pay for National Board certification, and more.

Our major problem? Not the resistance of our members—though some of that is definitely there. Our major problem in places where we’ve tried and failed? Management.

It is very, very sad that so much lip service is given to the importance of teachers, but management not only won’t put its money where its mouth is, but won’t trust the teacher unions -– meaning the teachers—because that is who we are—to have right and good ideas. Just ask former Senator Al D’Amato what happened when he tried to separate the teachers from their union.

Well—that historic labor-management struggle will go on, but places where cooperation begins to work and student achievement benefits, will continue to serve as beacons for education change and improvement.

And AFT must—and will—continue to lead the way. Our affiliates are fighting hard for what children and families need. In many states we’ve gotten the ball rolling on quality preschool, smaller class sizes, especially in the early grades, Kindergarten-Plus, the extension of the kindergarten year to the summer before and after—has now been adopted in New Mexico, and teachers and principals are giving it rave reviews. Children have shown considerable progress, and parents are clamoring to enroll their children.

The Louisiana Legislature has passed a pilot program, and other states are considering it. And now we’ve heard from Senator Dodd—a fairly new father –- that he has introduced federal legislation to help states do this cost-effective program. This is good news for teachers and children. Thank you, Senator Dodd.

And now, many people are finally turning to the health issues of poor children. Like you can’t read if you can’t see well, or listen to the teacher if your ear is infected, or pay attention if your teeth are hurting.

My dear colleagues, it remains a source of real anger to me—and I hope to you—that the needs of children, especially poor children in this wonderful, wealthy society of ours, are still neglected. Not just in school, but in general.

We know conclusively from studies, nationally and internationally, that poor children start from behind and need special help. We know that achievement goes up as family income goes up, but that too many families remain mired in poverty for generations.

We know that one of the few things they have going for their children is the public schools, and that too often their schools aren’t good enough.

All of you in this room are on the front lines of the fight for improving public education, either because you are part of it, or your own families are dependent on it, and because you believe in it.

And you know, first-hand, the problems and burdens that so many children bring to school. Across economic and racial and ethnic lines, so many of our students come to us with very great needs.

Whether in cities or suburbs, so many of them are growing up in a rough environment, without enough adult supervision and guidance.

Most of them have loving parents, and some not. They see a lot of violence—up close and personal—as well as on TV.

They live in a peer culture that is obsessed with clothes and looks, and walking and talking and being tough.

Many of our kids – especially in urban areas – are frightened. Unsure of themselves, behind in their learning, lacking hope in their future.

And many schools are being overwhelmed with the problems children bring, like children entering kindergarten or first grade who don’t even know their last names, who have little or no vocabulary...or children whose disruptive behavior interrupts learning every day, and there is no relief—for them, for the teacher, or for the other kids.

More than ever, schools are being asked to do the entire job of socialization of "character-building," of inculcating "good values"... and still do a lot better at providing an increasingly higher level of education.

Well, schools can and must do a lot more. But they can’t do it all—and they can’t do it alone.

Which is why a big part of our unfinished agenda is the fight for a level playing field for all children, in and out of school.

And at the same time, not to let that fight get in the way of our efforts on school improvement, for what works, for standards and for accountability—not just from teachers and students, but from lawmakers and parents.

My dear colleagues, whether you are a preK-12 teacher or para or higher ed faculty or health professional or public service member of AFT, I know, from spending time and talking to so many of you, that you are in the AFT because you share our mission and our agenda: for a just and equitable society; for public institutions that are democratic and that serve, equally well, both the poor and the middle class, who also deserve better. And especially for quality public schools that are the bedrock of a society that holds so much promise for its citizens. You are believers.

As the color and complexion of the U.S. citizenry changes rapidly; as the unfettered market economy pushes the middle class downward, what we do for other people’s children in our care becomes ever more important.

And for this great union, the AFT, the mix of fighting for our members’ economic well-being and also for what they need to do their jobs well, for those they serve, this heady potion of enlightened self-interest becomes a powerful thrust toward a better America.

I am very, very proud of having been a part of this great organization. I know that there will be a continuation of leadership that values all we have stood for since our founding and through our many trials and tribulations.

We have a culture of service, a culture of organizing, a culture of caring and of civility. Now more than 1.3 million strong, thanks to the marvelous work of Phil Kugler and our staff, as well as the affiliate leaders who have stepped up to the plate and devoted local and state resources to union growth.

AFT staff and leaders at every level and in every division are working together in unprecedented ways, and I am very proud of that.

I look forward to a future in which the AFT has been a leader in overturning a national administration that talks about accountability but is careless about the consequences of its actions, that has failed mightily when it comes to aftermaths--whether in Iraq or the implementation of NCLB, or a voucher program they pushed through for Washington, D.C., and then couldn’t even fill the slots they had allocated.

Yes, AFT will be a leader in overturning an administration that sees no value in public institutions, that doesn’t get the connection between public schools and democracy—despite the rote-like rhetoric we so often hear—that seems to suggest children will pull themselves up by their own bootstraps, like cowboys.

AFT will get in the way of all that. Our members and leaders will be organized, and in November, we will elect a new president and have the opportunity to get our country back on track.

We can settle for no less. We cannot let another 50 years go by; we cannot wait for the 100th anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education. Our children need us to remain diligent and militant in our fight on their behalf.

I want to especially thank Ed McElroy and Nat LaCour, who have been wonderful partners in leadership and good friends. And thank you for your wonderful support and for allowing me to serve both you and the children of America for so many years.

Mon May 26, 2008 at 2:21 AMBy: HERE IS THE PROOF! Does "The Coalition" Stand A Chance? Stewart Lies!

To reiterate...
• No contracts beyond the term of the President
Remarks by President Marilyn Stewart to the House of Delegates May 2008

CTU Field Representative contract goes until 2011.
CTU Office Staff Agreement 07-11

Her IFT contract ends December 2010.
MS IFT Contract

Anyone who then supports her by saying she is ok is collusion with her corruptive practices.


Be very careful now when posting. It is against fed law to actively and knowingly cover up union corruption and fraud.

it is ok to have opinions or even report sides of stories but to cover up fraud or change the truth is another story.

you did see that article about the DoJ posting false info on wiki and now some people are getting locked up?

well here is the link to refresh your memory so you understand what it is to support individuals in an organization that is engaging in corruptive behavior.

DoJ workers among government vandals

Mon May 26, 2008 at 2:31 AMBy: slow down ......................................................................................... relax and enjoy the nice picture

Mon May 26, 2008 at 2:49 AMBy: STRIKE BREAKER IS A TRAITOR Does "The Coalition" Stand A Chance? After God had finished the rattlesnake, the toad and the vampire, he had some awful stuff left with which he made a SCAB.

A SCAB is a two-legged animal with a corkscrew soul, a waterlogged brain, and a combination backbone made of jelly and glue. Where others have hearts he carries a tumor of rotten principles.

When a SCAB comes down the street men turn their backs and angels weep in heaven, and the devil shuts the gates of hell to keep hime out. No man has a right to SCAB as there is a pool of water deep enough to drown his body in, or a rope long enough to hang his carcass with. Judas Iscariot was a gentleman compared to a SCAB. For betraying his master he had the character to hang himself. A SCAB hasn't.

Esau sold his birthright for a mess of pottage. Judas Iscariot sold his Savior for thirty pieces of silver. Benedict Arnold sold his country for a promise of a commission in the British Army. The modern strike breaker sells his birthright, his country, his wife, his children and his fellow-men for an unfulfilled promise from his employer, trust or corporation.

Esau was a traitor to himself, Judas Iscariot was a traitor to his Lord, Benedict Arnold was a traitor to his country.

A STRIKE BREAKER IS A TRAITOR
TO HIS GOD, HIS COUNTRY, HIS FAMILY
AND THE WORKING CLASS

STRIKE BREAKER IS A TRAITOR

Mon May 26, 2008 at 4:02 AMBy: witness Does "The Coalition" Stand A Chance? witness willing to testify in union trial.

you keep talking in terms of court. the union is not a court is a democratic body that supports labor unity.

scabbing violates the foundations of a union.

it is the scab that needs to prove she did not.

You brain and logic are twisted.

just like Stewart lying she will not have any contracts past her term. and we know that that is a lie now. and she =knew she had those contracts signed before the last house meeting.

Premeditated lie.

She like her scab buddy are scum and need to be thrown out of the union. what is even more disturbing is that there are most likely teachers out there that are supporting these lies.

what kind of example do you set for your students?
signed affidavit means nothing

Supporting deception and corruption.

You are probably one of those union members who say it is alright to fire some teachers once in a while. like in that Freshstart scam.

Mon May 26, 2008 at 6:59 AMBy: 1.04 Does "The Coalition" Stand A Chance? 1987

The picket line for me was the entire circumference of the Harlan High school campus and adjacent park. All the scabs snuck in via the School parking lot. I personally only
saw scabs for a moment as they came and went.
If the accused was there spotting her would have been just a lucky coincidence

Mon May 26, 2008 at 9:05 AMBy: Did she even realize it? Does "The Coalition" Stand A Chance? I bet when MS hired a strikebreaker, she had no idea of the ramifications when the membership found out.

Mon May 26, 2008 at 11:00 AMBy: Confused Does "The Coalition" Stand A Chance? I see the subject of a SCAB working for the CTU on both threads. In addition, someone on this blog is bringing up race. What does race have to do with this? If you are a SCAB, then you are the worst enemy to the UNION. You can't get any lower than that. Why would someone throw race into this discussion? Is that person implying that it is okay to be a SCAB depending on your race? Don't confuse the issue or try to make it worse than it is.
No one else here is bringing race up. Get real and stick to the topic discussed.

Is there a SCAB working for our UNION?

Mon May 26, 2008 at 3:44 PMBy: cut the trash talk until you can prove it Does "The Coalition" Stand A Chance? the way you guys are trash talking that woman it does sound like a court. you have tried, convicted and sentenced her to a life in pergatory for something you think she might have done.

None of you has that great a recollection of what happened 20 years ago. none of us even look the same. think of how you have to ask people their names at your 2o year reunion.

in your effort to undermine the current president you will attack anyone with any connection. that is cheap.

Mon May 26, 2008 at 4:16 PMBy: to: answer: Does "The Coalition" Stand A Chance? to: cut the trash talk until you prove it.
answer: freedom of speech

to: once a scab always a scab.
answer: find solid proof. paycheck from board/board records in 1987 in her name during the strike or signed affidavit from eyewitness(s). either one will convince most.

Mon May 26, 2008 at 5:03 PMBy: Janet Scab Facts FACT:
The fact of the matter is not how guilty the lobbyist is (whatever her race is). What is the most important issue is the fact that the president of the CTU used extremely bad judgment in hiring a person who crossed the picket line. She most certainly knew about it because she was the delegate at Kinzie at the time. It was well known that yhis person was a scab because she was seen crossing by teachers at both Kinzie and Kennedy High School.

Mon May 26, 2008 at 6:03 PMBy: nothing Does "The Coalition" Stand A Chance? just her resignation.

Mon May 26, 2008 at 6:47 PMBy: Local 1 member Does "The Coalition" Stand A Chance? As a delegate, I receive an annual printout listing all the members of my school. There are two teachers who are listed with SB next to their names. They walked the picket line in 1987.
Can't someone get a hold of the printout from Kinzie? If she crossed the picket line, she is a scab. Even if she did repay the amount she earned to be able to rejoin the union, she is still a scab. She has absolutely no business working for an organization she obviously doesn't have allegiance to.

Mon May 26, 2008 at 7:42 PMBy: freedom of speech Does "The Coalition" Stand A Chance? freedom of speech does not protect against libel/slander

those same amendments, number 6th, states that she does not have to produce anything to you witch hunters. it is called innocent until proven guilty.

no one has produced anything but a bunch of hear say.

the witch hunt continues

Mon May 26, 2008 at 9:59 PMBy: exactly Does "The Coalition" Stand A Chance? this is not judge judy.

she is guilty as charged.

there are witnesses, she has admitted it to the upc exec council.

the paper work has been moved and destroyed.

case closed.

Guilty!

Tue May 27, 2008 at 2:14 AMBy: George N. Schmidt Does "The Coalition" Stand A Chance? "...The union would have her listed in their system as an SB which means strikebreaker. This is why Marilyn did not even carry her own school..." (Earlier).

We stand by our story. Over the years, I've vetted stories that were controversial, some of which resulted in the threat of lawsuits.

We were the first people who reported that James Moffat had been raping kids while principal of a north side high school.

We first reported the "hoax" of Marva Collins's claims about her supposed superschool.

We reported, year after year, how the "restriction calculation" (the reserve requirement, as it was called in those days) allowed the School Finance Authority to manipulate CPS "deficit" claims.

Now and then, people make mistakes, and correct them. But when a reporter brings me a story that's been checked out and on which he has even gone the extra step and called the subject of the story for a comment (like I had to do with Moffat and Marva), that story stands.

As editors, we proudly stand behind our reporters.

That story is the truth.

The only additional stories I intend to publish are about the cover up and the growing protests. One of the amazing things about this particular story is that the facts have been known to some people at CTU for the past two or three years, but it took Substance to vet the story and publish it.

The only question I have at this point in history is how broad and deep the story of the cover up goes. Who was involved in "losing" certain key union records and covering up a major fact of the history of the Chicago Teachers Union.

As this thread has been noting, there is much more to this story than just some trivial pursuit nonsense about "proof" in the sense of something like a written memo.

Sorry, proof in court is someone willing to go through cross examination (which I just finished two weeks ago, by the way, in a Chicago courtroom in my now completed litigation against CTU). Any document can be Photoshopped at this point in history.

So the questions have to be asked one human being to another, and they were. Once the facts are established, the story can be told, and additional questions asked.

That's where we are now. The salient fact is that the President of the Chicago Teachers Union, while passing over thousands of union members who never crossed a picket line, chose to hire, in one of the highest profile (and highest paid) jobs in the union a personal friend who had crossed the picket line during a union strike. Not only that, though. The picket line crossed was the one supposedly being manned by the person who became CTU President.

Sorry. No mater what happens between now and mid-July (when AFT has finally left Chicago), these questions will be burning in their intensity.

End note: Thanks to whomever posted Sandy Feldman's speech to AFT from ten years ago. It's a reminder that who we are, in all its aspects, grows out of who we've been becoming. I disagreed with Sandy on many things (some of which are outlined in that speech). But on the broadest questions -- civil rights; public education; unions -- we were in agreement.

I can't believe that there is one serious union member or leader form New York, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Cleveland, Detroit, Baltimore, Newark, Gary, Washington, D.C. (Bill Simon, not some of his successors) or the higher education locals who would tolerate some of the silly things that have been said in defense of scabs and scabbing here on this thread on this blog. But in less than two months, we'll have the chance to ask them, and I look forward to being one of the people doing the asking.

Tue May 27, 2008 at 6:33 AMBy: Kugler - Now the Lights will Turn On Does "The Coalition" Stand A Chance? Thanks George as you put it is a mute point about the scab.

Now come the task of uncovering the treachery that has been wrought on the rank and file members of the Chicago Teachers Union.

destruction of documents, manipulation of records, conflict of interest, intimidation, retaliation, conspiracy, and a whole host of other activities that have almost destroyed the great Local 1.

Not even the shredders will save those who have conspired against the union.

I think the feeding at the trough is just about over.

Solidarity Forever

Tue May 27, 2008 at 9:07 PMBy: Charges?????? Does "The Coalition" Stand A Chance? ???

Wed May 28, 2008 at 2:08 AMBy: Something constructive Does "The Coalition" Stand A Chance? Petition for Elected School Board:
www.pureparents.org

Parents United for Responsible Education
100 S. Morgan Street Chicago, IL 60607-2619 Tel. 312/491-9101 Fax: 312/491-9404
pure@pureparents.org

Steps for passing advisory referendum petition
1. We need at least 40,356 signatures.
2. All petitions must be filed no later than August 18 if we are to have the question on the
November 2008 citywide ballot.
< It would be better to file even sooner, since there is a limit of 3 questions per ballot,
selected on a first come-first served basis.
3. All petition signers must be registered voters in Chicago.
< A signer must sign (not print) his or her name and write in his or her address.
< At the time of signing, the signer must be registered to vote at that address.
4. All petition circulators must be over the age of 18 and citizens of the U.S.
< The circulator must sign each sheet stating that, to the best of his or her knowledge, the
persons who signed that sheet were registered voters in Chicago, and stated their correct
residence.
< The circulator must sign each page before a notary, and the notary must sign and seal
each page. You may use your own notary, which may cost a fee, or come to PURE on days
when we have a notary scheduled to sign petitions (see below).
5. The petitions must be collected, numbered consecutively, and bundled together for delivery to
the Board of Elections. DO NOT NUMBER THE PETITIONS YOURSELF! Deliver your
petitions to a partner organization (names will be listed soon) of your choice or deliver them to
PURE (see below).
• PURE will schedule dates with a notary who will sign your petitions at no cost.
• Petitions may be mailed or delivered to PURE at 100 S. Morgan Street, Chicago, IL,
60607.
• For more information about advisory referenda, please see
http://www.chicagoelections.com/dm/general/document_50.pdf
• Questions? Call PURE at 312-491-9101.

Wed May 28, 2008 at 3:23 AMBy: george, just do something constructive Does "The Coalition" Stand A Chance? just do something constructive instead of always beating up on people. print the info in substance and encourage people to do it.

just do it.

Wed May 28, 2008 at 6:34 AMBy: Offenses and Penalties, Marilyn Stewart, CTU President Does "The Coalition" Stand A Chance? Stewart Disrepute Charges with evidence

May 27, 2008

Mary McGuire
Recording Secretary
Chicago Teachers Union

RE: Article XIV Offenses and Penalties, Marilyn Stewart, CTU President

Dear Ms. McGuire,

The Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) members do hereby formally charge that Marilyn Stewart, CTU President, has, per Article XIV, Section 1, of the Chicago Teachers Union
Constitution and By-Laws brought the Chicago Teachers Union into disrepute and is the cause of definite harm to union labor.

The Chicago Teachers Union members charge Marilyn Stewart, CTU President, with the following offenses:


1. That from July 1, 2004 through December 30, 2007, Marilyn Stewart knowingly violated Article VII of the Constitution and By-Laws of the Chicago Teachers Union by mismanaging the CTU Executive Committee. Her mismanagement of this committee has resulted in a substantial financial deficit for the Chicago Teachers Union and a negative financial net worth and other financial liabilities. These liabilities include being in arrears in per caps, dues, to the Illinois Federation of Teachers (IFT) and the American Federation of Teachers (AFT). She has accumulated new debt of approximately $2 million, in order to pay off previous arrears in per caps. She maintains this debt by paying only on the interest and refusing to pay on the principle.


2. That from July 1, 2004 through June 30, 2007 Marilyn Stewart knowingly violated Article VI, Section Ia of the CTU Constitution and By-laws by mismanaging and manipulating the Board of Trustees. Her manipulation of this Board has resulted in a substantial financial deficit for the CTU and the raising of dues without the House of Delegates approval.


3. That on July 1, 2007 Marilyn Stewart knowingly violated Article IX Sec 4 of the CTU Constitution and By-Laws entered into a multi-year contract with the Professional Field Staff Employees Union (Exhibit A) without the authorization of the House of Delegates.

Article IX
Sec. 4: The House of Delegates shall authorize the employment of Administrative Assistants, Directors, Field Representatives, office employees, and other personnel as deemed appropriate by the major officers for the Union, and accept a contract on behalf of the Union with said Administrative Assistants, Directors, Field Representatives, office employees, and other personnel. Such contracts shall be signed by the President of the Union and by the Recording Secretary, but no such contract shall be valid unless confirmed by the House of Delegates through its approval of expenditures in the Union’s annual budget. In the case of multi-year contracts, the House of Delegates shall authorize the officer to enter into said contracts, which shall be binding on the Union.


4. That on August 31, 2007 Marilyn Stewart, in collaboration with the Parliamentarian for the CTU House of Delegates, knowingly reported an erroneous vote of the House of Delegates. This inaccurate vote was reported on the 2007-2013 contract tentative agreement and purported that the majority of delegates in the House had approved the tentative contract. Ms. Stewart would not permit a vote to be taken against the tentative agreement in violation of Roberts Rules of Order, Revised 10th Edition, as described in Chapter 2, The Conduct of Business in a Deliberative Assembly (pp. 19-55) and Chapter 13. Voting (pp. 387-415).


5. That on December 26, 2007 Marilyn Stewart collaborated with Arne Duncan, CEO of the Chicago Public Schools, by writing the attached letter (Exhibit B) which confiscated all duties performed by the current CTU Vice-President, Theodore Dallas, and which is signed, “In Solidarity.” Thus compromising the integrity of the union by sharing with the Board of Education internal Union matters.


6. That on February 1,2008, Marilyn Stewart knowingly violated the Article VI, Section le of the Constitution and By-Laws of the Chicago Teachers Union, Duties of the Treasurer, which delineates the duties of Linda Milton-Porter, CTU Treasurer. The attached memorandum (Exhibit C), written by Ms. Stewart, violates this section by stripping the CTU Treasurer of the fiduciary responsibilities for which she was elected. Thus taking away any and all oversight of union financial matters from the constitutionally elected officer.

Article VI, Section le
Treasurer - Subject to the direction of the Union, the Treasurer shall have sole charge of all monies in its possession. He/she shall pay all authorized bills against the Union. If a bill is paid by check, it must bear the signatures of two of the following persons: President, Treasure, and bonded, insured office employee assigned to the duty under the Treasurer's direction. In the case of inability of both the President and the Treasurer, another major officer may sign checks.


7. That on February 1, 2008, Marilyn Stewart knowingly violated Article VI of the Constitution and By-Laws of the Chicago Teachers Union by writing the attached memorandum (Exhibit D) which issues a directive to the CTU Officers that bars school meetings. This directive strips the Chicago Teachers Union members of their right to access all of their elected officers.


8. That on May 7, 2008 Marilyn Stewart knowingly made false statements to the House of Delegates (Exhibit E) by stating she would not enter into any contracts past her term in office. Whereas Marilyn Stewart has knowingly signed a contract with CTU Field Representatives (Exhibit A) that goes until 2011 and has signed a contract for herself with the IFT (Exhibit F) ending December 2010.

To reiterate...
• No contracts beyond the term of the President
Remarks by President Marilyn Stewart to the House of Delegates May 2008


9. That on May 7, 2008 Marilyn Stewart violated the Chicago Teachers Union Constitution Article VIII Sec 2 in presenting to the House of Delegates the 2007-2008 CTU budget by not preparing the 2007-2008 CTU budget through the Budget Committee as proscribed in the constitution.

Article VIII, Sec. 2
Budget Committee —The Board of Trustees; the President, the Vice President, the Recording Secretary, the Financial Secretary and the Treasurer, shall comprise the Budget Committee which shall prepare the annual budget in accordance with acceptable accounting procedures and with the assistance of the Unions certified public accountants. The chairperson of the Board of Trustees shall be the chairperson of the Budget Committee.


10. Marilyn Stewart, President of the Chicago Teachers Union, knowingly and willingly hired Traci Cobb-Evans (Exhibit G) a strikebreaker for a more than $100,000 per year for union work over the thousands of current and retired CTU members who built this union through strikes and hard work. This is a disgrace to the union. This one reason alone is enough to remove Marilyn Stewart from the Union.


In so doing Marilyn Stewart has over stepped her authority as officer of the union in direct violation of the Constitution and By-Laws of the Union and has caused union labor definite harm by disregarding the procedures set forth in the Constitution of the union. Marilyn Stewart has acted in seditious manner that violates the trust of the rank and file members of the Chicago Teachers Union.

Very Disappointed,

Dr. John Kugler
Union Delegate
Hyde Park Career Academy


Chris Rudzinski
Union Delegate
Orr Campus, AASTA H.S.

Wed May 28, 2008 at 9:15 AMBy: Old Time Striker More on Scab Facts FACT:

It's possible for a member to not be listed SB, but still have scabbed during a strike. The member may not have been reported to the CTU. It's usually the delegate who does the reporting. Since Stewart and the scab were close friends, the scab was not reported as such. What kind of delegate was this? This does not preclude the fact that the person in question is a scab and Stewart used poor judgment in hiring her. One of the witnesses signed an affadavit and I'm sure there are more who would do so.

Wed May 28, 2008 at 12:31 PMBy: Karen Lewis Does "The Coalition" Stand A Chance? Are we surprised by any of this? We have a lot of work to do. Brothers and Sisters, the first step is to vote NO on a budget that encumbers us beyond this administration's term.

The second is to get our membership up in arms about the dysfuntion that passes for an administration at Merchandise Mart. Our younger members need to feel this Union is worth fighting for.

Thirdly, the paid staffers (full & part-time) need to stop wasting valuable mike time at the House of Delegates meetings - It is not the House of Hacks meetings. Speak against this budget!!!

Wed May 28, 2008 at 11:47 PMBy: Chris Does "The Coalition" Stand A Chance? I am afraid that Union Officers are trying to committ suicide.Jumping on each other during such difficult times...
Not serving members who need immediate attention...
Too bad. It is an irony that CPS officers show more professionalism
than our Union elected people.Members writing grievances on their own.Kugler was able to save peoples jobs by dealing directly with Labor Relations.We hate Board but first we should realize that ineffective,fake actions will definitely hurt the prestige and respect of our officers.
Do we really need them?Wake up People we elected you not do do the destructive job but serve members.

Wed May 28, 2008 at 11:59 PMBy: Hello Chris Remember NO TO THE BUDGET Does "The Coalition" Stand A Chance? Remember VOTE NO TO THE ILLEGAL BUDGET

Thu May 29, 2008 at 12:49 AMBy: Forest is shrinking Does "The Coalition" Stand A Chance? <b>Maybe not you, or those teachers at Orr, Harper etc. and all the other schools closed since 2001 but there is still a lot of good work going on. It is a shame that some are caught up and can't see the forest for the trees.</b>

Well, we are lucky--thanks to Stewart's crew, it will be easy to see the whole forest, as it seems to be shrinking quickly.

I hear the Crew of the Titanic did some great work putting together their entertainment menu. Why do they get such a bad rap?

Thu May 29, 2008 at 2:59 AMBy: dallas and porter Does "The Coalition" Stand A Chance? where was porter during all this? she should have a "charge" against her because she was the treasurer. oh yeah, she is dallas' sidekick. he will protect her for a minute. coalition can have dallas and porter.

Thu May 29, 2008 at 3:56 AMBy: George N. Schmidt Does "The Coalition" Stand A Chance? "...Marilyn is a member of the American Federation of Teachers' (AFT) Executive Board, representing pre-kindergarten to 12th grade, and she represents AFT as an international liaison to South Africa and Israel. She also serves as vice president of the Chicago Federation of Labor and she represents labor on the Board of the Amalgamated Bank of Chicago..." (N'Digo, puffery, yesterday).

1. What does "international liaison to South Africa and Israel" do, and for how many dollars?

2. Does that seat on the Board of Amalgamated Bank still pay more than $25,000 per year, plus expenses? How much of a break did Amalgamated give CTU when those million dollar loans were made? Isn't it illegal to have a business relationship with a bank on whose Board you sit, Marilyn?

I'm talking here about illegal under some very strict federal laws, not some look-the-other-way-with-a-wink AFT and IFT procedures.

Fri May 30, 2008 at 12:04 PMBy: your question was answered Does "The Coalition" Stand A Chance? Well Alex,

Your question was answered. No.

Fri May 30, 2008 at 2:19 PMBy: Your question..kiss your goat Does "The Coalition" Stand A Chance? Get lost.

Fri May 30, 2008 at 3:44 PMBy: testimony Does "The Coalition" Stand A Chance? last night nine teachers testified that the union has not represented these members. All field reps responsible have been taken note of.

Fri May 30, 2008 at 7:48 PMBy: IhateTheUPCnowAlso Does "The Coalition" Stand A Chance? Didn't before.......this is not the same UPC.

Fri May 30, 2008 at 8:02 PMBy: Listen Lois: the answer Does "The Coalition" Stand A Chance? Dear Lois, Dallas was not in on the August sellout. It hit him by surprise. That was the final straw in his decision to stop supporting Marilyn. He did not know she was going to ram the contract down everyones throat. He did not know she was going to purposely screw up the vote. The last thing you want to do at a house meeting is speak against a fellow officer. I bet shortly after he wished he did, but the average person can't think on their feet that fast. The next president of this union needs to be extraordinary or the union will fall.

Fri May 30, 2008 at 8:34 PMBy: Dallas Cheerleader/Coalition member Does "The Coalition" Stand A Chance? The Executive Board now known as the Trial Board were all choosen by the UPC Caucus. While Lynch was in office, the UPC caucus had a dozen active members. These board members are someway linked to the CTU leadership and their allies.

Democratically elected means when you voted in this last NO BRAINER election for Stewart and Dallas, you automatically voted all these board members in.

This whole trial is a premeditated scam by the staffers to get rid of the person who was making them accountable for their actions. Did Dallas yell at them to perform, yes. Did Dallas discipline them for ghost payrolling, yes. Did Dallas take them to dinner, yes. Was Dallas responsible for putting them in high paying jobs, yes! Did all these people manipulate Stewart to remove Dallas, yes. Was Ostenberg the key behind the Dallas removal, yes.

Does all this mean Stewart will be elected to a third term. NO.

Fri May 30, 2008 at 8:52 PMBy: hey scum scab lovers Does "The Coalition" Stand A Chance? scum traitor executive council and traitor officers. that support termination and scab.how many members of your caucus are from closing schools or terminated teachers.answer.none.you loose. scum bag

Fri May 30, 2008 at 9:09 PMBy: because Does "The Coalition" Stand A Chance? Because they were told to do so

Fri May 30, 2008 at 9:56 PMBy: Not so quickly Does "The Coalition" Stand A Chance? It is evident that Union(We)will have to face additional legal battle and costs associated.
Only 2 years left.After that Marilyn will be sued for the costs of all legal procedures initiated.
We remember who is on the Board and how fraudulent their votes are.

Tue Jun 3, 2008 at 9:41 AMBy: Can not be removed legally Does "The Coalition" Stand A Chance? There is a court case regarding similiar situation.
By removing Ted the Union will increase their financial liabilities.
Do not be stupid VOTE NO TO BUDGET

Wed Jun 4, 2008 at 9:32 PMBy: Really? Does "The Coalition" Stand A Chance? Union staff is corporate and they work more hours than a teacher. It still only comes to $50 an hour.

Not any of the teachers I know. I would be happy to compare my schedule with any of the CTU officers, as long as they would be willing to switch salaries with me if they lose.

Wed Jun 4, 2008 at 9:44 PMBy: Ed Does "The Coalition" Stand A Chance? I'm still in shock that this budget passed. I was sitting in the balcony with a bird's eye view and when they divided the house the north side (160ish)O was shy of the resouinding NO south side.(190ish), and her bullies in the balcony don't speak well of her either. Now, union members can't even be spectators at their union meeting?
Perhaps all of this inability to count correctly is what has gotten us into such debt in the first place??? We really need the coalition to work because the MS steam roller keeps on rolling and I for one don't know how long we can aford it!

Wed Jun 4, 2008 at 9:56 PMBy: birds eyes me too Does "The Coalition" Stand A Chance? I was there also and saw many people without badges or with non voting badges lined up to vote AGAINST passing the budget. Perhaps they were just following orders, didn't know they were not eligible to vote --or-- perhaps they were trying to "put one over".

Wed Jun 4, 2008 at 10:53 PMBy: one more time Does "The Coalition" Stand A Chance? tsk, tsk, all that anger does not change the out come of that vote does it? no matter how many times the same post is copied. have a great summer. :-)

all that anger is not conducive to your efforts to build a coalition; ask the coalition.

Thu Jun 5, 2008 at 12:56 AMBy: what is done in the dark.... Does "The Coalition" Stand A Chance? Soon and very soon the truth shall be told with iron clad proof regarding members of that coalition group. yeah, they should celebrate what they perceive as a victory today because in a very few minutes the darkness will part and the light will shine....

and the rank and file will be really angry with the coalition....

Thu Jun 5, 2008 at 6:49 AMBy: 1.04 Does "The Coalition" Stand A Chance? Take me back to Chicago



Tick, tick, tick, tick, i hope the president is reading this, since each tick represents
time passing. I am sure she does not yet realize the revolt has begun but with every
tick of the clock we get stronger she gets weaker.

Remember 40 years ago this summer what we did to the scumbag democratic
party on the streets led directly to our first real strike in 1969.We only wounded the beast
but our barbs were enough bring on a contract. Keep it up proper application of pressure
this summer will get the attention of those who need the status- que in tact for the
elimination of all public sector unions and the pet project of 2016.

To my brothers and sisters last night ---well done, you fought to a draw in their
Dojo.I now believe your own river crossing is ahead.

Thu Jun 5, 2008 at 7:42 AMBy: Bridgeport Teacher Does "The Coalition" Stand A Chance? The recorded "official" vote was 175-170 in favor of the budget. Of course there was no roll call vote, that would have made things too clear and incontrovertible.

Fri Oct 10, 2008 at 5:34 AMBy: David Johnston Does "The Coalition" Stand A Chance? It’s always great to see shows being produced in an effort to bring underrepresented cultures or things into the limelight; as long as it constitutes a fair and balanced portrayal of the subject matter at hand. October 5, 2008, the CW Network premiered a new drama from the creators of The Sopranos. The new show, called Easy Money, is said to be about a family who owns and operates a “high-interest loan” business called Prestige Payday Loans. However, by taking one look at the trailers for the new drama, as well as a few of the episode synopsis, my biggest fear is that the premise for the show is based solely on vicious media stereotypes. With this in mind, think of the last time that you viewed a news story either online or on television news talking about the payday loan industry. Chances are the story you saw or read wove tales of “real” persons’ woes fueled by their getting bogged down in an “endless cycle of debt.” Worst of all, according to such “articles,” it all started when they needed to borrow money to fix their car or pick up the tab on another unexpected bill. Such stories are further proof that, for the sake of winning the ratings wars, news networks will latch on to and report only the juiciest, most scandalous aspects of any big story and completely ignore everything else. It seems as if the CW network is following suit in an effort to recover viewers lost during the Writer’s Strike. One, for instance, opens with the tag line, “for this family of loan sharks, money is easy.” Surely, it’ll be interesting to see whether or not the CW or the show’s creators learned what the industry is really about. Chances are, probably not.

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