Thu Jun 5, 2008 at 4:02 PMBy: Bridgeport Teacher Flyer Supports UPC Faction Of CTU Yeah..I picked that up at the meeting last night. Nothing like the pot calling the kettle black.

Everyone points the finger, everyone says it is someone else, luckily the only people who pay the price are me and my fellow teachers.

How about taking some of that Kinko's money and using it to hire sergeant-at-arms who can count, presidents who can tell that there 7 or 8 million dollars in missing money, or at least flunkees who can remember to cross out questions once they've been asked!

Thu Jun 5, 2008 at 8:05 PMBy: Current Student Flyer Supports UPC Faction Of CTU If you don't happen to know my former school willim h. wells has had many problems and not due to ted dallas. but by Marilyn Stuart, Nichol jackson( the administrator) . Ted dallashas been on the side of all cps teachers. when teachers had problems they would call dallas for help not marylin. so think abouyt that before you decide who to vote for.

Thu Jun 5, 2008 at 8:47 PMBy: Bridgeport Teacher Flyer Supports UPC Faction Of CTU I think my favorite part of this idiotic flyer is the following:

they list "Official CTU Record" as a source for their accusations and information.

The very same "record" we aren't allowed to see, that they aren't obligated to show us copies of because they're a "private" company; the very same "record" that is a record at all--no paper trail on votes, no more copies of the our union administrators contracts exist (Valdemort destroyed them), no full budget was provided to the delegates.

The UPC is full of dung, and I'm just tired of it.

Thu Jun 5, 2008 at 11:00 PMBy: Bridgeport Teacher Flyer Supports UPC Faction Of CTU I don't know if I can run the union, but I'd be happy to balance the budget, I'll do it part time FOR FREE...and I can promise you I'll do a better job than the current group of stooges. I'll use a pen, paper, excel and my brain...oh yeah and that old chestnut "Don't spend money you don't have."

Thu Jun 5, 2008 at 11:31 PMBy: the truth whether you want to admit it or not Flyer Supports UPC Faction Of CTU Both caucuses were doing the counting. If it had been inaccurate you would have heard from the anti upc group immediately. The reason that group looked larger is because many non-voting delegates lined up with them. Some clearly had non-voting badges and others had no badges. Only eligible voters were counted.

You can make up stories to rile up others reading the board, but the above is the truth. I am a non voting delegate and I went to the back as ordered. I observed what was going on.

Fri Jun 6, 2008 at 12:03 AMBy: the truth whether you want to admit it or not Flyer Supports UPC Faction Of CTU Lois. I saw you. You were removed because you were behaving antagonistically. However, I saw several others from your group silently counting (and being allowed to do so) on both sides of the room.

Fri Jun 6, 2008 at 1:06 AMBy: Bridgeport Teacher is... Flyer Supports UPC Faction Of CTU Jim Macchione
Healy School

I've decided to divulge my identity at this late hour, because I'm planning on becoming more and more active in the Union, and now that I know what I'm up against, I think it's time I come out of the closet (so to speak).

Anyone wanting to discuss union stuff I can be reached at...

angryatctu@yahoo.com

Fri Jun 6, 2008 at 1:45 AMBy: Jim, 7th Grade teacher at Healy aka Bridgeport Teacher Flyer Supports UPC Faction Of CTU Jim, formerly known as "Bridgeport Teacher",

Now that you have outed yourself and expressed a desire to become more active in Union activities I would hope you would maintain a professional, clean, non-threatening, non-vulgar demeanor. Condescending, name calling, and judgmental posts are not conducive to coalition building. Please learn from the mistakes of Chris, aka "Unionist" who began his recent organizing attempts with very angry nasty comments on this blog. Consequently, many people were in agreement with his position but turned off by his demeanor.

Remember, parents, students, cps employees and administrators read this blog.


By: Bridgeport Teacher

CTU Finally Releases Lists Of Delegates
Seriously, people...start e-mailing me at angryatctu@yahoo.com and we really can get together a group of people who read the contract, read the budgets, who can put together cogent arguments. You'd be surprised what we can unearth with a few im chats.

__________________________________________________________
Wed Jun 4, 2008 at 9:45 PMBy: Bridgeport Teacher CTU Finally Releases Lists Of Delegates The way it is-
The least you can do is edit your post from one entry to the next so it makes some damned sense. You are answering a question from another blog entry "Does the Coalition Stand a Chance" and you simply cut and paste it here.

The least you can do is not be so intellectually lazy that you can't even change your original post so it fits this entry. This is the very half-assed laziness that has caused the Union to be millions in debt. No one is willing to check anything, bring in any original ideas...it is sickening and sad. For the love of Pete, at least edit out the last line...it makes the rest of your post look idiotic.

Fri Jun 6, 2008 at 7:38 AMBy: Jim Macchione Flyer Supports UPC Faction Of CTU I am not threatening in any way...it's not my style. But I will call out liars; if someone does something idiotic or pointless, I will discuss it and say it was idiotic or pointless; if I feel like saying a word like crap or ass, I will (and anyone who finds either of those two words vulgar had best just stay off the internet completely).

I am not in front of children on this blog, I am not addressing parents at report card pick-up, I'm not putting together the yearbook, or organizing my 7th grade debate, or taking my 8th graders to Washington, or traipsing 9 of our 6th and 7th grade classes to Soldier Field next Tuesday---those are things where I am a teacher first, and a union member 2nd. Those are places where I edit my speech, where I am responsible for the lives and well-being of children and behave accordingly.

On this board, I am responsible for the lives and well-being of my fellow teachers, I am not under the same constraints. While I will never make personal attacks, if someone does something stupid, if someone shovels a pile of bs my way, if someone keeps people like me from asking legitimate questions at the union meeting by stalling--I will call them out.

I understand that everyone has their own agenda--EVERYONE, myself included. However my agenda doesn't include keeping any party in power, it doesn't include keeping anyone's union job...my union agenda is keeping my teachers in the best working situation possible --regardless of leadership or the union president or UPC or PACT or CORE or POOP....

The very first thing we ALL should motion for is to change the way we vote...ALL votes having to do with contracts, budget, money and personnel should be roll call votes or should be cast on paper. This should be everyone's first order of business no matter what caucus is in power. Legitimate, constitutionally mandated roll call voting...that alone would eliminate all of the oohing and ahing at meetings from either "side" of the debate, and it makes absolute sense.

Fri Jun 6, 2008 at 10:48 AMBy: This is what Democracy Looks Like Flyer Supports UPC Faction Of CTU Let's put the allegations of vote fraud aside for a moment.

The greater question is, why would someone vote for a budget that they didn't see? It's analogous to signing a mortgage that you didn't read and there are scores of Americans who are now seeing the consequences of taking that course of action. It is crucial for delegates to vote in a representative manner in the best interests of their respective constituencies. The budget should have been shared, taken to the schools, voted on in ad-hoc elections, (run by the delegates) and the vote should be taken to the house of delegates. That is what democracy looks like.

Does anyone like fact that their phone calls may be monitored? Is it comforting to know that the government can look up the fact you checked out a copy of a controversial book while in college? Is torture fun?

On September 11th, we witnessed a horrible tragedy that put the nation in a state of fear, looking for some solace. In panic, Congress was able to pass the Patriot Act with little debate (only Russ Feingold had the guts to say no). The Patriot Act was an extremely comprehensive policy package just waiting for an event to put it on the agenda. The Bush administration found one on that tragic day.

"Our" budget was no accident. The gears were rolling on this one for some time. Whomever is at the helm in 2010 will inherit the debt accrued, and will spend most of their time reconciling instead of working toward interests of members.

When the last issue of Union Teacher came out with the cover story of potential bankruptcy, we had an analogous focusing event. "Pass this budget, or it will be your fault."

Sounds a lot like, "Congressmen, pass the PATRIOT ACT, or the next act of terror will be YOUR fault."

I don't see Russ Feingold fearing for his seat. I don't see him with egg on his face. I did read accounts from Guatanomo Bay and I still have to go to the airport two hours in advance.

Smoke and mirrors only go so far.

Fri Jun 6, 2008 at 1:38 PMBy: Jim Macchione Flyer Supports UPC Faction Of CTU Hey, I just realized something (maybe I'm just slow) but the first three words of their flyer are Debbie Does Dallas....

Now that's comedy....

Sat Jun 7, 2008 at 7:24 AMBy: George N. Schmidt Flyer Supports UPC Faction Of CTU "Re:If [the vote count] had been inaccurate you would have heard from the anti upc group immediately.

"Besides being painfully weak logic, your statement is also inaccurate. Within the ten second period it took President Stewart to adjourn the meeting there were multiple requests made for a roll call vote, hardly unreasonable given the 5 vote differential among 345 total votes. Every person in opposition to the budget who tried to count our own side was told to stop or they would be removed. (At least one of them was a non-voting member.) The fact that others may have been permitted to count elsewhere does not eliminate the problems associated with preventing these people from counting..."

Agreed. And this can't be repeated more often.

For the past three years, Stewart's people have been flipping the count and otherwise ENRONing the votes when they don't go Marilyn's way. One of the most frightening things is that the dishonest counts are overseen by John Obrill, who is also president of the Pension Board of Trustees (a job he got thanks to the UPC).

What follows is rather lengthy, since we've been covering these cheatings and coverups for a couple of years now, but now it's possible to summarize things coherently. Also, more people are paying attention, finally, to the truth.

Marilyn Stewart didn't begin lying to the membership and flipping votes and overspending in the Spring of 2008, after she decided to invoke her (non-existent) CEO powers against Ted Dallas. This has been the routine since Day One, but since last August (when Daley's lawyers dictated that contract to her in private) it's been getting more and more obvious because we still have a little democracy in CTU.

Last Wednesday, six people were doing the count from various places. All agreed that the actual count was 194 - 168 against Marilyn. One of the people trying to count was removed (by Chicago Police!) for the crime of counting, but once the cops got him outside, naturally, they let him go, because nobody would sign a "disorderly conduct" complaint against him on behalf of CTU.

The first time we (Substance) caught and reported that Marilyn's people were flipping the count when it didn't go her way was after the June 2005 meeting. That was obscured by another example of Police State tactics by Marilyn Stewart and her group -- the arrest of Debbie Lynch at the June 2005 House meeting for "disorderly conduct." (Lynch was later released, as I reported, when nobody from the CTU leadership would sign the police complaint).

There have been around a half dozen time when Marilyn has had the count flipped when a voted didn't go her way, the most recent one last Wednesday night. The difference now is that more and more people are organized to report the facts, despite all of the Police State nonsense that Marilyn and her dwindling number of supporters have been pulling for years (not just the past six months).

The vote was 194 to 168 against the budget. Marilyn's side lost. John Obrill did a dishonest count, again.

And each of those facts poses an interesting challenge for the coming months. While the budget cheatings were not the biggest things that cost the membership the past year.

Tar and away, that prize goes to the two step that Marilyn employed to get the sellout contract "passed" in August and September.

Step one was the way Marilyn ignored the "No" vote at the Auguest 31 House meeting. With the support of her "parliamentarian" for that night (Jennifer Poltrock) Marilyn refused to take the "No" votes (which would have won, then raced downstairs to tell the TV cameras that the "Yes" votes had won). She held a press conference (where the press release had already been prepared by her publicist, Rosemaria Genova, announcing that the "Yes" vote had won. Although Marilyn had told the House of Delegates that the meeting had to be over by 8:00 p.m. -- not matter how many questions the delegates still had, which were many -- the fact was that nobody at Plumbers Hall said that. Marilyn scheduled the quick end to the meeting (remember that WE GOTTA GET OUT OF HERE BY EIGHT O'CLOCK stuff?) so that she could keep repeating the "vote" she had gotten in favor of the deal through the ten o'clock news time slot. (That was one of the reasons why they ran downstairs where Genova had assembled the press before the irate delegates began streaming out, chanting "No! No! No!").

Marilyn's media game plan went bad for two reasons.

First, enough delegates (well over 100, and I counted more than that) stayed behind to challenge the lies on the spot. By the time the loud chants of "No! No! No!" grew, they were drowning out Marilyn's attempt to repeat, over and over, the lies that were in her script for the press. At the time, I was covering the press conference and didn't realize she had not taken the "No" vote upstairs, but when the chanting grew, I just walked out to cover the story from where the delegates were, missing the rest of Marilyn's official lies. Marilyn's two "security" people (those anonymous off-duty cops she deputizes to terrorize the delegates when her Sergeants at Arms lose the stomach for the job) were trying to keep the door shut, but I basically pushed it open and a dozen people -- most of them with TV cameras -- followed. The story wasn't Marilyn's babble. It was the fact that the House had just rejected the proposed deal!

The second thing that upset Marilyn's script that night was the fact that the TV crews were all either (a) just the camera people or (b) second string reporters or (c) the Spanish language people -- who are much more present in Chicago TV nowadays. None of them had been bought and paid for (like, for example, Andy Shaw) by the Daley nonsense, so they just covered the story that was there, accurately, for the next hour.

Marilyn was able to regroup after the August 31 fiasco, and the next stuffing took place on the day of the referendum, September 10.

By September 10, Marilyn had her minions appoint delegates at dozens of schools to run an "referendum." At those schools, the teachers never got to vote, but a vote -- overwhelming in favor of the contract -- was reported. At some UPC schools, the delegate closed the voting three or four hours before the vote was supposed to end. So for every school that was turning in an honest count, there was another school (perhaps two) that were turning in the overwhelming count Marilyn's people demanded.

Are the school-by-school vote totals still on the CTU Website, or do they only exist now in the Substance Website?

Go back now, in light of the wisdom gained from this past year's Marilynization and ask how many of those schools that voted overwhelmingly in favor of this contract (a) actually voted and (b) really voted that way.

It's still possible to go over those numbers, just like people are now going over the numbers Marilyn's people cook the books to get every time she loses a vote in the House of Delegates.

Or every year (until now) when she was cooking the CTU financial books (or trying to blame Debbie Lynch) while she covertly drew down the union's reserve funds from more than $5 million to less than $0 -- all in fewer than three years.

Marilyn's numbers have the wonderful benefit of being ruthlessly consistent, just like Enron's.

Everything is wonderful. Just ask her. Until is all crashes on evervbody's heads.

Sat Jun 7, 2008 at 11:03 AMBy: Chris To:All Flyer Supports UPC Faction Of CTU Hello Colleaques -Current Teachers,PSRP's and Retired members.
Now you see that the Union is in stage of destruction.
Talk is cheap -WE need an action.
You are going to be eaten ,pensioners will have no secure pension payments.
It is OUR business to stop M.S.from breaking the law in front of our faces.Stay together and avoid the destruction.Do not let others to call you "AN IDIOT".WE NEED TO ACT.Or we will be GONE.

Sat Jun 7, 2008 at 12:00 PMBy: IhatetheUPC Flyer Supports UPC Faction Of CTU It is not a rumor.
The field staff contract with the CTU(they are represented by the Teamsters) says they get $925 (and more over the life of their multi-year contract)a month car allowance that is pensionable.
That should make everyone's blood boil.
Their contract is available online through Ted's group.

Sun Jun 8, 2008 at 7:14 PMBy: Ha ha ha budget passed Flyer Supports UPC Faction Of CTU Hahaha budget passed I told you do not be worry.

Sun Jun 8, 2008 at 9:25 PMBy: contract info contract info The
CTU Officer and Administrative contracts were destroyed by Ted Dallas (his direct comment to President Stewart) in "a fit of anger".
He really destroyed them because he had a separate deal with at least one of them who is no longer employed at CTU.

Sun Jun 8, 2008 at 10:01 PMBy: 1.04 Flyer Supports UPC Faction Of CTU Trouble in Paradise



I was just wondering where all the love for union officers
roundly condemned last year in the wake of the Debby Lynch
arrest is coming from.
How can we trust these people now? This a serious question
Can someone explain what besides circumstances have changed?

Mon Jun 9, 2008 at 1:58 AMBy: George N. Schmidt Flyer Supports UPC Faction Of CTU "...I was just wondering where all the love for union officers
roundly condemned last year in the wake of the Debby Lynch
arrest is coming from..." (Hahaha... yesterday night).

Like we wrote:

This isn't about a person, it's about some principals -- and the unprincipled people who are looting the union and trying to silence anyone who might get in the way of their lucre.

We criticized them when they were attacking Debbie Lynch and I'll criticize them for attacking Ted Dallas. In both cases, if the CTU's Shock Doctrine attacks hadn't been fought off, people with decent and lengthy union records -- whatever their political persuasion -- would have been strung up (I can't say "Lynched" her for the obvious reasons). That's what Marilyn Stewart was trying to do to her predecessor in 2005 and what Marilyn Stewart is trying to do to her Vice President in 2008.

And it's why I was on the scene and reporting the story in June 2005 when Stewart tried to lynch Lynch and why I'll be at the CTU reporting the story this Thursday when Stewart tries to lynch Dallas. And I think every other union member should be there to, to watch this whole nasty business first hand. Hopefully, we'll get video as well as photo records (which is all I could get on June 1, 2005, last time Stewart pulled an evil stunt like this).

Imagine the official version of history if I hadn't had a camera to take a photograph of the two police officers leading Debbie out of Plumbers Hall on June 1, 2005 (reported in Substance in September and November 2005; still on the old website, www.substancenews.com). By the next day, they were proclaiming it was not really an "arrest" (John Ostenburg) because the cops kept Debbie in the squad car but never really charged her. The reason for that was only that the CTU leadership refused to produce a complaining witness. When the union made the call to the police, someone identified himself as the "vice president" told the cops about the "disruption" at the meeting and someone fingered Debbie. But by the time Larry Poltrock got into the back seat of the squad car with Debbie (he was quickly removed when the cops realized he was not Debbie's lawyer, as he had told them), the people who had called the cops got cold feet. The only way Debbie could have gotten the identity of the person who made the cell phone call as the "vice president" was to sue the CTU for false arrest (which it was and is in the historical record).

I eventually reported, based on really good sources, that Poltrock was behind the whole thing. Not Dallas, who seemed as surprised as many other people that the cops had Debbie in a squad car.

That was three full years ago.

Now the shoe is on other feet, but the issues are the same, and probably the protagonists (Marilyn Stewart and her chief lawyer). After all, how could the two complaining people who filed the "charges" against Dallas get 100 pages on internal union documents (from financial reports to memos and e-mails) without lots of staff time assembling and reviewing all the materials used to dump on Dallas? And, of course, the cutest touch (for me, the equivalent of Poltrock in the police car) -- Bates stamp each "exhibit" ...

As if a teacher at Daley elementary school just hangs around at CTU all day reading through restaurant receipts and then organizing the pile and ("It's here in my purse somewhere...") happens to have Bates stamp tags for each "exhibit."

So last Wednesday night, I asked Poltrock (Larry, not the parliamentary Poltrock, Jennifer) how much he was billing CTU per quarter hour. This was downstairs while the debate raged upstairs. He bellowed it was "None of _____ business...!!!"

Actually, it is and will be. Eventually, I'm going to even find out whether the guy billed CTU for a quarter our when he jumped into that police car on June 1, 2005 while Debbie Lynch was in custody. Thanks to another one of the boneheaded schemes that that ever shrinking group of overpaid and undercompetent bubbleheads has been getting away with in the name of the union -- and at union expense.

No.

This year Ted Dallas is the victim of a sleazy set up, and a Shock Doctrine attack on all of us.

In June 2005, it was Debbie Lynch whose arrest was the same thing.

Marilyn Stewart's behind both, ultimately, since it's her people doing the dirtying. And I think the billings for legal work that are helping to bankrupt the union will eventually show just who was the nastiest spider in the middle of this web that stretches back now several years.

Patience. Meanwhile, you can read the June 2005 stories from September, October and November at www.substancenews.com. And current events will be at substancenews.net (our new site).

By the way, the only way anyone could stop the mess in June 2005 was to demand (as I did) that someone identify the complaining witness (since the cops had not witnessed anything disorderly on Debbie's part). Once the CTU refused to produce the person who had called the cops, the cops began acting professionally and finally released the person they had in custody.

This week, the only decent and reasonable thing to do is for the President of the Chicago Teachers Union to announce that these questionable charges, which only prove that someone inside CTU is leaking confidential documents to teachers in the schools (Dr. Walsh) and consultants in her office (Koffman), have been dropped, and that the union is now investigating how all those documents came into the possession of the complaining union members...

And who Bates stamped them all.

Anyone want to guess the common thread between the June 2005 attack on the former union President and the June 2008 attack on the current Vice President? (Besiides Marilyn Stewart, that is).

Mon Jun 9, 2008 at 10:12 AMBy: Bates numbering Flyer Supports UPC Faction Of CTU Bates numbering (also known as Bates stamping or Bates coding) is used in the legal, medical, and business fields to place identifying numbers and/or date/time-marks on images and documents as they are scanned or processed (for example, during the discovery stage of preparations for trial or identifying business receipts). Bates Stamping can be used to mark and identify images with copyrights by putting a company name, logo and/or legal copyright on them. This process provides identification, protection, and auto-increment numbering of the images.

Bates numbering is commonly used as an organizational method to label and identify legal documents. During the discovery phase of litigation, a large number of documents might necessitate the use of unique identifiers for each page of each document for reference and retrieval. Bates numbering (named for the Bates automatic numbering machine), assigns an arbitrary unique identifier to each page. Such "numbering" may be solely numeric or may contain a combination of letters and numbers (alphanumeric). There is no standard method for numbering documents. Examples of Bates numbers schemes used in tobacco cases may be found here.

Manual Bates stamping uses a self inking stamp with numbered wheels (5, 6, and 7-wheeled models are common) that automatically increment each time the stamp is pressed down on a page (some stamps allow for duplicate documents by only incrementing after two or more presses). Today, preprinted, self-adhesive labels are common as is electronic document discovery (EDD) software that can electronically "stamp" documents stored as computer files by superimpsoing numbers onto them.

It is widely-held that the character Patrick Bateman of American Psycho is named for this document enumeration process. Bateman uses a Bates stamp to number his victims.

The Bates Automatic Numbering Machine was patented in 1891-93 by the Bates Manufacturing Company of Edison, NJ.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bates_numbering

Mon Jun 9, 2008 at 11:38 AMBy: Poltrock is The Link Flyer Supports UPC Faction Of CTU Where do you think this million dollar loan is going.

He also is connected with IFT, AFT and Amalgamated.

Think about.

CTU is broke. Rather than tighten the belt layoff some staff and get back the reserves, someone wants their money.

The million loan is not going to get the CTU out of the hole.

It is just to give someone some cash.

We are 900,000 in the red so the million does what?

Nothing expect get somebody some cash!

Mon Jun 9, 2008 at 2:17 PMBy: rodent type Flyer Supports UPC Faction Of CTU Rodenface cannot be in denial when the facts are there. TD told the trustees and others he destroyed the contracts of all according to some sources. He will not deny it. Just asked him. copies were not available since He di the contracts himself. Got it rodenface. Squeek Squeek

Mon Jun 9, 2008 at 4:44 PMBy: dat's da truth Flyer Supports UPC Faction Of CTU If anyone thinks for a moment CTU doesn't have those contracts stored in numerous places, including digital copies, you need a dementia screening.

Who cares even if Ted ripped a hard copy up? Anyone consider him doing it for effect, to prove a point or just anger on a bad day? I'm sure there are no teachers who have felt that or done something similar!!!

When WILL this Union/blog quit obsessing about their personal quirks and vendettas, and focus on uniting and being proactive for their future? Some of you have been so insane and vindictive that it has forced George to actually take a moderate position...and focus on the UNION not individuals!

UNITE! Find a common ground. Think Obama. Change CAN happen if done with clear, non-judgemental heads. YES WE CAN!!!

Mon Jun 9, 2008 at 6:26 PMBy: Kugler - As Far As I Know Flyer Supports UPC Faction Of CTU The CSDU is the only site that is posting the documents that CTU refuses to share with its own members.
http://coalitionsdu.org/

CTU has 30 million budget, Chris is a teacher without a job.

Thanks to the CTU.

Looks like he is doing pretty well against a giant that has done all it can to hurt him.

No one else has stepped up to the plate. He was the first delegate to question the leadership of Marilyn Stewart with his motion to censure. I asked many delegates to back him up that night because I knew they would mess with him and his accent.It now seems everyone is waking up!

I can list everyone who let him stand alone that night at the mic. I even told people to yell "I object the ruling of the chair" if he got into trouble to remind him what to say.

I was Sergeant-of-Arms at that time so it would not have been proper that I start yelling or going to the mic.

Anytime we want to start doing the mind games and truth serum we can go at it.

Fact is no one backed Chris when he stood up.

Fact is he is the only union member filing any sort of complaint fighting the closing of his school.

That is a matter of public record and legal document.

Stop bashing a member and help him out.

Fix the site send some suggestions, volunteer to be the webmaster. Ask him what his intentions are. He is not shy or of a secretive nature.

csdu@live.com

Tue Jun 10, 2008 at 8:56 AMBy: Mary to:dat's da Flyer Supports UPC Faction Of CTU Hi.I do not understand your intention.The www.coalitionsdu.org is a very informative site if you want to read.
Do you have a personal business expressing yourself in such negative way?

Tue Jun 10, 2008 at 12:39 PMBy: rodentface Flyer Supports UPC Faction Of CTU I will explain once again even for the dumb ones. TD said he destroyed them and there were no copies. HE did the ctts w/o the other officers knowledge for certain because there were perks for some of his friends that others did not get. DA! he did not kieep copies or store them so others would not find them. thus not backup. Now can you figure it out. Again this is secondhand but from a reliable source as George the Great would say.

Tue Jun 10, 2008 at 1:14 PMBy: the real rodentface Flyer Supports UPC Faction Of CTU I didn't post the comments above at 12:39 about the destruction of CTU contracts. Whoever did, kindly create your own moniker instead of using mine.

Tue Jun 10, 2008 at 1:51 PMBy: Onle A. Teachar Flyer Supports UPC Faction Of CTU The bickering within the UPC is embarassing. But what's more humiliating is having to live with certain parts of this contract through 2012. The after-school instructional pay for teachers is really financially devastating to teachers in Lane 5 step 10, like me.

I'm forced to grovel before my principal to get summer school work. I need the $ badly. And because my after-school and Saturday school pay was cut, and I counted this pay in my income, I will likely be in more financial trouble later in the year.

Do people realize that even the private vendors who provide tutoring now pay better than CPS for after-school and supplemental work? What's the point in building senority and educational expertise for a higher rate of pay if the compensation is so weak?
Months after the vote, I still can't figure out who voted for this agreement.

I do know that people were scared. The CTU talked throughout last year about a possible "job action". Being without a check is scary. So people probably felt vulnerable. But Daley wouldn't risk being embarassed and I feel we would have been back to work soon. Keeping the hourly rate was worth striking, I think, because MANY teachers (at least the ones with experience) have suffered financially from the reduced income and we'll continue to throughout the years of this agreement.

And of course it doesn't help that inflation and prices are escalating and forcing modest income workers like teachers to re-assess their finances in order to just survive.

In short, the contract was a tragedy. And the UPC is mostly to blame. They will never be looked at with respect again. No matter what is said about the Lynch contract, the loses under that contract aren't as bad as the loses under the present one. I challenge any one to disprove my claim.

Tue Jun 10, 2008 at 2:37 PMBy: the real rodentface, really Flyer Supports UPC Faction Of CTU Re: please stand up

Link to Slim Shady - cute.

I chose my relatively unique moniker because I wish to be identifiable yet remain, for the time bing, anonymous. Assuming my identity, even if it is only on this blog, doesn't move the dialogue forward. Please refrain from feeble impersonations. Thank you.

Tue Jun 10, 2008 at 10:50 PMBy: Chris to:Karen Flyer Supports UPC Faction Of CTU Thank you for your comments.Unfortunately they do not care about the Union.They care about the money and short term power.They need fat pensions and no Union at all.This is long planned and now is executed.Do not call them(Stewart and Co.) Brothers and Sisters.They deserve different words.

Wed Jun 11, 2008 at 6:05 AMBy: George N. Schmidt Flyer Supports UPC Faction Of CTU I've concluded that the people who have betrayed the long and honorable history of the Chicago Teachers Union and who should be asked to resign from union office (and staff) -- but not put on "trial" -- are Marilyn Stewart, the two elected officers who have supported her mindlessly since last summer, at least two of the union's lawyers, and about a half dozen of the union's staff.

Notice: I don't think they should be on "trial" this week any more than Ted Dallas should be on "trial." But there is nothing about what Marilyn Stewart and her leadership cadre have done since last summer that indicates they have any business leading a labor union. They have acted like a bunch of corporate and political lap dogs to the mayor and the school board -- and more broadly to corporate Chicago. Their actions and their words are now a matter of both public and internal record, so they can't be denied. From the illegal votes on the sellout contract in August and September right through this week, the Stewart group has been attacking the union as fiercely and damagingly as anything I have witnessed in my history in this school system.

That's why today, tomorrow, and the next several weeks are so important. We have to remain mobilized through the AFT convention (next month in Chicago) and beyond because there is nothing less at stake than whether we are going to have a union at all. Or if we are going to have some corporate parody of "union" headed by a dumb but imperious imperial "CEO."

Today there will be sign making for tomorrow's picket at the Chicago Teachers Union offices.

Tomorrow, CTU members and others will picket the CTU offices at the Merchandise Mart, beginning between 3:30 and 4:00 p.m.

This attempt to railroad Ted Dallas (and establishing a precedent to kick out of the union anyone who objects to the sellout policies and praxis of the union "CEO", in this case Marilyn Stewart, but once the precedent is in place it could be anybody) is one of the most important and shocking internal events in CTU in the past 40 years, and I've been there for many of the CTU's internal events.

Everybody here or who has been paying attention knows that there has been little or no love lost between Ted Dallas and me or Substance. But this is significant enough to have merited a last minute change in editorial content (June Substance, now out in print edition) and several other things. Since we began covering these events (with a special edition about how much money was available in the CPS budget last August), we've been glad that we're reporters, rather than ideologues. Reality, once again, surpasses any fictions.

But with each new iteration of these things, surprise was inevitable. Shock was the first response to that crazy December 26, 2007, "In Solidarity" letter from Marilyn Stewart to Arne Duncan. When the proof that Stewart prefers scabs to loyal union workers in her staff, there was less surprise. When the proof came even more clearly that Stewart had cut a deal to allow "Renaissance 2010" to do anything Mayor Daley wanted to as many schools as possible, even more was obvious.

But it was only when Ted Dallas was charged with these charges by Marilyn Stewart did the entire Karl Rove picture emerge completely. Stewart had refused to open the union's financial records to the union Delegates and members, but then she allowed to union members (Gail Koffman and Patti Walsh) unlimited access to internal union records to indict her own Vice President. The hypocrisy alone was breathtaking. The venality equally so. And it came at a time when most teachers and other union members were too busy with the end of school to do more than utter, "She's doing WHAT?" in disbelief.

As I reviewed the Koffman- Walsh "complaint" against Ted Dallas, the most shocking thing was how consistently Marilyn Stewart has been playing the Imperial CEO against everyone on "her" staff -- including the other elected officers.

To obscenely claim a corporate model in a democratic union is beyond belief. There is no precedent for what Stewart has been trying to do explicitly since December (when she sent her "In Solidarity" letter to Arne Duncan) and for what she has obviously been doing for much longer (at least since she lied, cheated, and stole to get that odious contract through between August and September). I'm proud that we've had the reporters and sources (many of whom would surprise even Stewart) to report on this monstrous series of events as they've unfolded, beginning with the sellout contract votes on August 31 and September 10.

At each point, I've been shocked.

But nothing prepared me for Stewart's complicity in the firing of hundreds of tenured teachers and other union members -- the process that began in January with the announcement of the hearings on the 19 schools on Arne Duncan's First 2008 Hit List. Clearly, this list was drawn up either in conjunction with Stewart or with her permission. Then, when she evaded the hearings and tried to mislead the union members into thinking a Saturday "rally" at PUSH was a substitute for direct action, we had a clearer picture of what she was up to.

If the sellout activities between August and January were interesting, since Arne Duncan began assassinating all those (18) schools in February has been next to unbelieveable.

Yet Marilyn Stewart not only went along with it, she was working behind the scenes to help Arne and betray her members. This is what was so important about the internal memos Stewart gave to Koffman and Walsh. Among them are memos where Stewart orders Dallas to stop meeting with teachers at a school under attack (Orr) and where Stewart orders the vice president of the largest union in Illinois to stop meeting with teachers being fired at a high school where Stewart now has a program ("Fresh Start") that makes the union a partner in the persecution of teachers.

I've already done as much as I could to summarize and illustrate these events, both over the past seven months and this month, when the Koffman Walsh complaint became public.

Anyone reading this narrative in context would conclude that Marilyn Stewart and at least seven other people currently being paid by the dues of the CTU membership should resign. Now. They are not union, they are all scabbing on their own members.

But I don't think those seven people should be "tried" any more than Ted Dallas should be on trial tomorrow. There are better ways for us to do these things as union members and as leaders in education. Tomorrow is just another step along the way in doing those things.

Fri Jun 13, 2008 at 11:53 PMBy: Chris Flyer Supports UPC Faction Of CTU Dear Colleagues:
Write the petition to the CTU President with cc:to IFT and AFT telling them to stop senseless legal action.It is going to be only one winner :the attorney.We are going to pay for.
The link can be found on the webpage www.coalitionsdu.org