After 17 years of the tyranny of high stakes tests, business-managers running the schools, school closings, disinvestment in neighborhood public schools and turning them over to private operators, teachers have had enough. The 30,000 members of the Chicago Teachers Union are standing up to the bankers and corporate interests who are dismantling public education and destroying teaching and learning. The city that has been the birthplace of corporate “reform” is now the epicenter of the fight against it. Rahm and the CPS negotiators are not budging on key issues: smaller class size, adequate school support staff (nurses, social workers, paraprofessionals), rehiring experienced laid off teachers, and fair compensation. And, in many schools, CPS is not implementing the agreement for a better school day, not just a longer day, as promised. Rahm and the Board of Ed are pushing the teachers toward a strike. Teachers do not want a strike, but they are preparing to do what it takes to win a fair and equitable contract that will help children get the education they deserve and stop CPS from trampling on the rights of teachers. This is a strategic battle for public education. The eyes of the country are on Chicago.

The national education privatizers (Stand For Children, Education Reform Now, etc.) are pouring resources into Chicago to defeat the CTU. We have to mobilize all our grassroots resources against them.

What we can do: