Stand With CTU
October 3, 2016
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TSJ Strike Support Bulletin #1
As you probably know CTU voted 95% to authorize a strike, and the House of Delegates (union delegates from each school) voted to strike Oct. 11 if CPS does not meet their contract demands.
Key issues CTU is fighting for are:
- RESTORE cuts to art, music, librarians, and staff-classrooms are overcrowded and understaffed!
- RESTORE cuts to special education, which is in a desperate situation as CPS is balancing the budget on backs of the most vulnerable students
- NO teacher pay cuts
- YES job security
The challenges in the schools require money to fix so the Board of Education and the city will have to come up with it. CTU and GEM (the Grassroots Education Movement), along with other community groups, have proposed solutions that include tapping into TIF funds, taxing corporations, imposing a financial transaction tax, and more. The city council can pass the TIF ordinance sponsored by Garza/Cárdenas to restore TIF funds to CPS. Contact your alderperson if you live in Chicago and demand that they support the ordinance!
Actions-We urge everyone to participate!
Oct. 4: GEM and the Chicago Teacher Solidarity Committee joint press conference. 10:00 AM, at City Hall. We need to dispel the narrative that "greedy teachers" are holding parents and students hostage.
Oct. 6: School walk-ins. 8 am. This is in conjunction with a national day of walk-ins sponsored by AROS (Alliance to Reclaim Our Schools). See list of schools here. Students, parents, teachers, and residents will be walking into schools, rallying for the schools they deserve, before the school day begins. Please go to your neighborhood school or a school you have a relationship with to support them and tell them you read this here.
Oct. 10: GEM student/youth forum. Time and location TBA (tentative).
Oct. 11: Potential start of strike,. Again, please go to your neighborhood school/school you know to support them, walk the picket line, help out any way you can, and again, tell them you read this here! Picket lines start before and at the beginning of the school day (FYI, in 2012, they stayed up for 2-3 hours)
Stay Tuned! Please communicate with us by emailing here and letting us know what you are involved in and what is happening in your school community.
See CTU Contract FAQ, their proposal for A Just Chicago, and their info on the contract campaign.
