REPORTS FROM CHICAGO AND NYC TEACHER UNIONS WEDNESDAY DELEGATE MEETINGS

Yesterday there were meetings of the Chicago Teachers Union House of Delegates and the United Federation of Teachers Delegate Assembly. There are detailed accounts of both meetings on the internet. In Chicago, they voted unanimously to go on strike today even while they are being offered 16% salary increases over 5 years.

In NYC, the UFT Delegates voted to support the CTU strike and the UAW strike against General Motors where there is a tentative agreement. (Update Friday: The UAW strike will continue until ratification vote.) The UFT also welcomed three City Council members as guests: Mark Treyger, Danny Dromm and Speaker Corey Johnson. President Michael Mulgrew said this according to the minutes from Arthur Goldstein after Speaker Johnson spoke:

Mulgrew—We have a lot of enemies looking to destroy our system. They say if NYC comes down entire country will fall. DeVos wants vouchers. We’re doing better than ever on achievement and dropout rates. Never hear enough. With city admin on way out, how do we move forward? NYC is under corrective action, can be used against us. What do you think we should be doing this year to move forward? How do we motivate DOE to stop power games and stupidity?

I have an answer: Have a militant union whose members, more so than their leaders, are demanding action.

Councilman Mark Treyger, a former NYC teacher and UFT Delegate, followed Mulgrew. I thought he made this very interesting point.

From Arthur's minutes of Treyger's remarks:

Special ed. is non-negotiable. Dealing with mandates. We need someone in DOE who knows rules. Their own person came to my hearing. I ask questions. Have DOK knowledge chart. Asked how many IEPs they have translated. They didn’t even know there was federal requirement. Let’s start with people who know what they’re doing. Let’s empower people who know more than them.

Well yeah, is the UFT going to demand or even promote and stand up for teacher empowerment?

On class size the UFT is claiming victory. From Mulgrew's report via Arthur's minutes:

We asked you to engage. At this time last year 400 schools 2K classes. Day ten this year 350 schools 1500 classes. At next level, we bet superintendents wouldn’t want this going above them. Were able to make it major issue. Ten days went from 350 to 105. We used to have this going on for seven months. Today only 87 schools with oversized classes. Lowest number of oversized classes in October in history of UFT. Will get rest done by Thanksgiving.

I recall when the UFT went to direct arbitration after the first ten school days as part of the 2002 contract. It was touted as a great victory to take the Superintendent and Chancellor out of the class size grievance process. Now, putting them back into the process is another big gain. While I applaud fewer oversize classes because they are resolved before they get to arbitration, the UFT allowed the DOE to make a mockery out of the class size grievance process. Also, what happens if there is again leadership at Tweed or City Hall that doesn't care about oversize classes? Putting the Superintendents in the process won't mean anything then. The long term solution is to force the DOE to follow state law on lower class size (I don't know why the UFT did't join the parent lawsuit on this issue.) or to make it a contract demand to lower class size or at least to close the loopholes that the DOE can drive a truck through. We haven't put lower class size numbers in the contract in about fifty years.

In Chicago, they are striking today over the class size issue as well as staffing of other positions such as librarians and nurses. 

Here are some of what the Delegates at their House of Delegates meeting stated yesterday as reported on by George Milkowski in Substance News:

At this point he (CTU President Jesse Sharkey) started to go through an 8 page summary of the CPS proposals and CPS responses, if any. He said delegates may ask questions with a five minute time limit on each page. No one asked questions. Everyone but one delegate who went to the mic had some strong comments, among them were:

Sue Sebesta – We cannot agree to a five year contract.

Alix Gonzalez – We need to expand sustainable community schools.

Tom Lalagos – He serves on the class size panel and will resign if class sizes are not reduced. He doesn’t want to be part of a sham. One delegate stressed that veteran teachers are at the top of the pay scale in 14 years and hence have not had a raise. She said we need more steps. The Ravenswood School delegate said that elementary prep time has to be gained. Without it, it is a deal-breaker. Frank McDonald said that if we have to still deal with REACH (evaluation system), then we need a 5% raise per year as compensation

Regarding REACH, the Fulton School delegate said teachers are required to provide documentation as part of their evaluation but the evaluators are NOT required to read any of it. Our proposals are that the evaluators be required to read it but CPS responded that the evaluators would not have time to read all that material.

Delegate Oscar Ortiz asked about how are teachers to deal with kids who are incorrigible. Jesse said that this comes down to proper staffing in the schools. CPS proposes to increase the number or nurses, social workers, or clinicians by 20%, but that a school would only get one new person of those possible positions. It would be up to the principal to decide on which type of position to fill.

At this point a motion passed to move the agenda and the House voted unanimously to start the strike tomorrow.

From this morning's CBS local news in Chicago:

Chicago teachers went on strike on Thursday after failing to reach a contract deal with the nation's third-largest school district.

Both sides have been negotiating for months over salaries, class sizes and the number of support staff in schools, such as librarians and nurses. Teachers began picketing in front of schools Thursday morning, calling for the district and city to give in to their demands.