In Chicago, they know in person schooling is not safe in the middle of a pandemic so the union is fighting back.
CHICAGO, Jan. 20, 2021—More than 80 percent of the Chicago Teachers Union House of Delegates — the Union’s 600-member governing body — voted to pass a resolution tonight authorizing all CTU members at CPS district schools to conduct remote work only, starting on January 25, 2021, or on whatever date Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s handpicked Chicago Board of Education requires educators teaching kindergarten through eighth grade to appear in person.
The resolution will now go to full rank-and-file membership for an electronic ballot vote on Thursday, Friday and Saturday.
“This is about a pandemic that has killed 400,000 Americans, and an overwhelming majority of our delegates are resolved to putting safety first and continuing to teach remotely,” CTU President Jesse Sharkey said. “In the absence of an actual commitment on safety from CPS leadership, the best assurance we have for the safety of our students and school staff right now is to continue remote learning.”
“Our members are resolved to continue working, teaching their students and doing so safely,” President Sharkey added. “Only the mayor can force a strike, and if it comes to that, that’s her choice. We choose safety.”
COVID has now surfaced in over 50 schools since CPS began forcing pre-kindergarten teachers and special education cluster teachers back into school buildings on Jan. 4.
In NYC, we have many safety protocols but COVID-19 continues to spread in schools. PK-5 and District 75 school buildings remain open despite concerning COVID-19 numbers.The latest on Twitter from Sarah Allen:
Note that CTU is not calling it a strike. They are resolving to work remote exclusively. CTU's resolution again illustrates why we need a better union in NYC, not to abandon the UFT.
Remote only until it's safe.
Ha. Pandering again. Like anything is changing.
ReplyDeleteKeep talking James. How many years have you been waiting? How many more?
ReplyDeleteAnybody with experience filing a FOIL
ReplyDeleteRequest? I know our Principal does weird stuff and I'd like to see spending and emails.
For FOIL information:
Deletewww.dos.ny.gov/coog
www.dos.ny.gov/coog/Right_to_know.html
www.schools.nyc.gov/about-us/leadership/legal
www.schools.nyc.gov/docs/default-source/default-document-library/d-110-11-29-2017-final-combined-remediated-wcag2-0
Email your FOIL request to “Records Access Officer” at FOIL@schools.nyc.gov
Copy it to Deputy Counsel & Chief Privacy Officer Joseph A. Baranello, Esq. (jbaranello3@schools.nyc.gov) and Acting General Counsel Judy Nathan, Esq. (jnathan@schools.nyc.gov) to make it stand out.
Crazy. Thank God we have our senses and will not be striking or walking out. Good luck to them though. Who can afford a walkout or strike during a pandemic?
ReplyDeleteIt is not a strike TeachNY. From the posting:
DeleteNote that CTU is not calling it a strike. They are resolving to work remote exclusively. CTU's resolution again illustrates why we need a better union in NYC, not to abandon the UFT.
And that putz Mulgrew was yapping yesterday on the elementary Zoom meeting that Chicago is working to open up. He is so full of shit it makes me sick.
ReplyDeleteChicago also gets max salary after 14 years. And they didn't work spring breakfor free and didn't have retro held for 12 years. But you dopes pay 62 bucks per check. I guess I should thank you.
ReplyDeleteBiden EO today-quickly open schools. Good luck with mulgrew in charge. Thank the lord I'm resigning shortly.
ReplyDeleteBut this is good news! I was happy to read this! And he said “within 100 days.” A lot can happen in 100 days!
DeleteYes, but in Chicago if you are made an ATR, you only have 6 months to find a job. If by then you haven't found a new position you can either get an extension for one year, retire early or take a buy out. If after a year you haven't landed anything, you are terminated and lose your pension, so if you think the ATR pool is used as a weapon in NYC, it is used as execution in Chicago.
ReplyDeleteOff topic: At the elementary UFT Zoom forum yesterday, Mulgrew stated that the city is trying to give us a horrible evaluation system for this year. He says that if the UFT and DOE can't agree to a system, that the state will come up with a system for us. This is BAD NEWS. The last time the state hashed out an evaluation for us we got 4 observations instead of 2. This does not look good.
ReplyDeleteGood. I would rather have the state do it.
Delete9:58, John King was head of State Ed Commissioner when our evaluation system was settled in 2013. Now it is Betty Rosa. I think we are in better shape at SED now.
DeleteMulgrew had no comment.
ReplyDeleteSuccess Academy, NYC's largest charter network, is officially remote-only for the rest of the school year. They're ending the school year early (May 28) and starting next year early (August 2)
I would do that. Makes sense.
Delete@8:52 look how long it took the ctu to get a raise- how many years?
ReplyDeletealso compare their top pay to ours
its like a 20.000 difference?
thats more then cost of living.
add in the atr experience-which i lived through- more then 2 years before being picked up-- ill stick with the uft- and i never thought i'd say that as i am anti mulgrew/uft
Comparing CTU to UFT, expecting that we can reform the Unity/UFT and do what they do in Chicago is a useless exercise unless we are willing to dive deep into what makes CTU effective and what makes UFT ineffective.
ReplyDeleteWe have a bigger membership and more resources. Some see this as a strength, but it's a weakness, especially when we examine how our size and money maintains the status quo. Our size and money are leverage for Unity and they use it to maintain power, to pander to the retirees while they sell out the in-service workers. While in Chicago and in Illinois, the percentage of organized teachers is comparable to NYC and NY (2 of the highest in the U.S.A), the spending of dues, the monetary links to the NEA and AFT are far weaker in Chicago, so our size and money is spent on issues and politics that don't do much for our teachers. As James frequently point out, while the tone and language and overt hostility is not as obvious during Democratic administrations, in Washington, Albany, NYC, the net impact on teaching is not much better, sometimes worse. So while we endorse and spend and work for Democratic candidates (i.e. Blue wave from Georgia & Co.), we get little from it. Moreover, the guarantee that will not flip Red or support Republicans weakens our perceived powers by those that actually wield it. Only the membership believes that UFT is powerful. The UFT, and this Blog is guilty of this (see the recent claim by James that Union Advocacy won us a shorter vaccine line), is constant rooster who takes credit for the dawn. "We need COPE money to get you things," they say, but we know where the money goes and we know that the Union doesn't get us things, it gives things away. Trump recently pardoned Sheldon Silver, our man in Albany. But the UFT has other crooks in Albany and it doesn't care what party they belong to so long as they play in the mud. Money and size are not an advantage and Chicago is proof, for it doesn't play the dirty money game nearly as well as we do and it serves its members better.
On the flip side is bargaining powers. Ours are weak compared with CTU's powers. They have the legal right to strike. We don't. But this only a small matter next to the collective bargaining thy have and we don't. And the differences are getting bigger as UFT is bargaining away and CTU is bargaining for.
We are not CTU. Never will be.
We had out chance to strike. We missed it. It's teachers like TeachNY, who read more like an anti-union Administrator everyday, and their are plenty of people like TeachNY in powerful places in UFT, who see a strike as an unlawful, rash, and irrational disaster, and not as the only method we have to resist, keep our jobs, our dignity, our solidarity, and make meaningful change, that keep us stuck in Mulgrew's attrition machine.
Cost of living is significantly lower in Chicago compared to NYC. You have a valid point on ATRs having a time limit. As for the two unions fighting for their members, CTU in its current form is a real union that goes out of its way to battle for its members. The UFT tries to make nice-nice with politicians and has no other strategy.
ReplyDeleteSuccess Academy has just announced it will stay remote for the remainder of the school year and will end the school year May 28th and start the new school year Aug. 2nd. How come nobody is on Eve's ass about remaining remote and now shortening her school year?
ReplyDeleteSpot on again Shelly.
ReplyDeleteThe DOE wants to harass teachers with the observations system.
ReplyDeleteIt is a parting shot form De Blasio and Carranza.
If the state comes in and gives 4 observations, it is a lot more work for administrators.
Also, Danielson was not designed for in class observations and it certainly was not designed for observations of remote teaching on Zoom
Don't worry. Randi said help and hope is on the way. Feel better? I'm so glad i opted out of this corruption. Enjoy paying.
ReplyDeleteMaybe were seeing this wrong, give the adminstration 10 observations per teacher. They can use a little paperwork to stay busy like the rest of us.
ReplyDeleteHas Betty Rosa reversed anything put in place by John King? Has anything changed or is it still what Cuomo wants to remain in place? In August Rosa said it was time to look at how to reopen schools. Sounds like she agreed with Trump and Biden and DeBlasio and Cuomo on opening schools. This Ed commissioner is the same piece of shit just in a different suit.
ReplyDeleteThey should all be announced if they’re observing us virtually. And “engagement” shouldn’t count. Can the person host a discussion over the computer? Boom. Satisfactory. It’ll be interesting to see what they come up with for the in-person elem teachers. They def deserve a huge pay on the back.
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