Chicago Teachers Union Bargaining Team Meets with the Board of Education: Day 1
(Left to Right) Recording Secretary Michael Brunson, Vice-President Jesse Sharkey, President Karen Lewis, and Financial Secretary Kristine Mayle exit Union headquarters followed by the 40-member bargaining team as they begin talks with the Board of Education.
A Statement from the President of the Chicago Teachers Union, Karen Lewis
July 23rd, 2010 is a historic day for the children of the city of Chicago. Today, Chicago Teachers Union officers and 40 rank-and-file educators who represent the diversity of our school communities will focus fiercely on one goal: to improve student learning. No longer can the needs of adults hold sway over the needs of children. Improving student learning and the environments in which children learn is the Chicago Teachers Union’s single litmus test for all proposals placed on the table. We hope that Chicago Public Schools will commit to this basic proposition as well.
To start, we must confront head-on an ugly reality: there is a dysfunctional relationship between the Chicago Board of Education and the Chicago Teachers Union that ultimately harms children. This needs to end now. Together, labor and management must hold each other in the highest level of mutual respect so that once and for all we can restore the joy of teaching and learning.
Second, we need to agree that a long-term view best serves our children, our schools and our communities. Let’s end this annual ritual of crisis budgeting predicated on secret cuts, secret budget documents and secret negotiations. The citizens of Chicago deserve an all-inclusive, transparent accounting of all of the money that comes in and goes out of our state and city and, ultimately, our schools. We need to take a serious look at both sides – expenditures and revenues – with particular emphasis on the more than $1 billion in TIFs that rob our children of much needed resources.
Today, the Board and the Union will set the ground rules for a series of talks. The CTU’s goal is to create a framework that leads to honesty, transparency and responsibility. The CTU will not participate in back room deals. That is why 40 rank-and-file members will observe these talks with the Board and provide strategic feedback to our officers sitting at the table. The 30,000 members of CTU stand ready to forge a positive relationship with the Board of Education so that, together, we can improve our city’s schools.
Check ctunet.com for updates from these historic meetings.
