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| Huck/Konopacki Labor Cartoons |
Teachers who
participated in the recent 10-day strike in Chicago saw smaller October 5
paychecks. Some received no pay at all. Yet the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU),
which did not extend strike benefits to the teachers, continued to collect full
dues from them, according to the WSWS.
While many
hailed the strike as a victory, noting that Chicago Public Schools (CPS)
dropped its demand for merit pay and did give the teachers a raise, the new
contract accepts student test scores as a substantial portion of teachers’
evaluations. Considering that these test scores have little to do with teacher
quality and that they provide unreliable and inconsistent data, they have no
place at all in teacher evaluations. The new contract also accepts a longer
school day without compensating teachers fully for the extra time they will be
required to work.
According to
the WSWS, the CTU told members they “will pay a temporary penalty this week . .
. For now, however, they will continue their sacrifice in defense of quality
public education, as they draw from the savings they set aside in preparation
for the strike.” The CTU also told members they “may” be eligible for personal
loans from the United Credit Union. During the strike, instead of offering
strike pay, the union’s parent organization, the American Federation of
Teachers (AFT), offered low-interest loans.
It is
noteworthy that the Chicago teachers went on strike at all and that they were
initially opposing the corporate reform agenda, including merit pay and the use
of student test scores to evaluate teachers. It was particularly significant
because unions have all but given up labor actions such as strikes as a means of
achieving their goals, focusing more and more on lobbying and political campaign
funding, which are far more expensive and less effective than job actions. It
is interesting, but sad, to observe that the AFT was unwilling to support the
Chicago strike or to use members’ dues to provide strike pay, yet they readily
coughed up $31 million on electoral campaigns last year.
