As the new year comes, there is good news out of the Heartland for those of us toiling in the field of teacher union reform.
MTU’s Bob Peterson and the CTU’s Karen Lewis. A fresh wind out of the Heartland.
To both old and new readers of this blog, it is clear that there is nobody more dedicated to the value of teacher unionism than this blogger. And nobody more concerned with the direction of the leadership of the Illinois Education Association and the National Education Association.
I am not just critical of one or two decisions. Who can’t live with that?
I am critical of a vision of teacher unionism that has dominated our Association going back for at least the last twenty years that I have been active in it.
It is a vision of constant compromises that have gutted rights that took years to win. It has turned the idea of “sitting at the table” from a basis for negotiation to a venue for surrender.
It all came to a head this past year when under the leadership of Ken Swanson and Audrey Soglin our Association became the primary proponents of Senate Bill 7, a bill which took away our local Association’s right to bargain teacher evaluation, linked teacher evaluation to students performance measures and did away with tenure and seniority rights.
The seeds of Senate Bill 7 were planted by corporate reformers like Jonah Edelman and Stand for Children. Edelman’s group came into the state just ahead of the 2010 elections with a pocketful of money and a plan to make teacher unions impotent. Those seeds were planted by Edeleman but watered and mulched by Soglin and Swanson.
Edelman stated in his infamous Aspen video that at the end of the day Audrey Soglin, the Executive Director of the IEA, was quite happy with what Stand for Children was about. And the results are proof that Edelman was right as rain.
But for those of us who have toiled in the fields of teacher union reform, there is a fresh wind blowing out of the Heartland.
From Chicago we have the direct action fight back tactics of the Chicago Teachers Union and their militant young leadership headed by Karen Lewis.
From Milwaukee we have the social justice orientation of the Milwaukee Teachers Union and their new President Bob Peterson.
They give new hope that change can come to the movement of teacher union reform and to education reform. They give new hope that the rank-and-file membership can take their unions back. It makes the old guard nervous and uneasy. It makes the political leadership in city halls and those in the Department of Education unhappy. It makes the corporate reformers a little less confident.
But it gives new hope to teachers, parents and students for the new year.
Karen Lewis hopefully is a one term President Although the media hype has been good for her, thousands of her teachers are being fired with No adequate response from the CTU. TEACHERS are NOT happy with this administration. The media likes her so hopefully she can be the president of your union next time around. That is if there’s a union after she signed Senate Bill 7 eroding seniority and tenure. She is a national embarrassment to teachers everywhere. This is NOT the kind of leadership we need.