By Prof. William Watkins
The following is an interview with Karen Lewis, Pr
President of the Chicago Teachers Union.
Prof. Watkins: How did the Chicago Teacher’s Union prepare for the strike?
Karen Lewis: Preparations for the strike started before the Caucus of Rank and File Educators (CORE) took office. We attended school closing hearings, charter school opening hearings and Board of Ed meetings. We formed relationships with teachers, paraprofessionals, clinicians, parents, students and community organizations in the affected schools. We spent time listening to people’s concerns and working together to plan direct actions, discuss ways to reframe the narrative about Chicago’s schools and neighborhoods. That took years. In addition when we took office, we organized a community board that provided advice and feedback on our many campaigns. By the time our contract campaign came along, we had built solid relationships. On a more focused level, we had organizing conversations in all of our school buildings and involved our members in writing proposals to go into a contract they wanted to see. We had a 35-member bargaining team that represented all of our members. We had constant feedback with our members and held frequent meetings that updated the delegations on negotiations.
PW: What lessons can we take away from the teacher’s strike?
KL: That going on strike does not mean not going to work. It means that collective voice means collective action and we can no longer sit by while backroom deals that don’t involve membership get done. Labor power means something and we’ve been asleep at the wheel for years.
PW: Mayor Emanuel and the political leaders will say the teachers have busted the bank and caused hardship. Teachers will be blamed for closing schools and cutbacks. What is your response?
KL: Teachers have been blamed for EVERYTHING that ails this system. But parents know the truth. 79% of parents ACROSS the country, including Chicago trust their teachers. But blaming, shaming and naming is a distraction from what’s really going on. Schools have been underfunded and neglected for years. Chicago is hyper-segregated. The child poverty rate is 87%. All these are untenable and must be addressed.
PW: Your union masterfully focused on the conditions of learning rather than salary. Please comment on what is going on in Chicago schools.
KL: Most people in Chicago had no idea, including the Mayor, that these schools are un-air conditioned and in miserable physical shape. People didn’t know that 160 schools are without public libraries, 92 elementary schools with no playgrounds, less than 450 social workers for 450K students. These are issues we brought to light and continue to go unanswered while the elite in this city want to scream about bad teachers.
PW: The “haters” say schools are stale, teachers are lazy and we need the “fresh” ideas of charter schools for a re-birth. What is your view?
KL: Clearly there are problems that need to be addressed, but turning over public assets to private interests are not a panacea. Curriculum needs to address individual student needs and billionaire reformers need to check their egos at the door and look at research that doesn’t co-sign to their neo-liberal worldview.
