A reader asked an important question in response to my blog about the Chicago Teachers Union decision to authorize a strike: What if they strike and they lose? What if Mayor Emanuel fires them all and replaces them with TFA? Won’t it prove that striking is futile? Won’t unions everywhere lose heart?
I responded that the mayor might prevail. He might keep the schools closed and hammer the union into submission. Could he replace 25,000 striking teachers with scabs? There are not enough TFA teachers minted every year to do that (TFA sends out fewer than 10,000 per year). Even if he did hire TFA, he would have a completely green workforce with constant turnover. I wonder how TFA corps members would feel about being used as strike breakers.
Emanuel could surely fill the empty jobs with teachers who have been fired or laid off elsewhere. There is a large pool of them. He would surely have a teaching force filled not with creativity and passion for their work, but with fear and timidity.
What happened in Chicago was not about winning. Winning is never certain. And there is nothing good about losing.
What matters is that the teachers of Chicago said “enough is enough.” They could have remained silent. They could have avoided the confrontation. They could just accept whatever is done to them. But they said no. They said they could not be bullied any more.
And it is true that they might lose. But there comes a time when a person must assert his or her dignity. There comes a time when people take risks for what they believe in their heart is right. This is that time.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
“It is better to die on your feet than to live on your knees.” Delores Ibarruri
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My Daily Dose of Diane never fails to stimulate (wish I had time to find an apt synonym for “stimulate” that begins with a “D”). I immediately thought of the Air Traffic Controllers Strike of 1981. I guess Marx had it right, perhaps teachers will not win this alone. “Workers of the world unite; you have nothing to lose but your chains.”
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Delight?
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Disinfect?
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I wish I could find nouns verbs adj. etc. I’m so scared but yes we have to fight! And this is about the students, fighting for them and America’s future.
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If certified teachers are replaced by scabs, how long would it be before parents demanded the experienced teachers again? It is easy for me to tell them to go through with this experiment from the safety of my job, however…I would understand if they lose their resolve when the bill collectors begin to call. And, I will look to them for inspiration as it seems this story will unfold in large cities throughout the nation.
When I first began teaching, 18 years ago, an elder teacher warned me, “The strike I took part in in 1979 ruined me financially. I used up all of my savings and vowed never to do that again. Bret, think long and hard before you go into a strike when/if that day comes.” I thanked her for her sacrifice to make working conditions better for us. So, I have mixed emotions about the day I may be asked to strike in my area.
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Diane is absolutely right. Very hard for Emanuel or TFA to replace all 25K Chicago teachers which will be a disaster even if they try it, given the consequences of displacing veteran educators with 23-yr-old novices. A teachers’ strike in Chicago, NYC, and other places is long overdue, too much damage already done to public schools. Only teachers and parents can defend kids and schools to stop the billionaire boys’ club from doing even more damage.
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I don’t think there is a teacher out there that is just itching for a strike. But there again who wants to continue to be abused and see children’s futures in limbo and they be treated as unimportant.
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Cheers to the CTU for standing up to the corporate power (and their politician friends) seemingly bent on destroying America’s public education system. More charters, fewer teachers, larger classes…none of this helps children!
(btw I couldn’t find anything on the AFT web site in support of them…could that be because the AFT has endorsed President Obama and “hizoner” Rahm is Obama’s buddy?)
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We are working very hard to educate and inform parents about what is happening in the bargaining in CTU and CPS, and successfully so: parents overwhelmingly support the teachers union in their positions and the decisions they (may need to) make. Parents are uniting across the city: RaiseYourHand Coalition, PUREparents, 19th Ward Parents “6.5” (hours) to Thrive, Parents4Teachers are all out there combating Stand for children and the Charter Collectives to support the people in the classrooms.
If we strike, Emanuel can plan to lose the next election. (He only won the last election with 22% of Chicago voting for him.) That wouldn’t be prudent for someone who has his eyes set on bigger (presidential?) fish.
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other groups working with the CTU include the Kenwood Oakland Community Organization (KOCO) and BlocksTogether, among others that I may not have listed. Forgive me.
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The Wall Street guys, the hedge fund managers, and true believers in corporate-style reform will not take this lightly. Expect a deluge of TV advertising aimed at demonizing the teachers and supporting the Rahm agenda. The only way to combat is by door-to-door, face-to-face interactions. Wake the town and tell the people.
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Emmanuel would probably wait out the union and urge President Romney to invalidate teacher citizenship … off to the Gulag.
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Interesting insights. We are in a similar position here in Ohio where our union is standing up to a school board that is bullying us on all fronts… working conditions, benefits, special ed and pay cuts.
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I’m not a teacher. Neither is anyone in my family. The way in which you beat bullies and well-funded propaganda campaigns is to ENLIST THE PARENTS. Get us on your side. It’s not an “easy” thing to do. But it’s not nearly as difficult as it might first appear.
For every irate, blustering, nasty parent you’ve encountered, I guarantee you there are 2 or 3 or even 9 who feel differently. And a lot of them will have your back, stand with you, speak out for you, support you fully: but you have to approach them, one on one. You have to make the first move, reach out, and ASK their help.
Most parents know it’s all about a partnership with your child’s teacher and school. We WANT to work with you. Please don’t be afraid to, quite literally, ring our doorbell and initiate the conversation.
Stand strong, teachers. And don’t let a handful of elitists—whose own children are always in fancy private schools—intimidate you and destroy our American system of free public education for all.
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As with every district in the country, Chicago schools are facing serious struggles and they may well deserve more than the Mayor’s offer. However, speaking from an objective standpoint, there is no way that the taxpayers, or even the country will be behind the union as it becomes more public that (a) Chicago teachers earn an average of 73k per year (b) they enjoy the shortest school day and shortest school year of any major urban district in the country, and (c) that what they are demanding is a 24% raise next year while millions are being laid off or on their 2nd or 3rd year of pay freeze/pay cuts. If they were asking for something reasonable like 5%, they would see much support. But no matter how much longer their school day is being lengthened to, all the public is going to see is that ‘these selfish teachers are demanding a 24% raise while the rest of us are suffering”.
I am not saying it is right or wrong, or predicting what will happen when the inevitable strike happens, but I would not be surprised if there is a huge public outcry to not give in to this unconscionable demand for pay. I also would not be surprised if this leads legislators to follow Wisconsin’s example and to put the union in its place, making it worse off for them than it would have been had they just accepted Rahm’s offer of ~3% increase per year (more than nearly any teacher in the US is getting these days).
Just my humble thoughts. Hopefully a solution is found before this struggle makes the students suffer more than the rest of us.
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I hope the CTU loses. Even though the mayor isn’t playing nice, Karen Lewis reminds me of a Teamster boss. When will people realize that Illinois is broke and the old days of the CTU using taxpayers as an ATM is over? We can’t afford union teachers, especially when us college instructors see what CPS sends us. If the union product–over 80% of CPS’ students–must remediate English and math for a year in college before they can take credit classes, I have to wonder if breaking the CTU might be better for all involved. I want real, not emotive, arguments about why the the union teacher should be saved if s/he is laregely producing kids who flunk out of City Colleges. The taxpayers only want what they pay for.
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So, you’re going to punish thousands of hard-working people just because you don’t approve of Karen Lewis? I’m sure even many union members do not agree with all of her decisions, but that’s who we’re stuck with at the moment. What a narrow-minded viewpoint! You need to stop teaching at the college level.
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