More than 500 Teachers at the UNO/Acero charter chain in Chicago went on strike today, the first charter chain strike in history! How sad for the Waltons, the DeVos family, the Koch brothers, the Arnold Foundation, and DFER, who have invested hundreds of millions of dollars in the charter industry in hopes of breaking the teachers unions. Sad!
The UNO chain was founded by Juan Rangel, a favorite of the political leadership of the city and state. They showered millions on Rangel and his UNO organization. So did the Waltons. He paid himself $250,000 a year, but burned through teachers. But then things went terribly wrong, and Rangel had to resign. Why? “Ultimately, says a former UNO employee who requested anonymity, Rangel’s Achilles’ heel may have been that he ‘thought charter schools don’t have to play by the same rules as public schools.'” Rangel’s organization collected a 10% management fee and hired his relatives for every part of the operation. The state gave him $98 million to build new charters, and UNO handed out fat contracts to friends and relatives, not realizing that the state contracts forbade conflicts of interest. When CTU went on strike in 2012, Rangel boasted that his charters were non-union, were open and had room for new students.
How times have changed!
From the Chicago Teachers Union:
It’s official: over 500 CTU members at 15 UNO/Acero charter schools are on strike—the first strike of a charter operator in U.S. history.
Our educators are fighting for more resources for our students, and better working conditions for our educators. Management instead has refused any wage increase for our underpaid paraprofessionals, insisted on class sizes of 32—four more than the target for CPS classrooms, refused to increase short-staffed special education positions, refused our efforts to bring nurses into each school, refused to provide wrap-around services for students, and even refused to include sanctuary school language in our contract for our overwhelmingly Latinx students.
CTU members at UNO/Acero work hundreds of hours more than CTU members in district schools, for an average of $13,000 per year less. Paraprofessionals—the backbone of our school communities—earn even less. Management’s take of public dollars went up more than $10 million this year—while spending $1 million LESS on classroom resources.
We’re fighting to end the bad practices of the charter industry and win the schools our students deserve—and you can help! Scroll down for a list of schools with addresses, and join strikers on those picket lines starting at 6:30 AM, Tuesday, December 4.
Today, Tuesday at 1:30 PM, we’ll picket and rally at Acero headquarters, 209 W Jackson Blvd. in downtown Chicago. We’ll be back on the picket lines Wednesday—and for as long as it takes to win the contract and resources our students and educators deserve.
Watch our Facebook, Twitter and Instagram feeds for more information upcoming actions, next steps and how you can get involved. Learn more about management’s failures at the bargaining table—and what we’re fighting for for our students. Our educators’ working conditions are our students’ learning conditions—and we’re fighting to improve them both. Join Us!
Watch our Facebook, Twitter and Instagram feeds for more information upcoming actions, next steps and how you can get involved. Learn more about management’s failures at the bargaining table—and what we’re fighting for for our students. Our educators’ working conditions are our students’ learning conditions—and we’re fighting to improve them both. Join us!
School
Address
Neighborhood
BrightonPark
4420 S. Fairfield, Chicago
BrightonPark
Clemente
2050 N. Natchez, Chicago
Galewood
Cruz
7416 N. Ridge, Chicago
RogersPark
Fuentes
2845 W. Barry, Chicago
Avondale
Santiago
2510 W. Cortez, Chicago
HumboldtPark
Idar
5050 S. Homan, Chicago
GagePark
Soto
5025 S. St. Louis, Chicago
GagePark
Tamayo
5135 S. California, Chicago
GagePark
LasCasas
1641 W. 16th St., Chicago
Pilsen
Marquez
2916 W. 47th St, Chicago
BrightonPark
Zizumbo (VMC)
4248 W. 47thSt, Chicago
ArcherHeights
Garcia (VMC)
4248 W. 47thSt, Chicago
ArcherHeights
Paz
2651 W. 23rd St, Chicago
LittleVillage
Torres (VMC)
4248 W. 47thSt, Chicago
ArcherHeights
Cisneros
2744 W. Pershing Rd, Chicago
BrightonPark
Chicago Teachers Union • 1901 W. Carroll Ave. • Chicago, IL 60612 • 312-329-9100
http://www.ctulocal1.org
.
__,_._,___
Diane Ravitch's blog 
I will not be surprised if the Waltons, the DeVos family, the Koch brothers, the Arnold Foundation, and DFER all started pushing bills through their elected minions to make it illegal for teachers to strike.
In fact, they have probably already attempted to do this.
I wouldn’t be surprised if they try to make teachers striking a capital offense or subject to public floggings. They have done just about everything else to cripple teachers’ unions: Taft-Hartley, the Janus decision, all the right to work states, strikes are already illegal in many states and unions can be fined thousands of dollars a day.
I guess it is okay to strike if there is no union. They can’t punish you or fine the union!
Everybody’s talking about the Acero Charters school teachers’ strike — Washington Post, New York Times, etc. — so their CEO Robert L. Rodriguez simply had to put out some kind of response…
… and boy did he ever!
Here’s the video of him reading his response letter:
Here’s the pdf of that letter (also transcript of this ABOVE video):
Click to access 083206-35790a30-3281-473a-9c19-ea599591fe6c.pdf
Here’s the persecution-complex/conspiracy theory-laden parts of the CEO’s response:
CEO Robert L. Rodriguez:
” … the union leaders have put their anti-charter political agenda ahead of the interests of our students. There is absolutely no good reason to to put parents and students through the upheaval of a strike.
” … ”
“The sad fact is that interests from outside our community are using our students and our community to advance their national anti-charter school platform. They don’t want our schools to succeed because it doesn’t serve their agenda.”
If you’re so great, then how come a multi-million-dollar scandal forced you to change your name, to try and run away from that scandal.
Teachers and other “essential” personnel such as police, firefighters, nurses, etc. . . cannot legally strike in Missouri.
Does that mean Missouri is another country owned by the Walton family?
Nah, it’s been that way for as long as I can remember, the 70s at least. Sam Walton’s kids hadn’t outgrown their knickers yet.
A recent audit revealed that the company is flush with cash, but they refuse to reduce class size, improve salaries and create a better working environment. These issues all sound familiar to veteran teachers.
Reblogged this on David R. Taylor-Thoughts on Education and commented:
I’m not sure sad is the right word. It makes me chuckle and smile.
When a group of people finally realize that they are being treated unfairly and unjust, the come together for the good of all. It is a good thing.
Let’s hope the teachers at Success Academy follow this lead!
posted at https://www.opednews.com/Quicklink/Chicago-First-Charter-Cha-in-Best_Web_OpEds-Charter-School-Failure_Charter-Schools_Conflict_Learning-181204-151.html#comment718629
with 2 comments which have embedded links to this blog, at the above address.
comment one: Taking out the schools is the MOST CRUCIAL ploy to ending democracy in America. An ignorant, unskilled citizenry will enable the charlatans to twist truth, and offer propaganda so they can do anything they please.
Chicago is not alone.
Click here: https://www.opednews.com/Quicklink/Chicago-First-Charter-Cha-in-Best_Web_OpEds-Charter-School-Failure_Charter-Schools_Conflict_Learning-181204-151.html#comment718629to see the linksto CHARTER SCHOOL FRAUD at the Ravitch Blog.
Look at Arkansas:The Waltons have long coveted control of Little Rock’s public schools.They have used their billions to leverage control of the State Education Department, the Legislature, and the State Education Board. As reported earlier this year, they passed a law “requiring Arkansas school districts to turn over buildings constructed with local property taxes . Read the Open Letter to the State Commissioner and Governor, written by Rev. Anika Whitfield, a pastor in Little Rock who believes in democracy and public education. It ends ‘As tax paying residents of Little Rock, we demand elected representation from our selected peers.What is the ransom you require for Little Rock School District parents, guardians, students, and community supporters to pay for you to release our district back to us now?’
Comment 2
In 15,800 separate school system s in 50 separate states https://www.opednews.com/Series/15-880-Districts-in-50-Sta-by-Susan-Lee-Schwartz-140921-34.html?f=15-880-Districts-in-50-Sta-by-Susan-Lee-Schwartz-140921-34.html
this kind of treachery is ongoing, as our citizens watch the Trump circus and the schools fail, so they can be privatized.
See all my series, here at Oped, http://www.opednews.com/Series/PRIVITIZATION-by-Susan-Lee-Schwartz-150925-546.htmland learn how OUR schools are being destroyed. Here is my series on ‘privatization.’
Or go the blog of Diane Ravitch–FORMER Assistant SECRETARY OF STATE is a research professor of education at New York University and the co-founder of theNetwork for Public Education, https://networkforpubliceducation.org/newsletters/
a grassroots advocacy organization. and follow the devastation.
The Demolition of American Education is ongoing. https://www.opednews.com/Quicklink/The-Demolition-of-American-in-Best_Web_OpEds-Choice_College_Diane-Ravitch_Education-Curriculum-170606-760.html#comment662166
I wish them godspeed.
I am elated. Elated! Three cheers, no, three hundred cheers to the Chicago teachers standing up to the charter chain. Hip! Hip!
All of Los Angeles will join them soon.
I don’t know if you’ve heard, but things are about to get really bad in Florida.
Rep Jennifer Sullivan is likely to head the Florida House Education Committee. She is homeschooled and barely started college with no degree.
Richard Corcoran, whose wife owns a charter school, is slated to become the state secretary of education.
https://www.tampabay.com/opinion/columns/cheap-and-hostile-is-not-the-way-to-attract-teachers-in-florida-20181203/
When it comes time for contract talks, teachers need to make sure their reps are looking at a district’s (or charter’s) actual audits before agreeing to a settlement.
The Acero teachers went out on strike after the school finally released its audit results;
“(The fat cat) image was especially resonant with many teachers given eleventh-hour information about the network’s finances. On Friday, Acero, a successor of the scandal-plagued United Neighborhood Organization (UNO), released to the teacher’s union a copy of its most recent independent audit report.
“The union says that it has been requesting the audit since contract bargaining began seven months ago and that the report shows a windfall in 2018, including a $10.6 million increase in the network’s cash position.
“They’ve been crying broke, when in fact they’re flush with cash,” says Martha Baumgarten, a fifth-grade teacher at Acero’s Carlos Fuentes Elementary School and a member of the bargaining team.
“A copy of the auditor’s report, reviewed by In These Times, shows that as of June 2018, the network had nearly $24 million in unrestricted cash, up from $13.2 million the previous year. ” – In These Times
http://inthesetimes.com/working/entry/21616/chicago_teachers_first_charter_school_strike_acero_rahm_emanuel
There was no Union in Manchester, England in 1750 when the industrial revolution created a new relationship between the owners of the factories and the workers. The attempt to legislate worker-owner relationships has failed utterly. Small wonder that more strikes happen when striking is forbidden by law. The fewest strikes seem to occur when a balance is reached between interest groups. Who would have thought? Montesquieu was right all along. The balance of powers idea is way more sensible than draconian legislation instigated by the few for their own benefit.