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Teachers Union Offers To Compromise On Pensions

Greg Hinz Crain's Chicago Business
Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis specifically said the union is willing to consider reducing benefits for those who still are working, although she emphatically ruled out changes for members who already have retired. But such compromise wont come until the city and the school board agree to contribute more to pensions each year in order to at least partially make up for a contribution shortfall that occurred during much of the past two decades.

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Two Roads Forward: The AFL-CIO's New Agenda

Nelson Lichtenstein Dissent Magazine (Winter 2014)
The AFL–CIO is a multifaceted institution composed of scores of autonomous unions, so President Richard Trumka’s leadership can hardly turn around this cumbersome vessel all that quickly. But the new emphasis is clear: the unions should ally with progressive partners and devote more energy to make the kind of changes in social policy that can benefit millions of poorly paid and insecure workers.

The Rise of Chicago's 99% Against Rahm Emanuel, "Mayor 1%"

Mark Karlin, Truthout Interview Truthout
Will Rahm Emanuel's effort to establish a privatized neoliberal outpost in Chicago succeed? Not if the ongoing uprising brushfires turn from kindling wood into a contemporary Chicago fire of political resistance. Kari Lydersen, author of "Mayor 1%," tells Truthout Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel is representative of the neoliberal wing of the Democratic party, and he's getting significant pushback in his efforts to expand privatization and limit protests.

Chicago School Closings-Largest in US History

Diane Ravitch, Mark Naison, Karen Lewis, Randi Weingarten
Never in U.S. history has a local school board - or any other board, appointed or elected - chosen to close 49 public schools. School closings are part and parcel of a strategy for remaking the American metropolis and will further cement economic inequality. "Today is a day of mourning for the children of Chicago. Their education has been hijacked by an unrepresentative, unelected corporate school board. Closing schools is not an education plan."

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Fiery Chicago Teachers Union President Reelected

Valerie Strauss The Washington Post
Lewis won about 80 percent of the votes, soundly defeating a candidate representing a coalition of groups that used to run the union until Lewis took office three years.

Chicago Teachers Fight On

Karen Lewis, the fiery leader of the Chicago Teachers Union who led a strike last year and became a nationally known anti-school reform figure, has been elected to another three-year term as president. Today she will lead the first of three days of protests against Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s plan to close 54 public schools. New report issued on 59th anniversary of Brown v Board of Ed and history of disruptive actions against communities of color by Chicago Public Schools.

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Holding the Line For Chicago Teachers Union

Lee Sustar SOCIALISTWORKER.org
President Karen Lewis and the Caucus of Rank and file Educators (CORE successfully defeated Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel and his corporate allies. They deserve support in the current union election

Defending Public Education - Mass Arrests in Chicago Protests

Gary Younge, Robert C. Koehler
Mass school closings are a brutally vivid example of the disconnected politics of Chicago. This is the status quo that is no longer tolerable.More than 100 people arrested while taking part in mass civil disobedience against Rahm Emanuel's cuts and closures. Gary Younge reports from Chicago. Robert Koehler details impact on urban poor neighborhoods.
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