Members of the Chicago Teachers Union voted to accept the tentative agreement that will bring school workers back to in-person teaching by 68%.
I’m a CPS high school teacher and I was in the 32%. Not because I didn’t think the union officers secured us the best possible deal with the Mayor and Board of Education, but because after 17 years in the system. I do not trust CPS.
Chicago Tribune:
An executive board member and delegate from Ogden International High School, Kenzo Shibata, shared a nuanced perspective, indicating he thought the deal should be sent to members but that as a member he would vote no.
“After 17 years in the system, I know that their promises are as good as dirt. Once we enter our buildings, the risk is all on us. I will strike before I put my family at risk,” Shibata wrote. “I’m also proud of the TA the officers fought for. It’s far more than the board would have ever offered us without the threat of a strike, but I just can’t trust CPS. So, I’ll be voting YES on giving the deal to membership to vote on it.”
I do not blame my CTU siblings for taking the deal. Teachers and education workers love children. We are Chicago’s caretakers. And our mayor knows this, and exploited this. A strike would be catastrophic. However, what we are looking forward to will also be catastrophic.
The mayor opened schools today, while the majority of school workers are not vaccinated. She opened the schools with a press conference where she lambasted the Chicago Teachers Union AFTER we acquiesced to her threats.
One thing that should be clear from the standoff where the mayor almost forced teachers into a strike during a global pandemic, is that teachers are being forced out of the Professional Managerial Class (PMC).
The PMC is a group of middle class professionals is distinguished from other social classes by their training and education. They exist within the proletariat, but are often the managers of the working class. Teachers are have always held a tenuous position in the PMC as there is little professional advancement for teachers and when teachers are practicing radical pedagogy, they are not managing workers as would bureaucrats or union staff.
In good times, the PMC’s job is to enjoy the bounty with workers. In bad times, the PMC limits the expectations of workers. Think about sell-out union leaders who force bad contracts down the throats of workers.
What we’re seeing now is that teachers are being purged from the PMC. We are now being thrust back into the pile of wage workers that we SHOULD HAVE been forging solidarity with for decades.
The American Federation of Teachers foolishly branded itself the “Union of Professionals” to put us at odds with our blue-collar siblings who have been just as fucked by capital. It should be no surprise that our Democratic president is leading the charge to get teachers and students COVID.
We are no longer “professionals.” That time is over. We are fodder. We are fodder just like ditch diggers and bus drivers. We must embrace ourselves as members of the working class. As our bosses use our bodies to score points with the Democratic Party in DC, we need to organize working class formations that will force their hands.
All we have is solidarity.
Kenzo
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