CORE victory party June 11, 2010
Anticipation turned into excitement after years of organizing and months of campaigning when the word came to CORE that it was winning the June 11, 2010 runoff election for the leadership of the Chicago Teachers Union. After the announcement of the vote tallies 10:15 pm from the American Arbitration Association (AAA) that showed CORE with a 2,000 vote lead over the incumbent UPC party candidates and supporters of CORE at an election night party held at Mr. Brown’s Lounge, reacted with excitement that CORE was on the verge of a major victory for public education and union labor.
The new president-elect and vice president elect of the Chicago Teachers Union, Karen Lewis and Jesse Sharkey, cheer upon learning that with 75 percent of the votes counted, CORE was on the way to a landslide victory in the June 11 CTU runoff election. Substance photo by Garth Liebhaber.Karen Lewis CORE Presidential candidate told Substance and the crowd: “We have a lot of work to do to rebuild our union. I am so proud and humbled that we were pushed forward by all of our supporters that are sick and tired of being taken for granted by Mayor Daley and Ron Huberman. We are sending a message that the business model for education is a failure and destroying public education across this country.”
“This is a fantastic development. Teachers and PSRP’s of Chicago have spoken and voted that they want a change in the direction and the union," said Jesse Sharkey CORE Vice-Presidential candidate. "Now we need to unite and work together to defend public education. On Monday we are all public school employees. We are all being attacked. We are all facing the same threats to our profession. Therefore we need to immediately unite and fight together as a united union.”
“We all need to get together to send a clear and direct message that teachers and PSRP’s are not going to take it anymore,” said Kristine Mayle CORE Financial Secretary candidate and now financial secretary elect of the 30,000-member union.
Jackson Potter Co-Chair of CORE: “This is a victory for teachers, students and parents throughout the country. The reform agenda of the last 10 years is incorrect and never represented what was best for public education. It is time for teachers to create educational policy instead of being abused by it.”
Karen Lewis speaks to the crowd at the victory party while Kristine Mayle and Jess Sharkey look on. Substance photo by Garth Liebhaber.Zulma Violeta CORE High School Vice-President: “We struggled to win. Now we will unite to fight privatization and the destruction of public education as brothers and sisters in a common cause against those that what to profit from our children and destroy our profession.”
