Delegates voted against the CTU budget 194-163, but Stewart said her budget 'passed'... CTU president continues lies with June budget, vote
In what is getting to be a habit, the Chicago Teachers Union House of Delegates voted against union president Marilyn Stewart on June 4, 2008, but Stewart announced she had won the vote, then adjourned the meeting.
A pattern that had begun on August 31, 2007, when the union president refused to count the “No” votes against her proposed contract, continued.
The CTU House of Delegates met June 4 for its last monthly meeting of the school year at Plumbers Hall, 1340 West Washington Blvd. The pre-meeting question period began at 4:00 p.m. and the official meeting at 4:30. The main item on the agenda was the union’s budget, and the meeting was heated.
“Divide the House!” By the time the budget had been discussed and the vote was being taken, delegates demanded a “divisioin” of the House. The division took place, but there still was no honest vote count. The call was one not heard at any of these meetings in over three decades of memory. It happened this fateful night over a vote on accepting the budget offered by President Marilyn Stewart. This budget was viewed with suspicion by many. Stewart had just admitted that the Union was in severe financial trouble, but refused to provide details to the members. Despite inheriting a $5 million surplus from former President Deborah Lynch, Stewart had squandered the reserve fund, then admitted to having had to take out $3 million in loans — by early 2008! — to bail out a union which is a yearly $30 million operation. Most of the CTU revenue comes from union dues. She also stated that the American Federation of Teachers would hire a “budget director” for the future oversight of our local’s finances.
June 2008 was the third month that Stewart did not deliver on her promise of transparency for the Union’s financial affairs. The delegates still had not received the promised contracts of the officers, field reps, consultants, and other Union staffers so that they could see how the Union monies had been spent. More and more felt that Marilyn Stewart had raided the piggy bank on behalf of herself and her cohorts. In yet another futile attempt to get an honest count of how the delegates voted on this all-important budget for the next fiscal year, I called for this division of the House after the vote on the budget had begun.
June 12, 2008. Former Chicago Teachers Union President Deborah Lynch (center) pickets outside the Merchandise Mart during the brief hearings on the charges against CTU Vice President Ted Dallas. One of the ironies noted by CTU activists after the charges were brought against Ted Dallas was that all factions of the union — including some members of the United Progressive Caucus (UPC) still allied with President Marilyn Stewart — protested the charges against Dallas. Substance photo by George N. Schmidt.
Those voting “Yes” were sent to stand to the left of the stage as you face out from the stage into the hall. Those voting “No” were sent to the right. It was remembered in time, this time, that there are always Union staffers and other non-voting delegates and members on the floor of the hall whose “votes” can sometimes be illegally counted. This night they were finally separated out and stood in the back of the hall in what was to me a surprisingly large number.
June 4, 2008. Attorney Lawrence Poltrock (right) talks with Tom Starnicky (center) outside the Chicago Teachers Union House of Delegates meeting while Jay Rehak and Gerald Adler leaflet in the backgroun. During the meeting, CTU President Marilyn Stewart continued to refuse to provide the union’s members with detailed information about the union’s expenses since her election in May 2004. During that time, Stewart had gone through the union’s $5 million reserve fund and then borrowed $3 million to cover a growing deficit. One of the greatest added expenses for the union was legal work by the firm of "Poltrock and Poltrock". Despite the fact that CTU members have been demanding to know how much money Stewart had spent on Poltrock’s services since she took office in August 2004, Stewart was able to avoid financial transparency and announced that her proposed budget had been approved when in fact it had been rejected by a vote of 194 to 168. Union members in the balcony of Plumbers Hall counted the actual vote and confirmed the total against Marilyn Stewart, but Stewart's counters announced the other vote, while Stewart's lawyers defended her right to ignore the members and delegates. Substance photo by George N. Schmidt.
Vote counting the John O’Brill way
Sergeants-at-arms counted and John O’Brill, a teacher and Pension Fund President, tabulated, it would be supposed, in his usual way. O’Brill’s usual way, a sergeant-at-arms and several other erstwhile Stewart loyalists (under the promise of anonymity) have said, is that he always adds to the counts of the sections by keeping in mind those who hadn’t made it to the meeting and how he feels they would have voted. He also seems to be adding the total number of sergeants-at-arms and the officers.
Those of us who were against accepting this budget because of the Union’s continued lack of financial transparency thought that we had found a way to counter O’Brill’s counting methodology. Everyone was standing. Independent counters harassed
Union dissidents had placed at least five human counters in the visitors’ balcony. All had a perfect view of the proceedings. However, it seems Marilyn Stewart had a strategy in place there, meant to circumvent any counting. One of the counters in the balcony, former Englewood High School Delegate Jackson Potter (on a one-year study leave) was threatened with arrest by a security guard just for counting. Potter was escorted out of the union meeting by security just for counting.
Carol Caref, former Delegate from Chicago Vocational Academy (also on study leave) succeeded in finishing her count (as had Potter) on the budget vote and narrowly avoided being removed herself. She had earlier managed to hold up one sign showing the vote count on a motion to close debate, but was unable to hold up a sign for the budget vote count. Carol Caref stated, “Early on, the harassment by the security personnel made it impossible to call out the vote counts from the balcony as had been planned.” Other counters were former Delegate from Marquette School, Sarah Loftus (now retired), Xian Barrett (from Julian High School), and another teacher who will remain anonymous for the time being.
When I looked up at 5:30 p.m., there were approximately thirty visitors in the balcony. Visitors are those who are union members, but not delegates. They cannot be on the floor of the hall.
During the counting, there were Delegates on the floor who tried to go over and count with the counters, but like Delegate Lois Jones of Schurz High School, were told they would be removed if they didn’t go stand with the other delegates left or right.
The only way to get an honest count We should have known that the only way the count would be honest was if the count was done out loud moving people over as they were counted or moving them into the seats, say in visible rows of tens.
It’s an ignoble circumstance that we have been forced to have such mistrust of our union leaders, but hopefully it is a circumstance that can be changed. How appropriate that Delegate Josephine Perry — of Tanner Elementary School — led a few of us in singing “We shall overcome,” while we watched the counting take place.
Budget loses — 194 No votes to 163 Yes. Stewart says the budget passed! While someone in the balcony did emit a loud cry of disbelief when Marilyn announced the vote count to be 175 for the budget and 170 against, there was no way that the teachers in the balcony could let those of us in the hall know the truth of the matter because of the way there were being “hassled,” to use Carol Caref’s description. The balcony vote count showed clearly that the budget had been voted down by a vote of 163 in favor of passing the budget and 194 against the budget. However, again the forces of Marilyn stole victory and Marilyn said the budget passed.
When I heard no protest from the balcony, I thought that the budget had actually passed and that no further protest was possible.
Ostenburg: “Adjourn the meeting,”
Delegate Karen Lewis of King High School said of the scene that followed: “John Ostenburg, Marilyn’s Chief of Staff — who is not a union member and has never been a Chicago teacher — ran down the aisle screaming, ‘Adjourn the meeting!’ and the meeting was adjourned immediately at approximately 6:30 p.m.”
Head hung low, I was noticing nothing at this point, and after leaving the meeting smoked my first cigarettes in nine months. Immediately after those, luckily, I quit again.
As the poet Paul Lawrence Dunbar wrote, “ ‘Lias, ‘lias, bless de Lawd! Don’ you know de day’s abroad?...Bet ef I come crost dis flo’....” I’d like to think that we would have “come crost dis flo’” to confront our Union chiefs had we known how once again they had lied.
Parliamentary maneuvering
Friends of President Marilyn Stewart tried to shut down the question and answer period on the budget, but they did not succeed, as a two-thirds vote was necessary. Marilyn even tried then to recount the “Yes” votes, but the uproar from the delegates with whom the Parliamentarian concurred stopped her.
I managed to get to the microphone earlier and made the following motion before the division of the House took place in order that the Delegates would all understand that the budget need not be passed this day and also to be able to give some arguments against approving the budget at this time in case a loyalist of the Union chiefs decided to close debate quickly:
“I move to postpone a vote on the proposed budget until the House of Delegates can reconvene during a special meeting of the House set during the summer when the following documents can be provided to the House of Delegates:
“1. all staff contracts, including officers, field representatives, consultants, and all others
“2. line item disaggregated budget [where you can tell what each cell phone perk, auto perk, or annuity bonus paid by the Union, etc., costs per staff member rather than the way the presented budget lumps all of those amounts together so that these perks and benefits remain secret]
“3. independent forensic examination of all accounts, CTU income and expenditures of the past four years of the Stewart administration
“4. contracts showing the terms of all loans
“5. claimed expenses paid for all staff including the President and other officers.”
The Parliamentarian John Murphy ruled that my moving to postpone the vote on the budget meant the same thing as to table the motion and Marilyn ruled my motion out of order.
Wrestling at the microphones
Shortly after, I was forced to leave Mike One, my usual mike, because the sergeants-at-arms there wouldn’t let me make a point of order. I went to Mike Two, where I made my point of order challenging the chair’s ruling. I made my point despite the wrestling match Stewart-loyalist Delegate Christian Nze of Attucks School forced on me by grabbing the hand with which I held the mike in his attempt to wrestle the mike away from me. I had to repeatedly yell, “Get your hands off of me,” before I could made my point of order. Former President Lynch supported my point of order with one of her own. She said it was up to the House to decide whether or not to consider my motion. The Parliamentarian said Lynch was correct, adding that a motion to table had to be voted up or down without debate, and a vote was taken.
Motion to postpone vote fails — 173 to 173 — according to Stewart count
The vote to consider my motion to postpone a vote on the budget to a special meeting to be convened in the summer after certain documents were made available to the Delegates was an astounding 173 to 173. President Stewart said that since neither side had a majority, my motion was defeated. One delegate said I should have used the word defer, but I think that was a joke.
After this, three delegates from Stewart’s caucus asked the same scripted question as to how this budget was different from the previous budget, one in such a drawn-out sing-song that the insincerity of the question was blatantly apparent.
Marilyn’s answers were to the effect that certain expense amounts would be smaller due to the retirements of a number of field reps and consultants whose positions would not be refilled.
Delegate Annette Rizzo of Lyon School told Marilyn that she hadn’t cut enough spending out of the budget. Stewart’s answer was “You’d cut the very people protecting your rights?”
“The belt would be tightened for whom?” a delegate asks Marilyn
When President Stewart was asked if she and the officers would personally take some cuts in their phone, car, bonus, and other expense monies to repay the Union monies squandered in that way, she said “No.” You see, the cuts would come from the Union having fewer field reps to give service to the members and other belt-tightenings that would affect only the members. There would be no savings out of Marilyn’s pocket even though she’s the one who broke the bank spending on herself and her political cronies.
When Vice President Ted Dallas asked her how we could have a balanced budget when the Treasurer Linda Porter hadn’t been allowed to act as Treasurer since December, 2007, Marilyn answered, “The budget is valid, Mr. Dallas.”
Cost-cutting the Marilyn Stewart way
There was no end-of-the-year thank-you party put on for the delegates after this June meeting, but staffers and delegates in the UPC (the United Progressive Caucus, Marilyn’s political party in the Union) headed off to one of their many expensive haunts for a dinner the officers traditionally pay for, according to Vice President Dallas. Dallas says that one of his questioned receipts was for his share of one of these dinners.
Possibly in another attempt at cost containment, the retiree summer luncheon did not have Teddy Thomas’s fine vocals and band, only recorded music. I don’t know if that was part of the tightening of the Union belt. Also, instead of a May and a June issue of the Union newspaper, we got a combined issue. The paper has of late had more typos — but that wouldn’t be a cost-cutting measure — and even some major errors, as this latest issue had the lists of absent delegates confused with the list of recently deceased Union members. The paper also makes reference to Delegates’ attendance slips, and those haven’t been used in years for attendance. There are now sign-in sheets.
Marilyn cut costs on others earlier
But of course, I have to remember that even before Marilyn had a chance to crash the Union treasury, she cut elected retiree delegates out of the Delegates’ Workshops, and at the first retiree monthly meeting during her administration, there was a never-before-seen sign on each box of muffins saying, “You are allowed to take only one.”
September 11, 2007. Audrey May (above right) at the press conference announcing that the members of the CTU had approved the proposed 2007 - 2012 contract. Audrey May was one of four former CTU employees who had successfully sued the union after they were fired in 2001. All four reached settlements once Marilyn Stewart became CTU president in 2004. Despite the precedent, Marilyn Stewart fired eight union workers in August 2004, costing the union more money by the end of “Schmidt v. CTU” in 2008. Substance photo by George N. Schmidt.
Even then, Marilyn had her priorities straight. She knew the officers and field reps needed their $2,000 cell phone and $7,000 auto (even if you don’t have a car) yearly allowances. CTU staff work 53 paid weeks of an exorbitant salary (the 53rd week a bonus on top of pay for “working” during one week of the Christmas holiday). They get a $1,500 per month expense allowance (Marilyn says she doesn’t have an allowance—in truth because hers is unlimited). They get a 21% annuity on top of pension paid by union dues, all manner of insurance paid by union dues. This may not be everything, but since the delegates were not given the details, no one knows for sure.
Executive Board ousts Vice President Dallas as union member, officer A member of the Union for 38 years, Vice President Ted Dallas was voted out of the Union by a vote of 31 to 5 on August 19, 2008. The vote was taken by the CTU Executive Board. All Executive Board members ran on the UPC slate for the Union election in May 2007, thereby promising loyalty to Marilyn. This Board also upheld the charges (spelled out in the June 2008 Substance) against Dallas 34 to 2.
They did not vote “Yes” to hear his very serious charges against President Stewart when delegate John Kugler had presented them two days before Stewart charged Dallas. In one of the charges against Stewart, for example, she accuses him of having misspent $6,000 in expenses — while he accused her of misspending $500,000.
His dismissal as Vice President is pending the hearing of his appeal, but that will be a done deal with the same CTU Executive Board hearing the appeal. Dallas was not allowed to use his lawyer, but had to serve as his own. Already his position is listed as vacant on the Union website (www.ctunet.com).
September 11, 2007. Diana Sheffer (above center) at the press conference announcing the new contract at CTU headquarters at Chicago’s Merchandise Mary in August 2007. Sheffer had successfully sued the union after she, June Davis, and Audrey May were fired in July 2001 by President Deborah Lynch, who had defeated the United Progressive Caucus in the May 2001 election. Like Audrey May and June Davis, Sheffer resumed working for CTU after Marilyn Stewart ousted Lynch in 2004. Sheffer, who held an appointed position at the union, was fired by Marilyn Stewart in December 2007 as part of the purge that ultimately led to Stewart's subsequent attempt to fire Ted Dallas, an elected officer. Substance photo by George N. Schmidt.
Dallas’s side of the story is told in a posting on the website of his new group, www.csdu.com.
Many delegates and veteran union activists have pointed out that there is nothing in the CTU Constitution and By-laws (unlike that of many other unions) that provides for “firing” or impeaching a duly elected officer. Marilyn used a Constitutional provision used historically only for strikebreakers “who brought the Union into disrepute.”
School year begins with a Stewart letter threatening delegates
The supporters of Ted Dallas say that he is being fired for being critical of Marilyn’s lack of action on behalf of the union members, her circumvention of the House of Delegates, and of her spending policies. If she gets away with firing him on such transparently political grounds and disenfranchising all of those who voted for him, which critic of hers will be next?
Marilyn warns in a letter attached to the meeting notice for the September, 2008, House of Delegates meeting, that “three independent legal opinions have confirmed that the CTU Constitution and By-laws provide no appeal to the House of Delegates regarding the Executive Board’s action.” Then she states that Dallas’s appeal must be to the Executive Board. Yes, she’s correct in so far as that is what the Constitution says in a section meant for strikebreakers or “scabs,” but not for duly elected officers of the Union.
But even if we grant our union President the right to apply this section to an elected officer, the Constitution and By-laws in at least ten different articles assert the rights of the House of Delegates to be the overriding power.
Constitution says Marilyn is wrong
Just to give two examples—Article IX, Section 1 states: “Under the Union membership itself, the decision of the House of Delegates on Union matters shall be supreme and final.” Article VIII, Section 1 states: “The Executive Board shall be directly responsible to the House of Delegates.”
Marilyn says in her letter: “As a result [of the three legal opinions], any motion brought before the House of Delegates which is inconsistent with the Constitution and By-laws will be ruled out of order.” She put this in bold print, and I’m afraid that she’s wrong to think the Constitution says any motion by a Delegate is out of order, when it says the opposite. Witness two more examples from the Constitution—Article VIII, Section 2D states: “Any member at any regular meeting of the House of Delegates may bring to the floor any matter which is relevant to the purposes of the Union.” Article IX, Section 2 states: “[The HOD] shall also hear and may act upon pertinent matters brought before it in due order by any of its members.”
And finally, why did Marilyn not include Articles 6 and 7 in her letter? They clearly state the following: “Subject to the final authority of the membership, the general governing body of the Union shall be the House of Delegates” and “Subject to the direction and sanction by the House of Delegates, as provided in the By-laws, the general administration of the Union shall be the responsibility of the Executive Committee….” Marilyn has now subverted the rights and powers of the House of Delegates for four years and counting. She will be constitutionally in the wrong if she calls Delegates’ motions out of order at this meeting as she threatens to.
The officers’ reports
Treasurer Linda Porter, who might be the next critic of Marilyn’s to be brought up on charges, did not give a report, but it was in the packet on buff paper. Nor did Vice President Dallas.
Marilyn spoke feelingly about Erika Prince, a teacher at Dixon Elementary, who was shot to death in a case of mistaken identity. Her father Curtis Prince was the music teacher at my old high school, Carver. A tragedy. Our condolences. When teachers announced the names of those who had passed away recently, President Stewart gave condolences to Delegate Lou Pyster for the death of his brother Gerald, also a retired social studies teacher.
While CTU President Marilyn Stewart has devoted much of her time recently to trying to fire her elected vice president, Ted Dallas, she has never explained to the members why her administration hired a person (Traci Cobb-Evans, above left) who crossed a picket line during a union strike (1987). Nor has she explained how a “union” program (the “Fresh Start” program, run by CTU staff member Marc Wigler, above center, coming through the door) gives union approval to the firing of tenured teachers. In June 2007, the CPS administration moved to terminate four tenured teachers at Wells High School, citing the provisions of the "Fresh Start" program, which is administered by Wigler out of the CTU Quest Center. A growing number of veteran CTU members are saying that CTU under Marilyn Stewart has become a classic “company union.” Substance photo by George N. Schmidt.
Marilyn also reported on the union’s fight against a virtual school which she said was like the Board subsidizing home schooling while there is such little monies for the schools.
Information gleaned from the pre-meeting question period
Allegra Podrovsky, Delegate from Kelvyn Park High School, pointed out that the wording we voted into the Contract regarding copays in the HMO Illinois plan turned out to be different wording — with greater expense to the Union member — in the final Contract. Peter Ardito, CTU Medical Plan Coordinator, said he would be working on the problem.
Pat Gerard, City-Wide Social Worker delegate, reminded President Marilyn Stewart that she had promised not to give any contracts that went past her present term in office to avoid union employees suing the union and winning the worth of the remainder of their contracts if a new administration is elected. Delegate Gerard said that the Field Rep contracts put up on the web exposed the fact that Marilyn had already given them four-year contracts just as she was promising not to do so. Marilyn answered Gerard by saying that she had only promised that regarding the officers’ contracts.
"Fresh Start" program: Marilyn Stewart helps the Board to fire teachers “correctly”
When asked what’s being done to save people’s jobs (so many had lost their jobs in the turn-arounding of six schools), Marilyn said, “We’re making sure proper procedure is followed.” She also added, “We need our paraprofessionals, but if they don’t have the funds…” [This, at a time when the CPS has great reserves that should have gotten us a far better contract with far better job protections.] Because of Marilyn’s version of the Fresh Start mentoring program at Wells High School, four tenured teachers were fired with no help from the Union. Marilyn’s director of the program (Marc Wigler) wrote a memo saying that the principal of Wells should have Ted Dallas arrested if he tried to enter the school again to give Union help to these teachers because, he said, it was so important that these firings are effected smoothly. What was Marilyn doing about school closings [since she had totally capitulated to Mayor Daley at Contract time]? She said she’s trying to get evening “user-friendly” Board meetings so teachers can come to them to complain. Board meetings are now held during the day when teachers are working. She reiterated her complaint that even the teachers at schools that were being closed didn’t come out to her rallies at Operation Push. [Now both of those are real actions taken, Marilyn.]
Report Card Pick-up Day will never be on a Friday, Marilyn stated to loud cheering.
When asked if our Union is current with dues paid to our affiliates, she said we were current to May so that our AFT delegates could be seated at the July convention.
Delegate Diane Blaszczyk of Onahan School asked where teachers could draw the line at the jobs our principals would have us do when it’s end-of-the-year cleaning-out-classrooms time. Marilyn had no clear answer to that that I could understand.
Jack Silver, Delegate from Robinson School, said the Union membership was down by 8,000 members since the time of Vaughn, Reece, and Lynch, and yet there were more staff members during the Stewart administration. Why? he asked. President Stewart said that five field reps were retiring and their positions would not be filled.
Peter Ardito, Coordinator, said that people with medical insurance problems should call him directly not complain through a third person, the Delegate.
“Vote the sucker down,” a frustrated delegate says of the Budget
Retiree delegate Lou Pyster said that a motion passed in April that the officers’ and field reps’ contracts would be given the delegates. He stated that this was not done in May, and now not in June. Recording Secretary Mary MacGuire said that the Field Rep contracts had been posted by someone on the blog and the administrator contracts were destroyed some time before the audit was completed and so there were no contracts issued for the term beginning July 1st. She said, “You can see the lump sum amounts in the budget.” Pyster’s rejoinder was that the contracts for the first term were no doubt available for reference. In disgust, he accused the Stewart administration of continuous stonewalling and said regarding the budget, “Vote the sucker down!”
Stewart stepped in to say that the union administrators were private sector employees and that asking our union to file financial disclosure documents under the Landrum-Griffin Act, known as LM2’s was just catering to Republican anti-union jargon.
The Delegates Directory finally published on-line, but without home phone numbers
To Delegate Karen Lewis of “King College Preparatory School” [I generally call all of them “High Schools”], Stewart said that the Delegates Directory [which Stewart’s administration was the first to refuse to print and continued to refuse for over a year] was on line as of today. [The trouble is that only school phones are given, whereas the past administrations listed with permission the home phone numbers of Delegates. Very few Delegates chose to opt out of giving their phones. Of course, for Stewart, it’s better this way with less democracy in the House when Delegates can’t confer.]
There was no answer to someone’s question, “What are you doing besides taking our dues?” If there was I couldn’t hear it, nor did I hear the male delegate’s name.
To another question, former Grievance Coordinator (now possibly retiring Consultant-at-Large) Gail Koffman explained that if a PAT (provisionally assigned teacher) goes on maternity leave before completing the fourth year for tenure, she will have to complete the year when she returns.
Delegate Deborah Woo of Sheridan School was assured that a Golden Apple winner would be paid during the awarded sabbatical, and would not lose his/her position.
Again, No contracts for the officers exist, this time per Marilyn Stewart
Delegate Mark Ainsworth of Kelly High School gave the Union chiefs the grilling they deserved about the non-existent officers’ contracts. How could there be no contracts? he asked. Like, did you do them on a typewriter and make no copies? Stewart answered that the original contracts with signatures were lost and therefore there were no contracts for the officers that could be shown to the Delegates.
There was also “no digital, no backup without the original signed contracts.” Take that, you gullible selegates.
When asked when a principal must let PATs know that they have lost their position due to financial constraints, Grievance Coordinator Colleen Dykas said that there was nothing in the Contract or state law for when a budget-cut person was to be notified.
When failing CPS software programs torture teachers, send an email Delegate Veronica Rieck of Lafayette School said that Impact [the computer program with student info] had gone down system wide, and with report cards due Friday, “something has to be done for us,” she said. “We need help.” Stewart said that we had become technicians, not teachers. She repeated her mantra about wanting the Impact person to come to school and do that data. Colleen Dykas said they met with CPS chiefs regarding this problem the past Wednesday and they indicated they had no information from the schools and principals that there were any problems. Both Stewart and Dykas emphasized that emails should be sent to Bob Runcie at the CPS every time the system fails.
Dykas said, “We have to put the onus back on the Board. They act as if the system is going on perfectly.” Lying in plain sight — When a President also stoops to hypocrisy
Delegate Kevin Condon of Stevenson School asked if it wasn’t true that Stewart had hired back three “field reps” at the cost of $1.2 million. While Stewart knew that the three cases he was referring to were those of three staffers to whom (among others) former President Tom Reece gave contracts past his term in office when he saw that Lynch was going to win the election, Stewart decided to prevaricate by describing a set of different cases. She said that her predecessor (Deborah Lynch) had handed out contracts past her term. She said that those people sued the Union and the settlements came to be paid during Stewart’s term — as if the $1.2 million were settlements for the people that Lynch had hired.
In this case, the reality was that Stewart had fired Lynch hirees who still had a year left on their contracts. By contrast, Lynch had not fired any of Reece’s hired field reps, and only three other fired staffers sued the Union under Lynch [see Page Nine, bottom]. When Marilyn came into power she settled those three cases of UPC loyalists — reportedly for the astronomic amount of $1.2 million. This is quite possibly for twice as much as the eight other Lynch employees got when Marilyn finally settled with them [see Page Twenty]. Marilyn’s stalling cost the Union even greater sums in attorneys’ fees. Stewart even rehired the three UPC friends for salaries and perks equally astronomic to hers. I stayed quiet behind Stewart’s deliberate obfuscation of the issue.
Should CTU be sued when it’s wrong?
However, later during the question period on the budget, Stewart having gotten away with misrepresenting the two separate cases and confusing the issue, she tried it again when Delegate Debby Pope of Gage Park High School, a director during the Lynch administration, began to question Stewart about various excessive expenses in the budget. Stewart kept interrupting her repeatedly with what she thought was a killer question: Did you not sue the Union?
I went to the mike with a point of order. I said to Stewart, “It was your three people who sued the Union, having gotten the first-of-their-kind contracts which extended past Reece’s term, and you settled with them for $1.2 million and then rehired them.” Those people were Audrey May, Diana Sheffer, and June Davis. The hypocrisy! I exclaimed. Stewart said nothing.
Reprise — For whom the belt tightens
One more story about our President Marilyn now on the virtuous road of cutting Union expenses while not hurting her own pocket: Delegate Susan Steinmiller of Gage Park High School tells how she was to be a recipient of the Union’s Wardell Award for fighting discrimination against gays, lesbians, and the transgendered at the classroom and school level.
She called a few days in advance to confirm the time and place of the award dinner, only to be told there was to be no dinner: The Union could not afford it. She was told when to come to receive her award. When she arrived with family, friends, and colleagues in tow, they were all put into a dark, warm room and kept there for an hour just waiting. When they complained that they hadn’t been offered even water, some sodas were brought to them. Steinmiller and company saw just outside this room a table with a grand buffet and thought that the Union had changed its mind and was going to provide dinner for them after all. “Oh, no,” they were told, “Those refreshments are for the Executive Board meeting.” To paraphrase a famous work of literature: “Ask not for whom the belt tightens. It tightens for thee.” At least in our Union it does.
No newspaper photo, no awards dinner, no applause for Gage Park High activist
A footnote: Though the Union newspaper had photos of many recipients of various awards, Susan Steinmiller’s photo was not in the paper. When she spoke to President Stewart, the president assured her that it was not the policy of her administration, but then-Editor John Ostenburg never called her. Steinmiller also states that as she was going up to receive her award, former Union lobbyist and now consultant Pam Massarsky was telling people, “Don’t clap for her. We don’t clap for people from Gage Park.” [Former President Lynch now teaches at Gage Park High School.]
[Published in the September 2008 Edition of Substance].
