Union busting by CTU leadership a bad reality in the post-Janus era...
While the majority of working class leaders in July 2018 are going to work hard to build (and in some cases rebuilt) unions for both the public and private sectors, a radical problem (or "issue" as some may call it, looms when the unions (in this case the leadership) works to bust their own unions. And in Chicago union women and men need go no further than the current leadership of the Chicago Teachers Union to find examples of union busting by the unions themselves. So while the leaders of my union (I've been a CTU member since 1969) issue regular press releases against Janus and the anti-union spirit behind all the Janus work across the USA, it's also true that the CTU leadership has been working for more than two years to bust the union (the Teamsters) that represents two groups of people who work in the offices of the CTU. And the most recent examples of that attack come with the decision (affirmed by the CTU House of Delegates) to approve a CTU budget which can only be described as "anti union."
A bit of background is necessary here. Complex as it is, the present situation needs to be both reported and analyzed by those who continue to try to build unions.
For more than a decade, through three CTU presidents, the majority of people working for the CTU have been represented by two locals of the Teamsters union. Clerical staff have one local and the field reps have another. Both "sides" (CTU officers) are required by law to negotiate contracts in good faith, following the same collective bargaining rules that apply to the bargaining between the CTU itself and the Chicago Board of Education.
While labor management relations within the Chicago Teachers Union have at times been strained, it is only since the current leadership took over in July 2010 that they have gotten really heated. From the point of view of "labor" (in this case, the workers who work for and at the CTU), the current leadership has been as adept at boss tactics as management over at CPS has been against those represented by the CTU.
By: John Whitfield
Get well soon !
Hope the first treatment went satisfactory, and that you're home again with loved ones. Peace to you G.S., and to all.