Editorial: From Tragedy to farce in the Chicago Teacher's Union
Watching Marilyn Stewart sell out to Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley on August 30, then lie to her own delegates on August 31, then stuff the ballot boxes for the contract referendum on September 10, then announce a fraudulent contract vote on September 11, we were actually surprised to see that she even bothered to complain to the Chicago Board of Education on October 24 that thousands of her members were being underpaid. After all, Stewart’s priorities and those of her colleagues at CTU headquarters are now clear: rake in as much as possible, keep your take from being reported to the membership of the union, and scream at anyone who disagrees with you.
Stewart’s begging before the Chicago Board of Education on October 24 had all the dignity of a well-trained dog begging for a Milk Bone. She tried to look stern, but the ignorance that permeates her regime meant that when Arne Duncan shunted her over to a patronage hack with no knowledge of the school system, she just smiled fiercely and tried to make conversation — instead of glaring at Duncan and demanding that he solve the problem immediately.
Who the hell is “M. Hill Hammock” and what did he do before he became the third highest paid person in public education in Chicago six months ago. One thing is certain, M. Hill Hammock doesn’t know the first thing about the city’s public schools, even though the public education budget is paying his $170,000 salary. Stewart should have know that. But by the time she was shunted to Hammock, she was beyond shame. She doesn’t have the researchers to tell her when she’s being insulted or the dignity to recognized an insult when it’s being rubbed into her nose in front of thousands of people.
Stewart told the Chicago Board of Education that her staff has had to file more than 700 grievances on behalf of teachers and others who have been underpaid — or not paid at all — since CPS totally screwed up its payroll systems by introducing an expensive new payroll software package in March 2007 without testing the thing to see if it worked.
If Chicago really had “accountability” for anyone but the poor and the workers, Arne Duncan — along with his buddy CIO Robert Runcie — would have been fired by last May, when the debacle called “People Soft” became clear. Instead of accountability, Duncan, Runcie, and the contractors who screwed up the payroll system moved on to implement IMPACT, the equally messed up student attendance and grading system, on the same basis.
Stewart really doesn’t care what happens to the union. If she did, she wouldn’t have taken that venal contract she rammed through on behalf of Mayor Daley in August and September. And if she knew how to spell “union” she wouldn’t have been inside begging the Board and being insulted by M. Hill Hammock, but outside on Clark Street with 20,000 teachers demanding that justice be done immediately.
It used to be in Chicago that the most basic union item — pay — meant “You pay me or we wait until you do.” There is no reason for Stewart to allow such insults to Chicago’s teachers except one. She knows that her own members are too sadly disorganized to call her out for her crimes against unionism.
