Chicago Teachers Union joined by AFL-CIO at Friday's rally | Mark Weyermuller photo
Chicago Now's Dennis Byrne gives another perspective on the Chicago Teachers Union one-day strike:
At first, the Chicago Teachers Union said that the one-day walkout on Friday, April 1, was because its members were getting shafted by the Chicago Public School system. Shafted, as in being asked to shoulder some of the efforts to keep CPS' from falling into bankruptcy.
Then, gee, someone must have realized that depriving students of a day of school might look a little selfish. Bad public relations. Can't let anyone think that we'd be doing it for our own benefit.
So, someone came up with the brilliant idea: We're on strike for a higher purpose. We're doing it to draw attention to the "underfunding" of the schools and the cheating of the students out of a "quality education." In other words, the same old threadbare BS about how "we're doing it for the children."
It's not persuasive or honest.
The only reason for a strike was for the Chicago Teachers Union to show how powerful it is, and don't you forget it. See, we can shut down the schools. See, we can screw the parents, making them scramble for alternate day care. See, we can shut down the Loop during rush hour.
Read the rest HERE.
