By Earl Kelly Prince

Now more than ever the survival of the Chicago Teachers Union depends on the education and commitment of its members.

In order for us to understand the imperative of maintaining a real union and the absolute necessity of regaining and protecting tenure, we must reflect on the history of the CTU and of tenure.

If one is unaware of where he or she came from, the person will not be aware of where he or she is or where is going. Be aware of your history, or you are destined to repeat it.

There was a time (over 60 years ago) when one had to know a politician to be appointed as a teacher in Chicago. Finally, someone decided that it didn’t make much sense to base hiring and firing a teacher on politics. Thus a tenure law was enacted. January 1999 — 137 tenured teachers fired

On January 25, 1999, 137 regularly appointed tenured teachers were fired by the Board. Combined these 137 teachers represented over 2000 years of service to the Chicago Public Schools. These teachers had been designated by the Chicago Board of Education as “Reassigned Teachers.” Earlier they were called “Reserve Teachers.” Initially, they were called Supernumerary Teachers.

What is a reassigned teacher and what is tenure in terms of the Illinois Tenure Act?

Who may become a reassigned teacher?

You!

It does not matter whether you have two years or 30. If your school closes or is redesignated or reclassified you become a reassigned teacher and may be fired in one year. In one case a teacher with 30 years of superior ratings was fired after becoming reassigned.

Over the past ten years, the Chicago Board of Education has continued to arbitrarily close schools or redesignate or reclassify them. Each year more and more well qualified tenured teachers are being fired.

Education Support Personnel staff are treated even worse.

The Illinois Tenure Act

The Illinois Tenure Act is applicable to teachers in cities containing a population of 500,000 or more (Chicago) and is found in two sections, 34-84 and 34-85 of the School Code. Section 34-84 governs the appointment and promotion of teachers, while Section 34-85 controls removal of teachers.

Section 34-84 in relevant part states that after a probationary period of three years (four years after January 1, 1998) appointments and promotions of teachers shall be made on merit only.

Section 34-85 states that a teacher, after successfully serving a probationary period, shall not be removed except for cause.

The firing of those 137 teachers was the beginning of history repeating itself.

The Amendatory Act of 1995

The Amendatory Act of 1995 was a complete takeover of the Chicago Public Schools by the State Legislature. It is 137 pages of unprecedented attacks on the Chicago Teachers Union and labor unions throughout the state. The legislation fashioned by the business community, conservative legislators from suburban and downstate communities, and the Republican governor purported to be the last word on solving all the problems for Chicago’s public schools. Unfortunately for the 400,000 children attending these schools, nothing in the bill improves the way they learn and are taught. Instead of education reform, it amounts to education “deform.”

The Amendatory Act of 1995 cut a huge hole in the pot of seniority rights of Chicago Public Schools teachers. Before that time, if a teacher lost his or her position because of a decline in enrollment, the closing of an attendance facility, redesignation or reclassification of a school, etc., that teacher became a supernumerary and could bump the most recently appointed teacher. After the Act, regularly appointed teachers were renamed reserve teachers. They could no longer bump but were guaranteed jobs for about two years. Later the two years became one year to find a teaching position or be honorably terminated (fired).

Mean-spirited politics

Chicago Teachers Union, President (at that time) Thomas H. Reece, commented on the Act: “This is not legislation to reform education for the 400,000 children of Chicago, this is a mean spirited and venal action taken to destroy the Chicago Teachers Union.”

The Amendatory Act of 1995 will long live in infamy in the public school teacher labor movement, especially with the targets of the Act being the Chicago Teachers Union members and the employees of the Chicago Public Schools. The Act was an amendment to the Illinois School Code.

The Act was unprecedented in Illinois in that the General Assembly had never before passed legislation that materially altered key provisions of collective bargaining agreement negotiated by the Chicago Board of Education and the Chicago Teachers Union. De-mandated under the Act were formerly mandated subjects of bargaining. This unwarranted intrusion into the collective bargaining process was perhaps the ultimate clash between labor and politics.

Although the State of Illinois had not had a Democratic governor for the past 20 years, nevertheless, the Democrats were in control of both Houses of the General Assembly during that period until 1992, when the Republican won control of the Senate. In 1994, for the first time in about 20 years, the Republican romp left the General Assembly and the governor’s chair in Illinois under the solid control of the “Chicago-Teachers-Union-hating” Republicans.

Renaissance 2010

As Renaissance 2010 happens, seniority as a practical matter will cease to exist and is out the window. Are we again heading backwards? Shamefully yes.

The truly great leaders of the national, state, and local unions have passed on and unfortunately have been replaced by inexperienced heartless and sometimes clueless leaders.

You are the union. Now more than ever we must understand that each member is the union, not just the leadership. The Employee Discipline Code

As if systematically taking away seniority from teachers and education support staff were not enough, the Board of Education continues to support and rubber stamp an Employee Discipline Code that is brutal and inherently unfair to CTU members and to all employees of the Board of Education. Under the Employee Discipline Code, the principal or supervisor charges the teacher or ESP, tries the teacher or ESP, convicts the teacher or ESP and sentences the employee-only to be rubber stamped by the Office of Labor Relations.

No one is free unless everyone is free

An Employee Discipline Code that allows one administrator to charge you, conduct a trial, convict you, and sentence you, confident that the sentence will be upheld by the Department of Employee and Labor Relations flies in the face of any Due Process and Separation of Power under the U. S. Constitution.

Abuses of members under this policy are rampant and continuous. It does not matter how eloquently one points out the abuses or failure of administrators to follow the provisions of the Employee Discipline Code. The Department of Labor Relations continues to rubber stamp blatant violations and the Board of Education members look the other way.

Call to Action

The reason that unions were formed in the first place was because hostile management continued to be hostile to workers’ rights and to turn a deaf ear to members’ complaints.

Editor’s Note

See the May issue of Substance for information on how you may join a not for profit organization to help protect your seniority rights and such hideous and unfair practices against you by the Chicago Public Schools.

If you want real information without the CTU spin, subscribe to Substance now!