CORE members were highly visible at Saturday May 9th’s “Troublemakers School” hosted by Labor Notes and Malcom X. College. CORE members participated in workshops where they learned: how to prepare effective grievances for possible arbitration, fighting back in the public sector, and organizing and bargaining during an economic crisis among other topics crucial for fighting Unionists.
As a caucus of educators, it was not enough for CORE to merely be students. CORE member, delegate and National Board Certified Teacher Karen Lewis co-presented a workshop entitled “Changing Your Union.”
Ms. Lewis gave an overview of the shape of education in Chicago and how it inspired a small group of Chicago Teachers Union activists to work together to change the Union from within. She described how CORE has become a group of educators who are doing the things the Union leadership should be doing, but in their free time for no additional pay. CORE has been collecting data and doing research on such items as: Huberman’s attack on pensions, CPS payroll, and proper staffing of schools.
She then described our January 10th meeting where CORE drew 500 people in a blizzard to talk about school closings. This event led to the formation of the GEM coalition that became a force of positive change in Chicago school reform. The actions of the groups around school closings saved six schools from being closed, phased-out, consolidated, or turned-around over the 2009-2010 school year
Question-and-Answer session concluded the presentation. Karen advocated for term limits on officers and cuts in officer pay as being crucial in keeping leadership’s attention to the needs of the rank-and-file. She discussed the importance of member education and the need for balance between “service Unionism” and activist Unionism.
At the end of the conference, delegate and CORE member Jackson Potter spoke on the closing panel. Jackson spoke about how CORE is effectively changing the culture of the Union. He spoke about how CORE came from a group of teachers who were not interested in leaving the classroom, but were interested in using our brotherhood and sisterhood within the Union to make the classroom a place where we can better serve our students. CORE wants to put a stop to the culture of “the further you get away from the classroom, the bigger the rewards.”
This was a great day of learning and teaching for the Educators at CORE. Being a member-driven caucus, and not a personality-driven one means that a lot of work needs to be done in self-education and educating the public. Saturday’s event was another instance of that dedication to education.
