IARA Update: Truth Tour and a Birthday Party

Hey kids, Maddie here with an update from the IARA campaign:

The Truth Tour is upon us in just a week now and we are working hard to turn people out for the event! We have gotten some RSVPs for each site but we are still reaching out to senior centers, retirement homes and civic organizations to spark people's interest (especially in Aurora, where the IARA does not have a large constituency). I was also able to gain some insight
into the event planning side of organizing by helping Emily (the IARA organizer) find hotels within our budget in each of the three cities and figure out where to get donuts and coffee the morning of. It looks like the Truth Tour is coming together!

Last week we also hosted a birthday party for Medicare, with Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky as our guest of honor! Check out some pictures from the event:

CMSA Action! (Part 2)

Maddie did a great job of covering the CMSA action we got an opportunity to be part of this past Thursday. For those of you that would like to know more about the action we now have a short YouTube video documenting how CMSA parents, teachers, alumni, students, and neighbors that came together this past Thursday to advocate for a better school. What I enjoy most about the video is that it serves as a testament of the empowering and transformative effect an organizing campaign has on a community. Labor unions, as democratic organizations of middle class and working people, belong to us all.

After witnessing such a positive gathering this past Thursday I now have no doubt that the path to true school reform lies not in those that are seeking to make a profit off of public school funds, but in the collective action of each individual school's stake holders - the students, teachers, parents, and community members.



The next time you hear someone attack teacher unions you let them know that they've got the story all wrong. No one cares more about students than their educators, no one can advocate for students needs more effectively than an educator with a union contract.

CMSA Action!

Last week we attended an action in support of charter school teachers at the Chicago Math and Science Academy and their initiative to organize. Teachers have been laid off from the school for budget reasons, yet the administration has hired Seyfarth Shaw to represent them against the teachers. One of the teachers laid off was Rhonda Hartwell, who at the time was pregnant and subsequently had to deliver her baby early because her insurance was about to run out. Despite receiving excellent reviews during her time at the school, Rhonda's job was cut; coincidentally, Rhonda also led the initiative to unionize the teachers at CMSA.

See this article by Kim Bobo of Interfaith Worker Justice: http://gapersblock.com/mechanics/2010/08/09/chicago-math-and-sciences---the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/

See also this article from the Chicago Schools Blog: http://www.chicagonow.com/blogs/district-299/2010/08/cmsa-pregnant-charter-teacher-fired-for-organizing.html

Check out some pictures from the event (and see more in our Facebook album):

Workers Coming Together

Getting to meet workers and hear their stories has been one of the most rewarding parts of Union Summer for me. This past week I was able to sit in at a meeting with AFSCME organizers and some workers interested unionizing their facility due to the problems they have faced there (see earlier post).

The interesting part was that some of the workers present did not even know each other, and many that did had not heard each others’ stories because they were separated by different shifts. They were isolated. As such, they were not fully aware that their individual experiences were really part of larger trends.

But as they shared their stories of chronic understaffing, workplace injuries left unaddressed, demeaning supervisors, depressed compensation, and even pressure they had received to break the law by lying about billing, they expressed outrage and support for one another. This bonded them together and seemed to rouse them to a place where they could feel that theirs was a shared experience resulting from a shared position. A position without meaningful voice before a management team that is largely dismissive to their concerns.

The organizers helped build the workers’ collective indignation towards a constructive energy, emphasizing the need to “be at the table” with management when key decisions are made, like the recent one to switch health care insurers from one of the best in the state to one that is notorious for denying claims across the nation. Instead of having to work under the fear that speaking out on workplace issues will land them in hot water, the organizers emphasized the alternative that bargaining collectively would provide them: "being able to sit across the table from management as equals.”

Of course, since management has learned about the union drive afoot, its behavior has improved somewhat: they have added a worker to a sorely understaffed shift, and they partially solidified employee pensions after initially gutting them. But “if you want these changes to be permanent,” the organizers stressed, they need to “get them in writing.” They need a contract.

And several months from now, I hope to hear that they have indeed secured it, despite management’s attempts to intimidate them (with captive audience meetings) out of obtaining equality, the power to protect themselves, and lasting prosperity.