The New Machine is Born!

House of Delegates meet after CTU Brandon Johnson's Mayor Election Win

Former Chicago Teachers Union President Jesse Sharkey proclaimed a New Chicago Machine would emerge after the election of the CTU’s very own Brandon Johnson.

“They attacked the CTU for being a political machine which gave out tax breaks to rich developers and wealthy businesses,” said Sharkey, who is now a citywide delegate teaching at South Shore High School. “It was a cruel ridiculous attack on us. I want to build a different machine.”

That machine led by CTU organizer and former Cabrini Green Middle School Teacher and Chicago Mayor Elect Brandon Johnson would make the uber wealthy and corporations pay their fair share to ensure people all over the city get a fair shake.

As a delegate from Hammond Elementary School of 20 years, it was certainly a strange feeling to know we the CTU are now the boss at City Hall. A feeling of excitement and uncertainty permeated the CTU Headquarters at the April 12 House of Delegates Meeting.

I almost did a head flip when CTU Vice President Jackson Potter looked across the room of over 600 delegates and said our very own Howard Heath might be the next President of the Board of Education. Howard was once the Vice President under CTU President Debbie Lynch and battled head on against the forces of capital led by Mayor Richard Daley and his sidekick Paul Vallas who were hell bent on destroying the CTU and public schools.

“We’ve never been at the table,” Jackson said in his opening remarks. “But with great power comes great responsibility.”

Jackson told the delegates in his stoic fashion to imagine now a 30 minutes prep every morning, a point of contention in the last contract when Mayor Lori Lightfoot refused to the extra preparational time for planning that many elementary school teachers wanted, and many high school teachers supported in solidarity.

“They call us the new machine,” CTU President Stacy Davis Gates said during her presentation. “I know how to fight. You all trusted your union.”

Gates said the CTU has more members today than in 2013 despite the attacks and Janus decision where members can opt out of the union. She reminded delegates that the outgoing mayor robbed the teachers of one week of pay just because we wanted a nurse in every school and safety protocols set up during the Covid crisis.

She then directed her righteous anger at one of the biggest problems for teachers - bully principals who install a climate of fear in the schools forcing massive turnover. The new administrative candidate pool was drawn up from the Mayor Rahm Emanuel and education reform forces who were hell bent on installing an education of fear where principals were encouraged to attack and fire teachers, the union contract be damned. How about choosing principals who make teachers partners and not the enemy?

President Gates singled out one name at the HOD meeting that she took issue with - Alderman Gil Villegas who just proposed a bill in the City Council to limit the political contributions of unions. The unions actually were split in the recent Mayor election, with many building trade unions backing Paul Vallas and his pro-development, vs. SEIU and the CTU. The Chicago Federation of Labor which represents all the unions did not make any endorsement in the race.

“He’s an idiot, and you can quote me on that,” Davis Gates said.

The union said good bye to retiring Illinois Federation of Teachers IFT John Cusick and former United Progressive Caucus UPC PSRP Field Rep June Davis.

During the opening Q&A period, one teacher delegate complained that her school was forced to adopt the Skyline curriculum. President Gates then said as she’s said in the past to understand that the principal can only make decisions with the agreement of the staff and to utilize their PPLC to make curriculum decisions in a democratic fashion.

“We are the experts,” Gates said, not mincing her words.

Former PACT officer and long-time delegate Lou Pyster threw some water on the CTU post-election HOD party by again asking about a motion he made to make all political spending transparent and place a cap on it. Lou noted that the CTU had made a financial contribution to Mayor Jane Byrne, who was a machine candidate running against Harold Washington. Lou failed to mention that the CTU also made political donations to the Daley regime when he was an officer of the union.

Gates said all political spending is outlined in next month’s budget that will be presented to the HOD. She also said Paul Vallas said he didn’t do anything the CTU did not agree to. The perfect example of the union sell out to Vallas on behalf of Mayor Daley is when the CTU under the UPC agreed to teacher raises and the City in return got a pension holiday and stopped paying into the Teachers Pension Fund which is only 46 perecent funded today. This resulted in a split teacher pension salary with a Tier 2 system set up in which teachers hired after 2011 must work seven more years before they can retire.

The CTU charter director said that after teachers voted unanimously to join the CTU the Hope Learning Academy Charter School then decided to close their school. This action mirrors the vicious anti-union, anti-worker positions of businesses around the world who will close up shop when their workers dare demand better compensation and conditions.

Vallas ran on the corporate education platform to increase charter schools, standardized testing and attacks on public schools.

CTU Labor Lawyer Robert Bloch spoke briefly about the lawsuit filed by Members First Mary Esposito-Usterbowski and others just two days before the runoff Mayor election. He said they claimed the suit was filed on behalf of all the teachers alleging that the union leaders wrongfully spent dues money on political organizations supporting Brandon Johnson. Bloch noted that Members First hired a lawyer who represented former Gov. Bruce Rauner, a notorious union-buster who wanted to turn Illinois into a Right to Work state. He said the lawsuit was frivilous because the union can spend its money however it wants to under its constitution and voted on by the elected delegate representatives from all the schools.

The CTU hosted a party after the HOD meeting to celebrate the election of Brandon Johnson. In addition to union officials, teacher delegates, retired members, there were the politicians elected with CTU money. There were old-timers and new schoolers.

I noticed 40 Ward Alderman Andre Vasquez, who initially supported Chuy Garcia for Mayor. Garcia supported Johnson in the runoff. Next to him was 35 Ward Alderman Carlos Ramirez-Rosa, an ardent CTU supporter from the beginning who I wanted to ask amongst his heavy tweeting each day how he stomachs the trolls and ugly anti-union and anti-public school comments his tweets attract.

I tell people the one thing that changed with the election of Brandon Johnson was teacher bashing. The Vallas, Daley, Emanuel, Lightfoot years of corporate education reform focused on demonizing the teachers union and public schools. The hate was replaced by the love Brandon talked about.

But will these new words translate into actions and new kind of machine for the people? Only time will tell.