Pat Barcas photo
CTU President Karen Lewis talks about the recent CTU strike at the 2012 LEAD dinner: “The winning side didn’t have to fire its superintendent,” she said, referring to head of Chicago Public School’s Jean-Claude Brizard’s resignation earlier this month.

By Pat Barcas
Staff Writer
Thursday, Nov. 1, 2012
     CHICAGO — The momentum for the Chicago Teachers Union and teachers in general keeps rolling along, as the CTU’s annual Legislators Educators Appreciation Dinner (LEAD) sold out for the first time in 15 years on Oct. 26.
     More than 1,000 teachers, legislators and supporters packed the plumbers hall in the west loop, with CTU President Karen Lewis taking the stage as the keynote speaker.
     Lewis, as usual, didn’t have kind things to say about Mayor Rahm Emanuel or how he handled the CTU strike.
     “Just over half of voters have a favorable impression of our mayor now. That’s down 16 points. We were told to back down. ‘Please don’t take this man on, you’ll lose.’ But we knew we were on the right side of history, and that’s what really counts here,” she said. “I’ve got some more news. Nearly two thirds of voters now have a favorable impression of the CTU. That’s an eight point uptick. We found Chicago public school teachers remain enormously popular. Seventy-eight percent of voters approve. It should come as no surprise that over half of Chicago voters supported the strike.”
     Lewis delivered her oratory to much applause, with some members even calling for her to run as mayor, an idea she greeted with a smile and a head shake. She said the decision to strike was one that weighed heavily on the union’s mind.
     “We’re not supposed to say it, we’re not supposed to talk about it. We did not take this strike lightly, I want everyone to understand that. Nobody came in and said this is what we’re going to do, however we did say we would be prepared. We’ve always planned. That’s what we do,” she said.
     Lewis said she’s still fighting for more libraries and social workers in the Chicago public schools system, a problem that appalls her.
“We’re focused, we’re united, and we’re clear about our purpose. We still have 160 schools that are without libraries. People should be appalled by that. We still only have 432 social workers for 400,000 children in need. The answer by the education reformers is to hand over our schools to people that are completely held unaccountable. That is not acceptable,” she said.
     Lewis said she is striving for open communications and accountability in the system, and that the fight is not over.
     “We have said over and over again that we want a quality education for our children, and we have been sold a bill of goods that schools operated by private management organizations are going to provide quality. Where is the accountability? We want open discussion. I don’t care how much money the billionaires have, they have one vote. All they have is one vote,” she said. “We may have won this battle, but there is a war. And we are far from winning that. We will continue to fight.”

Pat Barcas’ e-mail address is pat@foxvalleylabornews.com.