From In these Times:
With Chicago Public Schools teachers set to strike next Monday, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel isn't sitting at the bargaining table trying to hammer out a deal. Instead, he's in Charlotte, North Carolina, at the Democratic National Convention, where he'll be delivering a prime-time address this evening, despite telling the Chicago Sun-Times in late August that he would be willing to cancel the high-profile appearance in order to secure a deal with teachers.
Video after the jump.
From Huffington Post:
On Labor Day, the last day of summer before 250,000 Track R Chicago Public School students began classes, thousands of their teachers took to the streets to rally around City Hall and CPS headquarters.
As the Sept. 10 teacher strike date nears, parents, students and supporters joined the Chicago Teachers Union and other public employee unions at a Labor Day rally centered at Daley Plaza in the Loop.
As has been the case in the past, CBS reports that the rhetoric at the teacher rally emphasized the disconnect between union president Karen Lewis and Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, whom Lewis accused of actively withholding resources from CPS students and teachers.
"He’s a liar and a bully," Lewis said of Emanuel while addressing the crowd, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.
18,000-strong Labor Day Rally
18,000 teachers and supporters rallied for a strong CTU contract while our Mayor was preparing his speech in a "right to work" state at a non-union convention center.
While away, Emanuel used proxies to trash CTU:
Well-clouted charter school CEO Juan Rangel trashes CTU in a speech to the City Club
Rahm also worked with Tea-Party backed Education Action Group to trash teachers