In the first round of the hotly contested Chicago Teachers Union Election 2/3's of the membership voted against the current leadership of Marilyn Stewart forcing a run off on June 11, 2010 between the two slates with the highest number of votes, the United Progressive Caucus (UPC) led by incumbent CTU president Marilyn Stewart, and the Caucus Of Rank and file Educators (CORE), led by King High School Chemistry teacher Karen Lewis.
Unofficial election returns with 35 schools not reported
Of 19,477 votes
UPC, 6,283 32.26%
CORE, 5,970 30.65%
PACT, 3,144 16.1%
CSDU, 1,273 6.5%
SEA, 1,127 5.8%
These are still unofficial numbers there still is the missing ballot boxes, supplemental and mail in ballots to be counted. There were also spoiled ballots and split ticket ballots not represented above.
here is some news coverage of the May 21, 2010 voting
The final official tallies of all votes will not be known until May 24. The reason is that 34 school ballot boxes were not picked up and delivered to the AAA during the May 21 - 22 election count. Officials assume that a problem with the couriers who were supposed to pick up the ballot boxes from those schools resulted in the large number of schools for which no ballot box had come in at the time of the May 21 vote count. As a result, the canvassing committee voted that the count would continue on May 24 following the pick up of ballot boxes from the schools that were not accounted for.
The schools whose ballot boxes were not at the AAA on the night of May 21- 22 are: Attucks; Austin Polytechnic; Big Picture; Canty: Carter; Clay; Coles; Cockrell; Dever; Dett; Dirksen; Global Vision; Grimes; Grisholm; Henson; Hampton; Henry; IDOC Healy; Johnson; Kellman; Las Casas; New Sullivan; Penn; Revere; Ross; Stock; Taylor; J.N. Thorp; Tonti; VOISE; Warren.
Chicago Teachers Union election shows UPC and CORE will be in runoff
"Roughly 65 percent of the electorate said they didn't want the incumbent," Lewis said.
"What people are realizing is that (the caucus) has already been doing the work of the union," Lewis said. "We're the ones out there fighting these changes in education policy that are not supported by research."
Stewart said her campaign best reflected the tough situation facing teachers.
"Many of my opponents chose to give 'pie-in-the-sky' promises in order to get a vote," Stewart said in the release. "Our team understood the importance of what is at stake with respect to the current situation. I believe the members saw through the empty rhetoric and false promises."
Run-off for Chicago Teachers Union presidency
Fears of job loss are dominating the campaign trail, the Chicago Sun-Times is reporting. Up to 2,700 teachers and 300 non-teaching union members could be out of a job if class sizes rise from an average of 30 to 35, as Chicago Public Schools CEO Ron Huberman has proposed.
Stewart, Lewis in run-off vote for teacher's union presidency
"City Hall and the Board of Education are out there rooting for the rookies," Stewart said. "We're in the third year of a five-year contract, and the only people with the experience and expertise to negotiate are the people on our team."
Teachers union president, challenger in runoff
"Sixty-five percent of the electorate said no to the incumbent," CORE presidential candidate Karen Lewis said after the preliminary results were posted. "It's pretty clear that this is a game-changing kind of moment."
Her caucus is best known for protests and legal complaints against Renaissance 2010, school closings, and turnarounds. Third-place finisher Deborah Lynch of ProActive Chicago Teachers and School Employees (PACT), a former CTU president and longtime Stewart rival, also used harsh rhetoric. In the weeks before the election, she called schools CEO Ron Huberman's administration a "reign of terror."
Union election heads to runoff; Stewart to face challenger from CORE
Now, here in Chicago, rank-and-file teachers are fed up and are fighting back, and could end up radically changing Chicago's political climate.
The Vote of the Hunted: The Chicago Teachers Union Election and City Politics
interesting that in six years of experience the current leadership has lost close to 5000 union jobs in its own union all the while new teachers and staff are hired despite contract provisions about layoffs and tenure rights. As I think about all the CTU members in our union, I am starting to believe that not even rank-and-file UPC members fully understand the transgressions of their own leadership team. Hopefully in the next few weeks we can all come together as a union to work together and build the strongest union in the USA and all rank-and-file members will then fully understand what it means to fight for our rights rather than fight against each other, as the current CTU leadership has perpetrated the last six years: Costing the union millions dollars in litigation, wasted resources and thousands of jobs.
Past links and information on the current state of the Chicago teachers union.
How Not to Run a Union Meeting
Treacherous Times in Chicago
Union Leader Sells out Members
Company Union
for the only complete coverage of the Chicago Teachers Union elections and issues go to www.substancenews.net