Chicago City Wire

CHICAGO – Teachers whose website boasts that they drove out mayor Rahm Emanuel and governor Bruce Rauner seek to elect union organizer Brandon Johnson as mayor.

He finished second to former Chicago public school chief executive Paul Vallas in the Democrat primary on Feb. 28, setting up a runoff on April 4.

On March 4, Chicago Teachers Union directly paid $131,199.50 for Johnson’s canvass operation and staff salary.

American Federation of Teachers, which Chicago teachers helped create, transferred $568,500 to his campaign committee on March 2.

Illinois Federation of Teachers, in Westmont, transferred $500,000 on March 7.

Service Employees International Union, which represents school district employees other than teachers, transferred $500,000 on March 8.

Chicago teachers have conducted 11 strikes since 1969, and Johnson stood out among leaders of one that lasted 14 days in 2019.

The school district employed about 22,000 teachers last year with average pay at $86,437.

More than 100 years ago, Chicago teachers organized.

They and others established American Federation of Teachers in 1916, as an affiliate of American Federation of Labor.

The AFL honored Chicago teachers by naming them Local 1.

Radical rhetoric and aggressive bargaining has always been employed by the federation.

In 1941, the AFT ejected locals in Philadelphia and New York due to communist domination.

It hired Albert Shanker as president in 1974, and his skill at organizing greatly increased membership. He went to jail twice for leading illegal strikes.

His successor Sandra Feldman proposed a merger with the National Education Association but the association rejected it in 1998.

Current president Randi Weingarten preserves the federation’s aggressive image.

While the Supreme Court heard argument about $400 billion in student loan forgiveness last month, she stood on the steps and shouted her disgust toward anyone who opposed it.

Days later she claimed students learn more in schools with union teachers.

She based the claim on a comparison of performance between public schools and charter schools from 2009 to 2015. It found a small negative association between charter school prevalence and achievement in English and math.

She tested her power in 2020 by demanding lockdown, and she won.

Now she capitalizes on its effects.

Earlier this year she wrote for the New York Times that, “No one has emerged unscathed from the hardships of the past three years.”

“Young people lost valuable in person education, school based support, and connections with their peers and caring adults," she wrote.

She made a case that teachers don’t harm children but their critics do.

“Educators have experienced the hardest years of their professional lives only to be blamed for school closures caused by a pandemic, labeled as groomers and accused of teaching filth,” she wrote.

“These accusations can scare teachers away from having important classroom conversations that are necessary to prepare students for their roles in a healthy democracy.”

Weingarten claimed they exacerbated educator shortages.

She claimed the federation surveyed parents and other voters in December and found 80% for improving public schools and 20% for expanding school choice.

She claimed three quarters of parents say teachers in their schools generally stick to appropriate content and skills.

She claimed legislators in 45 states proposed hundreds of laws in three years to ban books from schools, restrict what teachers can say, and limit transgender activities.

She claimed parents and voters of all ideologies want what educators want, safe and welcoming environments and a focus on essential knowledge and skills.

She listed priorities starting with fundamental skills in reading, math, and science.

In Chicago, last year, one third of students achieved proficiency in science, one fifth in language, and one sixth in math.

Chicago reported 83% graduation and 45% chronic absenteeism.

It spent about $17,000 per student.

Weingarten claimed countless people asked her how to recruit and retain teachers in this climate and she declared, “We must trust teachers to teach.”