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Chicago Mayor Rahm
Emanuel is now in a stand-off with the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU)
over contract negotiations. In spite of his problems of deceit,
duplicity, and cover ups of homicidal police shootings, he is hanging
tough in carrying out the public school privatization agenda of the
Cartel of corporations, Wall Street financiers, and conservative
foundations and billionaires.
Joe Ricketts, owner of
the Chicago Cubs, and his sons, are keeping local Cartel pressure on
Emanuel to ensure that he continues to demonize teachers, create
policies to abolish their union, and push low-income African American
and Hispanic students into under-performing corporate charter schools
so the billionaire Cartel corporate chieftains can profit off their
educational misery. (Meanwhile, Cartel members’ school-age
children attend upscale, exclusive private schools where a focus on
standardized testing is non-existent.)
The bargaining unit of
CTU rejected Emanuel’s four-year contract offer due to its
insulting elements:
Requiring new hires to
pick up their entire share of pension costs right away. (In other
words, veteran teachers would be required to cannibalize new hires
for a new contract, weakening union solidarity, which is the
purpose.)
He believes so strongly
in the Cartel’s power that he is placing his elective future at
risk in service of their financial interests and, unwittingly, the
presidential possibilities of Hillary Clinton and the political
legacy of President Barack Obama. He is rolling the dice.
Karen
Lewis, president of the CTU, who is leading the talks for the
teachers union, has remained strong, deliberative, and steadfast in
her efforts to secure a fair deal and to fight off the economic and
occupational annihilation of public school teachers. Proceeding in a
strategic manner, she recognizes that Emanuel is between a “rock
and a hard place.” Only 27 percent of Chicagoans
approve of his job performance, while a record 63 percent disapprove,
with 59 percent viewing him as dishonest and untrustworthy. More
than four in ten residents believe he should resign from office
powered by the overwhelming disgust of African Americans and
Hispanics. The majority of white Chicagoans also disapprove of
Emanuel’s leadership, yet 71 percent support his remaining in
office.
But the sticking point
among citizens of color is his assault on public education. Black
and Hispanic families and children are the primary victims of
Emanuel’s privatization of public education, and hundreds of
groups advocating against police brutality, school closings,
corporate charters, and city corruption are coalescing around their
issues with the goal of removing him from office. Since the teachers
have already voted to strike if Illinois’ legally-mandated,
four-month fact-finding process is not successful in settling the
contract, the walkout could occur around the same time as the
selection of the democratic nominee for president.
Such an action in a
presidential election year could put Hillary Clinton and President
Obama in difficult political situations. Unlike the teachers’
strike during the 2012 presidential election, Karen Lewis does not
have to convince Chicagoans of the need to support teachers and
public education. At that time, Emanuel, other elected officials,
and the local and national print and broadcast media pounced on
teachers, accusing them of greedy self-interest. But the teachers
prevailed and forced President Obama to call Mayor Emanuel to compel
him to resolve the strike in order to secure his reelection bid with
strong national support of public school teachers, many of whom were
headed to Chicago to stand in unity with the CTU.
This time around, the
stakes are even higher. If CTU goes on strike, it could negatively
impact Hillary’s ability to consolidate the 2012 Obama
coalition (rank and file teachers; young people, ages 17-29; public-
and private-sector unions; and African American females who had the
highest turnout and highest percentage of votes for Obama of any of
the demographic groups in the 2008 and 2012 presidential balloting).
Emanuel’s insistence on staying in office threatens Hillary’s
ability to rally her democratic base to defeat Bernie Sanders who is
gaining strength in democratic strongholds across the country.
President Obama’s
legacy could also be compromised if the CTU battle with Emanuel
escalates. He and Hillary will be drawn into it (as he was in 2012)
and ultimately asked to choose sides. Like Emanuel, they will have
to weigh their obligations to the Cartel, as both have taken tens of
millions of dollars from the alliance to advance their political
careers. In addition, President Obama is currently raising millions
of dollars from the Cartel community for the construction of his
presidential library.
Another CTU work
stoppage in the fall of 2016 would be devastating to democratic hopes
for retaining the presidency and ensuring the Obama legacy.
Moreover, Karen Lewis’ fight against Emanuel is being
paralleled with that of Flint, Michigan Mayor Dr. Karen Weaver’s
battle with Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder, also a Cartel member, over his
policy to save money on the Flint water system. It resulted in the
lead poisoning of Flint residents and children of color who make up
more than two-thirds of all students in the Flint Public Schools.
Dr. Weaver, a licensed clinical psychologist, knows firsthand the
long-term educational and intellectual consequences of lead poisoning
as Karen Lewis knows the long-term results of over-crowded
classrooms, under-funded schools, neighborhood school closings, etc.
for student and community success.
President Obama and
Hillary Clinton have been vocal in denouncing the Flint lead
poisoning crisis, but will they equally condemn the educational
crisis in Chicago where their close friend and ally, Rahm Emanuel, is
destroying the public education,
presiding over a corrupt city administration, and covering up for a
police department that viciously kills unarmed males and females of
color? Obama and Hillary will have to decide soon whether they will
stand with Emanuel or the citizens and children of Chicago, and
whether they will urge him to leave office to protect their
respective political agendas.
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