NUHW members stand united with Chicago teachers
Today, 29,000 Chicago teachers went out on strike to protect their students and themselves. NUHW members wholeheartedly stand with them.
Chicago teachers are on the front lines of a battle against a corporate-backed assault on our public education system. The fight in Chicago is over class size, testing and teacher evaluations. The stakes are enormous.
If big-money charter school advocates and the politicians they fund have their way, our unionized public education system will be overrun by private, for-profit charter schools that serve big business, not the people. Teachers’ unions as a powerful voice for students will be a thing of the past.
NUHW members understand why Chicago teachers are standing up and fighting back. The Chicago Teachers’ Union, or CTU, recently elected a slate of reform leaders who are committed to building a member-led union that serves teachers and students instead of partnering with politicians and their corporate buddies.
Sound familiar? I thought so!
There’s also a familiar tactic being used by the other side. They are blaming the teachers.
That’s nothing new. We hear the same thing from Kaiser management. Kaiser Permanente, just like other big corporations they emulate, has consistently tried to blame healthcare workers when we stand up for our patients and ourselves and when we demand contracts with no takeaways and improved patient safety.
Like striking Chicago teachers, NUHW members reject the idea of partnering with big corporations who have taken our society on a race to the bottom where the only outcome is more profits for the few while workers, patients and students pay the price.
Sincerely,
David Mallon, LCSW, Kaiser Norwalk, Chapter Secretary (KPC)
National Union of Healthcare Workers