Stewart/UPC Had Possession of Official Ballots     

It has come to the attention of the CSDU that Stewart’s UPC sent the following email to its members with an official marked ballot attached.  This action raises serious questions.  First, how did the UPC come by the Official Ballot and how many do they have. Second, these Official Ballots can be printed innumerable times and used to stuff the ballot boxes.  Finally, does this email imply that other things be done with the ballots?

The CTU has now spent thousands of dollars trying to pass these referenda to give Stewart despotic control:  hourly pay to UPC members to work phone banks with food and paid parking, overtime charges paid to CTU staff,  printing and mailing of ballots to schools, pick-ups by messenger services, and a letter to the entire membership, for which the postage costs alone are in the neighborhood of $15,000.

Please see the complete unchanged email below, as well as the actual marked Official Ballot that was attached and make these actions known to your members.  These proposed undemocratic changes do NOT belong in our CTU Constitution - neither for this administration, nor any that follow. 

See marked Official Ballot

 Since When is it Legal for a Caucus to Use

As usual, administrators at the CTU are not thinking straight?   They are so worried about Stewart’s referenda not passing and causing a political embarrassment for her and the UPC that they are allowing the UPC to utilize the CTU phone banks.  See below for the actual email that was sent to their members:

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CTU Members sent a strong message to Marilyn Stewart on Friday that they are no longer willing to allow her failure to follow the CTU Constitution by blatantly by-passing the votes of the House of Delegates. Her “Executive Board Endorsed” candidates lost the CTPF trustee election.

Delegates, who have much influence over how members vote at their schools, have turned increasingly against Stewart as she defies the Constitution and becomes more autocratic with each House meeting. Robert’s Rules and Parliamentary Procedure are thrown by the wayside in lieu of rulings that support her positions. At the first meeting of the school year delegates were not allowed access to microphones to speak on issues or make motions unless called on from the podium. This is in direct violation of the delegate adopted supplemental Rules of the House.

The final affront to delegates came when a postcard, paid for and sent by the Union, and signed by Stewart as president, was mailed to 24,000 teacher members prior to the October House meeting, stating that two candidates had been “endorsed” by her CTU Executive Board. According to the CTU Constitution, no endorsements can be made unless passed by the House of Delegates. Bedlum ensued at the meeting when delegates insisted on their rights being adhered to in making the endorsements. The issue finally came to resolution with the House endorsing all candidates. Subsequently, more dues money was wasted by Stewart when 24,000 new postcards, again at the expense of member dues, were mailed to teachers with “Executive Board Endorsed” candidates listed at the top, “delegate endorsed” candidates on the bottom. What Stewart thought would help her candidates, actually assured their loss. Delegates, sick of their role in the governance of the Union being ignored, worked to defeat Stewart.

Stewart also wants to short circuit the candidacy of the current CTU Treasurer, who has announced that she will run on the CSDU slate for CTU President in the upcoming May officer election. The president is proposing a November 20th referendum to change the constitution, which would give her the legal right to remove any officer by the rubber stamp of her Executive Board. Previously, the Vice President was removed from his elected position via this method when he announced that Stewart was incompetent and shouldn’t run for president in the next election. This expulsion subsequently resulted in a lawsuit that cost the CTU over a million dollars of dues money. Stewart is asking the members to give her this authority so that she can act against her detractors without consequence.

The CSDU is urging members to vote NO on this Constitution Amendment on November 20th.

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 By a small 1500 vote margin, the Chicago Teachers Union has passed a Constitution amendment that enables the president to easily eliminate any officer detractors.  The president can now put an officer of her choosing out of office on any trumped up charge by the rubber stamp of her hand picked Executive Board. Read more

Letter from all CTU Caucuses to the  CTU President

September 30, 2009

Dear President Stewart:

We, the undersigned, have come together to raise our collective voices in protest at the disregard for democracy that culminated in the threatened arrest of CTU members for distributing flyers at the September meeting of the House of Delegates.

One of the strengths of our Agreement is past practice, a cornerstone of many grievance wins. For 70 years members of the CTU have engaged in the dissemination of political literature at meetings. During our September meeting, members were told that they could not hand out flyers because they were on “private property”. Literature was always available to members at the private property of Bismarck Hotel meetings. The most recent Plumbers Hall facility is the private property of the Plumbers Union and literature was available there. We urge you to stop this unprecedented harassment of CTU members and, if the venue does not “allow” us to distribute literature (which we do not believe is the case), then the contract you signed with them should be considered null and void. Further, parking facilities are inadequate and inaccessible and the logjam due to our brothers and sisters being forced onto the streets could lead to disaster during inclement weather.

The elimination of numbered microphone stations in the hall is the most outrageous occurrence to have taken place. This is in direct violation of the Rules of the House, which were voted on and adopted by the delegates. These rules are enclosed each month on a sheet in every delegate packet. An orderly, fair method for speaking and making motions is imperative to democratic procedure and dictated by Robert’s Rules. It is appalling that delegates have been prevented from speaking and making motions because the chair makes the decision on who will be allowed to speak. This change, which is a deviation from 70 years of past practice, was not voted on by the delegates as part of the Rules of the House of Delegates - it was autocratically initiated by the Chair.

Finally, there has been complete disregard for the time and energy members of the House of Delegates devote to their members and schools who do not belong to your caucus. It is unacceptable that during your tenure, meetings have devolved into two-hour lectures in order to take up time. Our members are under attack by a Board of Education that has no regard for the future of the members whose jobs are lost due to school closings. While it is admirable that other AFT unions are organizing the schools taking the place of those closed, our energies must be directed first and foremost toward protecting the rights of CTU Members.

There are a variety of ways in which these issues should and can be addressed, but the lack of democracy in the House has led to a breach of faith that cannot be healed by your insistent refusal to engage in open and meaningful debate.

We seek the following redress from you:

• Allow the dissemination of literature in the foyer of The Operating Engineers building and stop the threats to our members by off-duty and uniformed police officers;
• Follow the procedure for microphone usage as delineated in the Rules for House of Delegate Meetings and Past Practice;

· Limit the total of all Officers’ Reports to 45 minutes so that Delegates can do the jobs they’ve been elected to do: speak and bring forth policy motions for consideration;

NEWS

Stewart Moves to Kill 70 Years of Union Democracy

In the most egregious and overt attempt yet to eliminate democratic action and establish autocratic control over delegate meetings, CTU President Marilyn Stewart has instituted a new microphone procedure wherein she can hand pick who speaks at the microphones:  Delegates must raise their hands and wait to be chosen by Stewart who will decide who will be allowed to speak. This procedure was initiated without a vote of the delegates who, according to the CTU Constitution, are the supreme and final authority of the Chicago Teachers Union.  Those delegates are your representatives - your voice in the Union. Read more

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LETTER FROM OUR CANDIDATES

As you may know, the Chicago Teachers Union has a very important election coming up in May of 2010. Our membership has expressed unhappiness with the current autocratic president and her lack of strong leadership. The CSDU, Coalition for a Strong Democratic Union, will do better. We are an experienced team and the best organized to represent you and the most determined to work diligently on your behalf.

We must defeat the current administration for the sake of our members. Read more

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