I’ve been documenting the presence of the Chicago Teachers Union at non-education-related, radical protests over the past year. From Occupy to Anarchist, gay pride, and anti-NATO protests, the union deploys its members not on the basis of “for the children” but rather for political solidarity.
On the first day of the strike as teachers refuse to accept merit pay and a 16 percent raise over four years, those groups that the Chicago Teachers Union supported are repaying the favors.
Today, an Anarchist march in Chicago rallied the Four Star Anarchist Group members in support of the teachers:
Occupy Chicago, which already conducted a march on labor day in conjunction with the Chicago Teachers Union, is bringing its members to this afternoon’s Chicago Teachers Union rally:
Flashback to this past June, at the Chicago Gay Pride parade, the Chicago Teachers Union’s float featured the President and Vice President of the Union partying while members in red shirts marched in the parade:
In the meantime, some groups are calling on President Obama to join the picket line, citing his statement in 2007:
“And understand this: If American workers are being denied their right to organize and collectively bargain when I’m in the White House, I’ll put on a comfortable pair of shoes myself, I’ll walk on that picket line with you as President of the (USA). Because workers deserve to know that somebody is standing in their corner.”
The CTU isn’t afraid to call in the favors of their radical leftist allies. They’ve even put together a “solidarity fund” on their website where they are accepting contributions:
We are asking you to support our struggle for educational justice. You and your organization can show your support by making contribution to our Solidarity Fund. All donations will be used to conduct broad outreach throughout Chicago and nation-wide.
It is hard to get the public to buy their message that it’s “for the children” when the highly paid teachers reveal that the fight is one for anything but the children. Joy Pullman at the Heartland Institute says:
This strike hurts those who can least afford it so that teachers who earn more than comparable workers can continue padding their benefits at the expense of kids and taxpayers in a beyond-broke school district. What a shame.
Occupy, Anarchists, and the Chicago Teachers Union, all in solidarity, are using children to further their radical leftist agenda.
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