Strike Lessons

 

As we enter day five of the strike and it seems to be nearing an end (hopefully) there are many lessons I have learned. Here are a few.

Here is my fiance, in support for the cause!!!!

 

1. No one who has never been a teacher understands it or has a right to think they do. But everyone thinks they understand and have a right to judge it.

 But I learned my lesson. Everyone only knows what they saw their own teacher doing and didn't see the things she did when they were not there. People also do not understand how much education has changed in the last two decades. In my eleven years, a teachers responsibilities have gone from busy to crazy to absurd to borderline impossible not because of the children, but because of other demands being placed upon us. I could explain but people wouldn't get it anyway.

2. Teaching is not a choice- it is a calling.

People keep saying to me and my friends, "well, you chose this, you could choose something else."  People. this is a CAREER not a job.   I have gone to school for 8 years for this. You chose to be a teacher so you get what you get.   This is why we have a union.  When the part about "you get what you get" reaches critical mass, this is when we need the union and need a strike.  Also, If I chose this profession please someone slap me. It is crazier than you know.  And you are completely insane if you do it, particularly in certain neighborhoods.   I was called to do it by God. Should I turn my back on that I shudder to think what would happen. Common sense says I should leave and get a corporate job and make more money. I have contemplated that several times. But then I see the children. Going on strike, though some would say I am refusing to work or I have walked out on the kids, has deepened my resolve to stay and be a teacher and to be even more committed and in love with my job.

3. Unions are not obsolete dinosaurs from the sixties.

The police are working without a contract, have not been paid what they are promised for NATO. The fireman are struggling with crazy cuts. The librarians were forced to have fewer hours despite what their contract says. The bus and train drivers haven't had a contract in years but have never gone on strike because they didn't think their demands would be met. All these people showed us sooooooo much support- all honked or turned on sirens when they went by. The nurses from Cook county fresh off their own fights against injustice and craziness with Todd Stroger were there at rallies with us Parents who should have been so mad and inconvenienced were instead our biggest cheering section. People at the grocery store, the park, the coffee shop, the gas station, the teachers store (yes I went there while in strike) all said "I hope you get what you want. You deserve that and more." Chicago is still a union town - even in the absence of a Daley. I used to think unions were dumb. That I should be allowed to negotiate my own contract and stand on my own merits. I never would have imagined what it was like to need a union until I needed a union. I do not agree with their opinions all the time. They support some causes to which I a opposed but I have learned this week about solidarity and that it is so much more than a word. As the city stood with us and marched with us, I learned the power of the 99%. They aren't movie star pretty or even always eloquent but they are the people upon whose backs everyone else is standing.

4. Being on strike is so exhausting, more so than working.

I hesitate to put this one on here, lest people think that striking means doing nothing, and therefore my job is not really that crazy. But the walking for miles and miles and yelling and yelling, and the rally after rally, and the pure raw emotions that you experience from being in a situation where NO money is coming in and you have no idea how long ot will end- is exhuasting. I have blisters, sore muscles, tight shoulders, a sore throat, and back... Being on strike is not easy. It is not a decision we made lightly. It is not something we went looking for. But once the announcement was made, we did what had to be done- though it was crazy, and exhausting and pretty much impossible.

5. If you can get someone to say something on the news three times it will spread like wildfire and you can not prove it isn't true to people no matter how much you prove it.

The raise is 16%. Lie.
The average CPS teacher makes 76k. Lie.
Teachers don't want evaluations. Lie.
Teachers don't have evaluations. Lie.
Students will miss out on their learning. Lie. (strike days must be made up so each child will still get all their school days).
They are close to a deal. Lie.
I really don't believe anything they say anymore. I am starting to rethink whether OJ did it and everything. The news is a dog and pony show. I knew they were inaccurate but now I think they are robotic copycats who repeat things other people said without checking facts or listening to the arguments for both sides.

6.  Some people who have watched me struggle and have been there when I lost my job on more than one occasion and have listened to my stories of unfairness and injustice still did not support me while on strike. 

So that means they think I am lying about my experiences and deserved to be terminated?  That I was treated fairly and don't need to stand up for myself by way of a strike?  So that means they think exactly what about me?  I'm not really sure how to proceed from here on that one.  Especially since I would suport them in a similar fight.  Especially since I did verbally support them when they were not being given contractual raises, etc... 

7.  Normal, every-day Chicagoans are AWESOME!

There was so much support from the community while we are on the picket lines!  I would never have predicted that part.  It was SO UPLIFTING, after years of being mistreated by the board of education and city hall, I was thinking I was done with Chicago and wanted to look for a life elsewhere.  The city rose up to meet us.  The parents who should have been mad about the inconveience, were instead supportive and accomodating, both poor parents and better-off parents alike.  And not just parents- but most of the regular people just going to work were in solidarity with us.  Chicago is full of awesome people, we just can't seem to elect any of the awesome ones.