And Here's The Rest Of The Story...

The last post showcased a letter from a union delegate to the staff of GPHS about the spin being handed out by the CTU executive board.

Here, for your reading pleasure, is a letter from Gage Park Social Studies Chair Andrew Martinek that was distributed to all staff in our mailboxes. I reprint this section with the permission of the writer. It is titled And here is the rest of the story:

On the day that Marty McGreal was fired, I called the union office and spoke with directly with President Marilyn Stewart. She assured me that the people downtown just didn't care and that the union would be contacting me and monitoring our situation very closely.

I did receive a call the next day from Nate Dixon, who told me pretty much the same thing and assured me that he would be in touch once school started after taking my cell phone number.

I HAVE NOT HEARD FROM OUR UNION SINCE! Actually, that's not true. They did see fit to disseminate lies and accusations about OUR elected union delegate. How does that help us lower class sizes? How does that cap our enrollments? How does that provide us with more books and resources to effectively do our jobs?

I want everyone to know that I am speaking as a non-aligned union member. I believe that a union should be just that, united, not a set of factions [Ed. - Yeah, that works until even non-aligned members get sick of cronyism and incompetence, then you take sides.]

As a union, reasonable people should have reasonable discourse about how to confront and solve problems. What has been the most disappointing thing to me about our current union leadership, is that it makes a habit of bashing union members. Just look at any edition of the union rag, the front page trashes Debbie Lynch or some other PACT official and page three calls for unity.

The priorities are obvious. Winning re-election is clearly more important than serving our needs. I haven't seen my working conditions improve in my six years as a CPS teacher, but I have witnessed plenty of griping and infighting. The Mayor and the Board don't need to break our union, it is already broken [Ed. - I prefer to think of it as in a coma until we throw the UPC incompetents out on their ear.]

It is up to us to fix it, or we will lose it.

For the record, I want everyone to know that Susan Steinmiller has been and continues to be an extremely dedicated and effective union representative. When I called her during the summer about the over-crowding issue, she responded immediately. [Ed. - to see her dedication in action, click here to see her interview with ABC7 at our informational picket]

She even drove in from Rockford to meet with Marty [McGreal], myself, and some community leaders. Even today, she is staying late to help us grow and build our community organizing effort. Just recently she helped negotiate overtime pay opportunities for teachers on staff here [at GPHS] in an effort to alleviate over-crowding issues. Where has the union leadership been on this issue?

Why does our delegate, a teacher with 5 classes just like the rest of us have to bear this burden alone, or worse, with the added weight of a smear campaign? Susan has served us well, and usually runs unopposed for the position. She deserves thanks and appreciation, rather than disrespect from the union she so dutifully serves.

A union that now seems willing to sacrifice Gage Park if it will help re-elect the union president. We should all let Marilyn Stewart know how we feel about that.

Sincerely,

Andrew Martinek, NBCT Mentor
Social Studies Department Chair

Well, that just about sums it up doesn't it? Your thoughts?