The Rebirth of the Chicago Teachers Union and Possibilities for a Counter-Hegemonic Education Movement

In: Monthly review: an independent socialist magazine, Band 65, Heft 2, S. 1-10

Abstract

For nine days in September, Chicago belonged to the teachers, school paraprofessionals, and clinicians. On Sep 10, 2012, 26,000 members of the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) went on strike. It was the first teachers' strike in Chicago in twenty-five years. In this essay, the authors begin by locating the significance of the strike in relation to the neoliberal assault on public education and the state's attempt to use the economic crisis further to attack the public sector and public-sector unions. Chicago, a birthplace of neoliberal restructuring of public education in the US, is now a center of the push back against it. A critical factor is the transformation of the CTU. The article examines the interrelationship of community education struggles and the emergence of the CTU as a social movement union. The authors conclude with possibilities for a counterhegemonic education movement in Chicago. Adapted from the source document.