Teaching Profession

AFT Conducts Probe of Election In Chicago

By Bess Keller — September 21, 2004 3 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

The American Federation of Teachers was expected late last week to have completed its investigation into who is the rightful president of the Chicago Teachers Union. A panel sent by the AFT will also decide whether the local union under President Deborah Lynch was acting properly when it invalidated the results of the election that appeared to unseat her.

Earlier this month, the national union’s top leaders voted to hold a formal hearing July 22-23 on the dispute that has thrown the Chicago local into disarray. Both Ms. Lynch and challenger Marilyn Stewart claim the presidency of the 33,000-member CTU following a June 11 runoff election.

In the past four weeks, since a union committee overseen by Ms. Lynch invalidated the runoff results and called for a new election, the camps have been bitterly accusing each other of putting personal interests above those of the union. Ms. Lynch claims evidence of possible election fraud that Ms. Stewart rejects. (“Chicago Union Leaders Ask AFT to Resolve Vote Dispute,” July 14, 2004.)

Meanwhile, the CTU’s bank froze the local’s accounts and sought a court ruling on who controls the purse strings, and lawyers for both sides had to work out an agreement about which union employees would get paychecks this month. A state court judge in Illinois decided last week that the union as headed by Ms. Lynch could for now make routine payments.

Ms. Lynch’s protests also delayed the seating of delegates elected on the same slate as Ms. Stewart to the parent union’s biennial convention this month. (“Union Delegates Give New Leader Go-Ahead to Attack Federal Law,” this issue.)

Ms. Lynch, in fact, who brought none from her slate, opposed the recognition of any delegates until the election issue could be resolved.

Delegates from the Stewart slate eventually were seated with most, but not all, of their powers intact. About 90 of the local’s 150 delegates paid their own way to the convention, hoping for reimbursement later. Others could not afford to come, Ms. Stewart’s team said.

Earlier, Ms. Lynch changed the locks on the union’s offices to keep out Ms. Stewart and her lieutenants.

Procedures and Substance

Ms. Lynch contends that a new election should be held. After the CTU’s canvassing committee threw out the June runoff results, another committee of the local union scheduled an election by mail from late August to Sept. 13.

But Ms. Stewart denounced the plan for a vote to supersede the one that gave her a 566-vote margin of victory. She requested the AFT investigation, while Ms. Lynch has told Chicago newspapers that the parent union has no say over CTU proceedings except to decide whether the union’s constitution has been violated.

Edward J. McElroy, just before stepping up from AFT secretary-treasurer to president at the convention, told Ms. Lynch in a letter early this month that she should cede control while the fraud charges are being assessed. She has refused.

The national union’s executive council, which made the decision to hold the hearing, appointed the presidents of the Baltimore, New York City, and Philadelphia locals to hear testimony and help resolve the dispute.

The panel is to have investigated both procedural and substantive matters, including whether the canvassing committee had enough evidence to invalidate the election, and whether the CTU committee could overturn the vote under the national union’s constitution, a spokesman for the AFT said.

Leaders of both factions said it’s time for the conflict to be over.

Mary McGuire, the recording secretary from the Stewart slate, deplored the weakened state of the union just as Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley is pursuing a controversial plan to convert at least 10 percent of the district’s approximately 600 schools into smaller schools, most of which will be run by private operators, by 2010.

Noting that teachers were not likely to be union members in most of the resulting 100 or so small schools, Ms. McGuire said: “We should be involved in [the mayor’s plan]; we are instead engaged in in-house fighting.”

Ms. Lynch said in a statement that she welcomed the AFT’s investigation.

“We look forward to the AFT’s review and believe they will find that all the actions of CTU committees are in accordance with the AFT and CTU constitutions,” she said.

“We are also pleased that this review will be held in a very timely fashion for the sake of maintaining a strong and cohesive union,” Ms. Lynch added.

Related Tags:

A version of this article appeared in the July 28, 2004 edition of Education Week as AFT Conducts Probe of Election In Chicago

Events

This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Mathematics Webinar
Pave the Path to Excellence in Math
Empower your students' math journey with Sue O'Connell, author of “Math in Practice” and “Navigating Numeracy.”
Content provided by hand2mind
This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Recruitment & Retention Webinar
Combatting Teacher Shortages: Strategies for Classroom Balance and Learning Success
Learn from leaders in education as they share insights and strategies to support teachers and students.
Content provided by DreamBox Learning
Classroom Technology K-12 Essentials Forum Reading Instruction and AI: New Strategies for the Big Education Challenges of Our Time
Join the conversation as experts in the field explore these instructional pain points and offer game-changing guidance for K-12 leaders and educators.

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

Teaching Profession Teachers Work 50-Plus Hours a Week—And Other Findings From a New Survey on Teacher Pay
Planning, preparation, and other duties stretch teachers' working hours long past what's in their contracts.
5 min read
Elementary teacher, working at her desk in an empty classroom.
martinedoucet/E+
Teaching Profession From Our Research Center How Many Teachers Work in Their Hometown? Here's the Latest Data
New survey data shows that many teachers stay close to home, but do they want to?
1 min read
Illustration of a 3D map with arrows going all over the states.
iStock/Getty
Teaching Profession In Their Own Words 'I Was Not Done': How Politics Drove This Teacher of the Year Out of the Classroom
Karen Lauritzen was accused of being a pro-LGBTQ+ activist. The consequences derailed her career.
6 min read
Karen Lauritzen stands for a portrait on the Millikin University Campus in Decatur, Ill., on August 30, 2023. Idaho’s Teacher of the Year moved to Illinois for a new job due to right-wing harassment over her support of the LGBTQ+ community and Black Lives Matter.
Karen Lauritzen stands for a portrait on the Millikin University Campus in Decatur, Ill., on August 30, 2023. Laurizen, Idaho’s 2023 Teacher of the Year, moved to Illinois for a new job due to harassment over her support of the LGBTQ+ community and Black Lives Matter.
Neeta R. Satam for Education Week
Teaching Profession Reported Essay Public Schools Rely on Underpaid Female Labor. It’s Not Sustainable
Women now have more career options. Is that why they are leaving the teaching profession?
9 min read
Illustration of contemporary teacher looking at a line-up of mostly female teachers through the history of public education in the United States.
Traci Debarko for Education Week