Board of Education Fiasco
On Monday, October 7, Mayor Brandon Johnson appointed six new individuals to the Board of Education, in place of the seven that resigned in unison last Friday, October 4. The resignations came amid an ongoing battle between Chicago Public Schools (CPS) CEO Pedro Martinez and the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) to finalize the unionâs contract and approve a $300 million loan to cover a $175 million pension payment that was shifted onto the district by Lori Lightfoot, as well as salary increases and other concessions to improve working conditions for teachers and students. In early October, after months of negotiation, Mayor Johnson called for CEO Martinezâs resignation, and in what became an even more fraught battle between the district, the Mayorâs office, CTU, and the Board of Education, the Board of Education was the first domino to fall. According to the Sun-Times, Board members were reluctant about the tradeoffs that come with the potential $300 million loan. While they do not want to see cuts in school funding, questions around whether the loan is a financially responsible solution in the long-term were raised. This was the stance of Martinez and the district, who have claimed that even just ten percent of CTUâs proposals could create a $4 billion deficit for the district by the 2029-30 school year. The question of school funding remains prominent in national debate, as a decades-long onslaught on public schooling has left many districts stratified and under-resourced. In Mayor Johnsonâs press conference on Monday, he referenced years of disinvestment, mentioning Arne Duncan as the âchief architectâ of austerity in the district. Will the district continue on a path of incremental, responsible, albeit insufficient investment in public schools? Or will the Mayorâs new appointees push through a loan approval that would see significant, and relatively unprecedented investment in Chicagoâs public schools?
East Coast ports on strike
After less than a week, the International Longshoremenâs Association (ILA) strike has ended. Workers and management are said to have reached an agreement, the union announced on Thursday. Last Tuesday, October 1st, port workers on the East and Gulf Coast began their strike in response to an insufficient contract offered by their employers, the United States Maritime (USMX). The ILA, which represents 45,000 workers along the coast as far north as Maine and along the Gulf Coast in Louisiana and Texas, raised demands regarding pay raises for dock workers, improvements to their retirement plans, and more autonomy over the usage of technology and automation. âThe biggest concern is, the dock workers do not want automated machines to be responsible for picking up, dropping off, and releasing the cargo automatically,â said Art Wheaton, director of labor studies at the Cornell University School of Industrial and Labor Relations (via Vox). Instead, dock workers would prefer human operators, citing concerns for safety, quality, and job security. This was the first East Coast port strike since 1977, and with more than fifty percent of containerized imports and seventy percent of containerized exports coming through these ports, many expressed fear of a supply shortage in the near future. These goods include several products from fruits and fish to clothing, toys and electronics. However, ILA port workers returned to work the following Friday after reaching a preliminary deal. The agreement includes an additional $4/hour, according to CNN, as well as five subsequent pay raises during the workersâ six year contracts. Both President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris commended dockworkers and congratulated them on reaching an agreement.