How Chicago teachers built a fighting union

The Chicago Teachers' Union is a fighting union and the city's strongest advocate for children and youth.

And according to Michael Harrington, the union's director of operations, this didn't happen by accident.

The union built support from its members and the public by focusing on the social model of unionism - empowering members to take action and be involved politically.

In Harrington's opinion, too many of the unions in the United States treat their members like they're their customers. He calls this the service model of unionism.

The members in this model are dependent on what the leadership has to say, and decision making is pretty much top-down. Staff members are responsible for providing the "services" such as collective bargaining, grievances and negotiating benefits.

"Our union took this model and turned it around," Harrington declared during a presentation at the PSAC building on January 21, 2014.

Social unionism

Harrington calls the CTU's model the social organizing model, and its success was exemplified in the well-publicized massive mobilizations of union members and community supporters during the Chicago teachers' strike in 2012. Harrington said they continue to use this approach in the "millions" of campaigns they are currently carrying out.

When Karen Lewis was elected president of CTU in 2010, she came in as part of a caucus of CTU members who wanted to reform the leadership and make the union be more a part of the movement for global social change.

"We saw our rank-and-file as the foundation, the starting point," said Harrington. "We have an enormous amount of time invested in two-way communication between the union members and the officers and staff. We tell our members, 'I may be an elected officer or I may be part of the staff, but I am here to enable, inspire, encourage, support and provide you with resources. Because, really, the union is you.' And we try to make that real and honest, difficult as it may be."

Democratic decisions

While expanding the role of the membership in the union is key, CTU's brand of unionism also means a flatter model in decision making. In the 2012 negotiations, they had an unprecedented 60 members on their bargaining team facing off with the school board.

The 2012 teachers' strike was one of the few recent labour struggles that became high profile due to the fact that it had widespread public support. Harrington also attributes this to the social organizing model of unionism, which he says must have a strong component of civic education.

"Our actions right now are all aimed at educating the public on why unions exist and why matter. We spend a lot of time working with the communities," Harrington said. "We never talk about pay. We never talk about benefits. The public is not interested about that. They're interested in who your job touches. Who your job affects."

Saving schools

It is by design, therefore, that the 2012 teachers' strike is widely credited for preventing some school closures in Chicago and winning some gains in the contentious issue of standardized testing that has been deemed detrimental in student learning.

"We want to be and be seen as Chicago's chief advocates for children," said Harrington.