Chicago Teachers' Union President on Rahm Emanuel: “He’s a liar and a bully.”

[marmar]

from the Sun-Times:


Tactically, it was a risk to hold a Labor Day rally in the Loop, where there was no audience of office workers to influence and the targeted decision makers were absent.

But with a potential teachers strike approaching, the Chicago Teachers Union and its friends among public employee unions put on an impressive show of strength Monday, drawing thousands of red-shirted supporters to a Daley Plaza rally that turned into a protest march around City Hall and outside the Clark Street headquarters of the Chicago Public Schools.

With a fervor reminiscent of the Occupy Chicago marches, the teachers chanted labor slogans, waved placards and were fired up by several speakers, including CTU President Karen Lewis, who brought the crowd to a roar when she called Mayor Rahm Emanuel “a liar and a bully.”

Thousands of teachers and public workers attended the speeches in the Loop plaza, with many wearing red shirts in support of the teachers. After the rally, the crowd moved across Clark Street to march around the City Hall-County Building, then headed south on Clark to the CPS offices. ................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.suntimes.com/news/education/14907231-418/chicago-teachers-flood-daley-plaza-to-rally-for-contract.html

[madrchsod]

1. emanuel and governor quinn are not union friendly democrats

karen lewis and the teachers are going to have it out with emanuel. the asfcme union is at war with quinn.

it`s an interesting time here in illinois.

[MrSlayer]

2. Yeah, he's a scab asshole.

He's one of the reasons I scoff at all this "We're with you" talk today from the Democrats. Labor gets lip service and nothing more. Sometimes not even that.

[DeSwiss]

3. “....a liar and a bully.” And those are his good traits.

- But he used to could do one hellava pirouette......



K&R

[senseandsensibility]

6. Wow.

Men can be ballet dancers and look great, but really? This is too funny... More importantly, he is a jerk.

[a kennedy]

4. D*mn...

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

5. and a douche. nt

[mopinko]

7. i wish karen lewis had a slightly smaller ego.

not real smart, imho, to be out there calling your counterpart in a difficult negotiation "a liar and a bully".
i think ctu is right on many, many things here. but i also think that karen's ego is leading the way. i hope she can be professional anyway.

[marmar]

8. If he's not bargaining in good faith and really is acting as a bully......

...... then what's the use in holding back? Kudos to her for having a spine. Somebody needs to stand up to Rahm.

[mopinko]

9. i just think that it is her job to negotiate with an asshole, she should

be a professional about it. spreading her story from a closed door meeting, telling it on ed schultz, even, is just not professional.
i think he is bargaining for some things that we would be better off without. but that isn't the same as bad faith. he was elected with 70% of the vote. she should respect that.

[frazzled]

11. You are being very polite

to call it "ego." I'm sometimes rather shocked at the lack of, shall we say ... professional behavior ... she displays. I don't think she's the best leader for CTU, in all honesty.

[mopinko]

13. well, she is willing to make some waves, unlike most of her predecessors, who

watch the chiseling away of the teacher's contracts year in and year out. and most of what i hear her demanding is really, really important to the children in the system. and her membership is behind her, from all that i hear.

but yeah, president of a union means your job is to negotiate with people that want to screw you over, and likely don't personally like you much. bullies and liars. your teachers may love you to death, but if you can't do that, you aren't qualified for your job. and screaming about it on national teevee only makes your own job harder, so.....

[Honeycombe8]

10. What's their beef with Emmanuel? nt

[Egalitarian Thug]

14. Investment banker, a liar and a bully. But, that's redundant. n/t