https://socialistaction.org/2017/03/12/chicago-teachers-union-hosts-international-womens-day-protest/
Chicago Teachers Union hosts International Women’s Day Protest
/ 3 days ago
April 2017 CTU meeting
By MARK UGOLINI
— CHICAGO — Over 1000 trade-union women and supporters gathered at the
Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) Hall on Mar. 8 to celebrate International
Women’s Day and declare solidarity with women everywhere struggling to
protect and extend woman’s rights.
Chairing the rally, Adriana Alvarez of Fight for $15 spoke of the
struggle of woman workers against sexual harassment at Burger King and
McDonalds restaurants. She reported on a demonstration earlier in the
day targeting a local Burger King that woman workers charged with EEOC
violations.
Context for the Mar. 8 rally were local and state government assaults on
unions representing large numbers of woman. State workers represented by
AFSCME recently voted overwhelmingly to strike if negotiations with
Governor Bruce Rauner continue to stall. Demanding a fair contract,
Charter School teachers set a strike date of Mar. 17. State worker
Marion Murphy of AFSCME Local 2806 and Marines Martinez of Chicago
Alliance of Charter Teachers and Staff Local 4343 conveyed details of
their struggles and received cheering ovations of support from the crowd.
Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) Local 308 leader Deborah Cosey-Lane
addressed the plight of Chicago transit workers who have been without a
contract for over 14 months. “We’re sick and tired of being sick and
tired!” she said, after describing working conditions of woman drivers,
who are forced to endure unsafe and demeaning rules, working long hours,
and being denied bathroom facilities and breaks.
Earlier in the day, a group of CTA women workers, participating in
Woman’s Strike activities, rallied at Chicago Transit Authority offices
in Chicago. Joined by other ATU members, they demanded adequate bathroom
break time and improved maternity leave benefits.
A local TV station quoted CTA worker Vanessa Garcia: “It’s really
important that we all should get equal treatment because we all work and
we are all trying to feed our families.”
Dozens of Muslim women from the Arab American Action network joined the
CTU rally, and were represented by Rasmea Odeh, who addressed the crowd.
A prominent figure in the Palestinian national liberation movement, Odeh
in 1969 was subjected to sexual abuse and psychological torture while
confined in an Israeli military prison. She endured intense abuse for
three weeks, and was coerced into a false confession of involvement in
Jerusalem bombings. As a result, her U.S. citizenship was revoked in
2014; her deportation is currently under review by an immigration court.
To a standing ovation Odeh declared: “I stand before you as a 50-year
survivor of sexual abuse at the hands of the Israeli military.” She
urged supporters to attend an upcoming court hearing in Detroit on April
4 to protest the false charges and stop deportation proceedings.
Other speakers at the March 8 rally included Karen Lewis, President of
the Chicago Teachers Union (opening remarks); Christel Williams, CTU;
Liz Radford, Woman’s March of Chicago; Alyx Goodwin, Black Youth Project
100; Faith Arnold, SEIU Healthcare Illinois & Indiana; and Katie Thiede,
Planned Parenthood.
Photo by Guy Miller: Opal Staples sings at CTU meeting hall on March 8.
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March 12, 2017 in Chicago, Labor, Women's Liberation.
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