Proviso students walk out to support teachers’ union

Busy First Avenue in the Chicago suburb of Maywood was temporarily closed last Wednesday afternoon. However, the culprit was not a large pothole or a ConEd crew. It was a militant demonstration by Proviso East High School students in support of teachers who are currently engaged in a contentious bargaining round with a hostile school board. The purpose of this article is to explain the background to this situation.

Proviso High School District 209 has about 4,000 students of whom roughly half are Hispanic and about 40% Black. 290 union members are divided between three schools: Proviso East, Proviso West, and the Math and Science Academy. The students come from towns such as Maywood, Hillside, and Melrose Park which are considerably poorer than the other suburbs around them.

Fred Hampton

Readers with a long memory will remember that this is not the first time Proviso East has been covered in the socialist press. Murdered Black Panther Party leader Fred Hampton went to Proviso East and led a famous walk-out there which was attacked by the police. If Fred is looking down from a working class heaven, he would be proud to see today’s students following in his tradition of struggle and solidarity.

The District’s contract with Illinois Federation of Teachers Local 571 expired on June 30, 2021. Two issues have dominated the subsequent negotiations. The first one is salary. District 209 wages are considerably less than at surrounding high school districts. The union wishes to right this situation. The second issue is the number of teaching periods. The norm is that high school teachers teach five classes per day. The Proviso Board wishes to increase this to six.

In a highly unusual move, the School Board negotiating team only has two members on it, the Board President and the attorney. Normally, suburban teacher negotiations have at least some pretense of courtesy . District 209 has dispensed with this formality. In a viral video, School Board member Teresa Kelly appears to happily give the finger to a pro-union speaker at the February 15 School Board meeting. This episode captures the flavor of the negotiations.

Mass Picket

This, then, was the context for the union’s decision to originally set February 18 as the strike date. The union marshalled its forces with a very successfulpicket on February 15. A couple hundred teachers and their supporters picketed outside the East building. Very creative and humorous homemade signs dominated the picket line. Teacher unionists from other districts were out in support. Even WGN TV news commented on the very large amount of supportive honking from passing drivers.

Walkout

The next day the proverbial shit hit the fan. Large student walkouts took place at all three buildings in support of the teachers’ union. Students interviewed on the local television news made clear their solidarity. The administration tried to belittle the walkouts, claiming that some small fires were set in the school bathrooms and that there was a danger to student safety. The administration then cancelled in-person learning for the next day, making all classes online.

The union picket and student walkouts may have broken the log jam. Management made a new offer on February 17 and the union has decided to postpone the strike. Further negotiations will take place over the next several days.

It’s not possible to tell if the union and their student allies have been able to tame a belligerent school board. If the board decides to continue on a confrontational course, the Chicago labor movement will have to come to the aid of our brothers and sisters at Proviso.