Red shirts in Bourbonnais

Many Chicagoans have grown used to the sight of red shirted CTU teacher pickets. Now, the people of the small town of Bourbonnais, Illinois, have seen large contingents of red clad picketers of their own. The Bourbonnais Education Association (BEA) went on strike for a week starting on March 4. The purpose of this article is to explain what led to the strike and the main issues involved.

At the bargaining table

Bourbonnais is a town of about 20,000 people, located 45 miles southwest of Chicago.School District 53 employs 167 pre-K-8^th grade teachers and other educational workers. They have been working without a contract since the start of this school year. The union has met over thirty times with management. Management has dug in its heels and the union finally decided to strike last Thursday.

There’s nothing particularly surprising about the main issues at the bargaining table. Insurance and salary seem to be the two key issues. The Board is proposing a two-tier insurance structure with all employees hired after a specific date being required to pay a higher amount. To its credit, the union is holding firm on this. They argue that they cannot betray future union members. Unions that have not taken this principled stance have found themselves severely weakened and bitterly divided.

Salary is the second main issue. The union has made a very straightforward proposal. They have studied the salary schedules of surrounding school districts in the Kankakee area. The research showed that District 53 was noticeably behind the other districts. So, the union is making wage parity with the neighboring districts a top priority.

School Board leader John Hall has been taking a hostile line at the table. The BEA has undercut Hall’s credibility in a number of ways. They have pointed to the $10 million surplus that the District has on hand. The Board’s pleas of poverty also were exposed when the union publicized the lavish dinner bills that Board members had placed on the District’s account!

Full detailed reports are posted by the Bargaining Team after every negotiating session. This has led to a well informed and involved membership. This is particularly important as the District has tried a number of tricks to muddy the waters. For example, they merely moved money around the total wages bill without increasing the total amount or “new money” in any way. They then claimed that they were making a new, better, proposal.

Solidarity rally

The solidarity rally on March 9 provided a good photograph of the strike. About 225 strikers and union supporters participated. This was a very good turnout, given that there are only 167 members of the bargaining unit. The demonstrators picketed on busy Route 45 during the evening rush hour. Supportive honking and waving from motorists was constant. The amount of support was noticeably more than at most other union picket lines. It seems that the Bourbonnais teachers have captured the imagination of their town.

Union red clothing was omnipresent. Interestingly, there were few official Illinois Education Associations picket signs. The vast bulk of the placards were homemade, often quite creative.

Humorous references were made to Cindy Lauper songs (Teachers just want to have funds!) and State Farm commercials. Contingents of students added to the upbeat atmosphere. Chicago Teachers Union, Teamsters Local 710, and Illinois Education Association- Retired members attended in solidarity.

At the end of the picket, a rally was held from the back of a flatbed truck in a nearby parking lot. In addition to union speakers, four candidates for the Bourbonnais School Board in next month’s election spoke. The union needs to be careful here. There’s a long history of school board members, once elected, becoming comfortable in their position as employers. Whatever good intentions they entered the board room with are easily lost. Board members enter a world of management seminars, frequent interactions with anti-union attorneys and involvement in hiring, firing, and employee discipline.

While some board members hold onto their original values, it’s easy to pass over to the dark side when placed in the structural position of being management as opposed to being labor.

This is the reason why militant teacher unionists place their emphasis on organizing their own side in action, not in trying to decide who their employers should be.

The Bourbonnais teachers engaged in a battle for important union goals such as wage parity and opposition to two-tier contracts—and won.

The strike was settled on the evening of Thursday March 11. The terms of the agreement include a 10.25% increase to the salary schedule over three years. The fact that this money takes the form of increases to the salary schedule is important. The Board had been pushing for one time bonuses that don’t increase the salary schedule. Significantly, the final settlement had no two tier insurance system, a key Board demand. All six workdays lost due to the strike will be made up. The union membership has ratified the contract and school reopened on Friday, March 12.