Chicago teachers union president is unseated

Deborah Lynch-Walsh, a longtime critic of the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) leadership, has been elected as the new CTU president.

Lynch-Walsh and members of her caucus, ProActive Chicago Teachers and School Employees (PACT), took all but eight seats on the union’s 47-member executive board.

Results of the spring election showed that Lynch-Walsh won 57 percent of the 21,378 votes cast, defeating Thomas Reece, who has been CTU president for seven years. Reece is also an AFT vice president and president of the Illinois Federation of Teachers.

In two previous attempts to unseat Reece — in 1998 and 1996 — Lynch-Walsh garnered 42 percent and 28 percent of the vote, respectively. Following her victory, Lynch-Walsh pledged to work cooperatively with Chicago Mayor Richard Daley and the school board to achieve common priorities, including lower class size, more voice for teachers in decisions about their schools and classrooms, “and assuring that students learn the basics of reading, writing and mathematics.”

Lynch-Walsh is an eighth-grade teacher at Marquette Elementary on the Southwest side of Chicago and is an adjunct university professor.

House OKs Patients’ Bill of Rights

Despite a massive lobbying blitz on Capitol Hill by labor, consumer and medical groups and grassroots activists across the country, the U.S. House of Representatives on Aug. 2 passed a weakened version of the Patients’ Bill of Rights (H.R. 2563) that protects HMOs at the expense of patients.

AFT President Sandra Feldman called the compromise bill a “great disappointment,” noting the bill overturns state patient protection laws that are now in place in 10 states.

H.R. 2563, however, retains two provisions the AFT worked hard to secure. The whistleblower provision will protect doctors and nurses who report inferior care, and the bill includes coverage for state and local employees.

As The Voice went to press, the bill was headed to a House/Senate conference.

Labor resources

• Download political campaign materials at www.workingfamiliestoolkit.com.
• For information on labor-related events, articles on labor issues, updates on current strikes and links, go to www.labornet.com.
• A pocket guide that links corporations and economics to such issues as women’s labor and sweatshops is available from Campaign for Labor Rights, 1247 E St. SE, Washington, D.C. 20003. The cost per guide is $1.45, plus 55 cents for shipping.