updates on #CTUstrike and some labor history/context

First, Sign this petition in support of Walmart-contracted Warehouse Workers who just went on Strike for Safer Working Conditions

Also go "Like" the Chicago Teachers Union Facebook Page if you support their struggle! 

Here are some important links on the Chicago Teachers strike:

Why Rahm Emanuel and The New York Times are wrong about teacher evaluation 

Saving the Chicago public school system: Who's hurting the kids? - Opinion - Al Jazeera English 

Chicago School Strike: The Failure of Charter Schools 

Editorial: Rahm is wrong about the Boston teachers union contract - Chicago Sun-Times

Why did American teachers unionize? What does feminism have to do with it?  

 Lean Production: What’s Really Hurting Public Education | Jacobin 

Advice for Chicago: Industrial History Shows Value of Collaboration « Diane Ravitch's blog 

Why do so many liberals hate teachers’ unions? « LBO News from Doug Henwood 

Liberals and Teachers: An “Examination on the Merits” | Jacobin 

Why Do People Hate Teachers Unions? Because They Hate Teachers. « Corey Robin 

Chicago teachers strike against corporate education interests and for better schools for kids. Guess which side the Waltons are on? | Jobs With Justice 

Good Backgrounder:

How, and How Not, to Improve the Schools by Diane Ravitch | The New York Review of Books 

Also, be sure to watch Chris Hedge's Democracy Now interview where he notes two really important points

1) This is the Most Important Labor Action in Decades

2) This strike parallels the #occupy movement and is part of the fight back against the 1%  

And I included a great Doug Henwood chart in this post just to remind us that the decline in labor action is intrinsically linked to the decline in "the middle class" over the past 30 years.