Press conference starting shortly calling on @DonHarmonIL to let the elected school board bill have a floor vote in the Senate like he promised. We'll live tweet it here.

Labor leaders standing with elected, parents, community orgs and teachers @AFTunion, @J1Ramann, @SigchoFor25, SEIUHC,
@brothajitu of @KOCOmmunity & @J4J_USA: Mayor Lightfoot who said she would be different and support an elected board wants a hybrid that she controls
Brown: The senate president @DonHarmonIL who said he would be different and would stand with labor is refusing to call a bill
Next up Bob Reiter, @chicagolabor: the appointed board just represents the mayor's office. There is no reason why this school district should be different than any other district in IL. Parents need to elect their representatives
Reiter @chicagolabor: The time is now to rectify not just the restriction of bargaining rights [that passed yesterday]; this is a century old travesty in Chicago that the board is not elected.
Next up @rweingarten, @AFTunion: I have been around for a long time & seen reforms cycle around the country. But mayoral control stifles democracy and doesn't create resources or allow community voices to be heard
@rweingarten: It shouldn't have taken a hunger strike to get Dyett HS the resources parents and students wanted and needed
@rweingarten: The elected school board was intended to go side-by-side with the bargaining bill. These two bills need to go together.
@rweingarten: @DonHarmonIL was terrific on the bargaining bill, but the business community is influencing him to block this bill and preventing parents from having rights
@brothajitu: the overwhelming number of districts that don't have democratic control with an elected board are majority Black & brown. This is voter suppression #hb2267
Next up Alderman @J1Ramann of the 20th Ward: what we have said for two decades is that Black and Latinx families don't deserve to have control over their schools
@J1Ramann: District is currently ignoring communities most impacted by pandemic. Taxpayers and parents who look like me aren't valued.
@J1Ramann: We need an elected representative school board *yesterday*. I have been fighting for this for 10 years. others on this call have been fighting for 25 years #ERSBnow Call your legislators!
@brothajitu: Why are Chicago politicians afraid of democracy? It is the business community. Same people who had Daley put it into place in the first place
@brothajitu: Opportunity gap has grown under this form of school governance. Equity must be determined by those who are most impacted by inequity

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We’ve been getting calls and outreach from Queens residents all day about this.

The community’s response? Outrage.


Amazon is a billion-dollar company. The idea that it will receive hundreds of millions of dollars in tax breaks at a time when our subway is crumbling and our communities need MORE investment, not less, is extremely concerning to residents here.

When we talk about bringing jobs to the community, we need to dig deep:
- Has the company promised to hire in the existing community?
- What’s the quality of jobs + how many are promised? Are these jobs low-wage or high wage? Are there benefits? Can people collectively bargain?

Displacement is not community development. Investing in luxury condos is not the same thing as investing in people and families.

Shuffling working class people out of a community does not improve their quality of life.

We need to focus on good healthcare, living wages, affordable rent. Corporations that offer none of those things should be met w/ skepticism.

It’s possible to establish economic partnerships w/ real opportunities for working families, instead of a race-to-the-bottom competition.

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