Marin wrong on nuns
Letters to the Editor June 12, 2012 6:46PM
Ballots are stacked at a Chicago high school Wednesday, June 6, 2012, as voting began in the Chicago Teacher Union's strike authorization vote. Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis says union members don't want to disrupt the start of the next school year with a strike, but she says they feel voting to authorize one is needed to negotiate a better contract. (AP Photo/M. Spencer Green)
Updated: July 14, 2012 6:28AM
In her column on Sunday (“Nuns who won’t be bullied”), Carol Marin speaks as if the hierarchy of the Catholic Church has never appreciated the yeoman’s work of Catholic sisters. Nothing could be further from the truth. The hierarchy knows that the work of the nuns is essential to the universal mission of the Church. What the Vatican has done with its statement on the Leadership Conference of Women Religious is to correct the sisters who have mistaken their vocation of service to the Church as one of social work. Marin also fails to mention the number of religious sisters who welcome the Vatican’s statement as a way to help reel in their wayward sisters.
Jeff Field, Catholic League
Try blaming the Board of Education
I am very disappointed with recent editorials about the Chicago Teachers Union. Every editorial seems to go against the union. What about the Board of Education? If the BOE knows there is a huge deficit, why rush into extending the school day without knowing how it will be funded? Your paper seems to side with the board saying the strike authorization vote was premature and the union should have waited for the fact finding process. Why? The vote is just saying that if the recommendations are not to the teachers’ liking, then the union will then have the power to strike. Another issue is about salaries. Your paper says that the union must understand that the board is bleeding money and not to expect a large raise. Why is it appropriate for selected board staff to get raises and not teachers? You said it’s time for the union to bargain, but it takes two to bargain. The Board has not been bargaining in good faith, and it wasn’t until the strike authorization vote did they even think they had to. Your paper also makes it seem like the board is doing what’s right for the children and the union is not. Most board members are millionaires that didn’t attend CPS nor did their children. The union is made up of educators that not only have dedicated many years in the classrooms, but also send their children to CPS. It’s the union and the teachers that have dedicated their lives to educating students, not the board.
Gerald O. Winston, Calumet Heights
