“In It for Themselves”: The 2012 Chicago Teachers’ Strike and Aftermath in the Mass Media

• In Event: Roundtable Session 8
  In Roundtable Session: Teachers, Unions, and School Reform in the News

Abstract

The role of teachers’ unions and their place in education reform and policy discourses is fraught with tension and disagreement regarding whose interests are best served by unions (Lipman, 2011; Moe, 2011). Further, teachers’ unions themselves have been under attack from critics and those who are interested in reforming public schools by employing standards, accountability, tenure reform, and other initiatives, regardless of the position they take on such reform measures (Sustar, 2013; Weiner & Compton, 2008). News media reporting reflects these struggles and in some cases exacerbates and confounds the conflicts (Goldstein, 2011). This presentation presents one specific case of news media reporting on the role teachers’ unions play in school reform.
In September 2012, over 26,000 members of Chicago Teachers’ Union voted to authorize the city’s first teacher strike in nearly a quarter century (Davey, 2012). To some activists who believe a strong public education in the US is vital to building a democratic society, predicated on the ideals of diversity, freedom, and social justice, the strike was successful due to “the collective and collaborative nature” and the “breadth of parental, student, and community support of the union’s actions” (Solokier, 2013, p. 13). Since the strike and its conclusion, the role of the union in supporting or obstructing school reform in Chicago has made the news, particularly in regard to Mayor Rahm Emmanuel’s decision to close 52 schools, lay off more than 2000 teachers, administrators, and support staff, and move those students to other district schools or newly opened charter schools (Meisel, 2013). ¬¬
Unfortunately, most citizens may not view the Chicago teachers unions’ actions in the same light as the teachers who participated in the strike or social advocates who support labor unions. Employing critical discourse analysis (Cooper, 1989; Fairclough, 1995) and qualitative media analaysis (1995), the researcher analyzed a random sample of news stories from Chicago news media sources, national media sources like the Associated Press and US Today to identify the dominant narratives reflected in those stories. Analysis of data revealed that news media readers may have formulated different understandings regarding the purpose and outcome of the strike due to how the stories were framed within larger school reform discourses because the stories themselves reflected a reform narrative that was “top down” in nature, thus overwhelmingly supporting elite ideologies and practices (McChesney, 1999, 2008).
Critically examining how the 2012 Chicago teachers’ union strike, contract ratification, and following events shaped public discourses surrounding school reform is important if educational researchers and the public are to unpack those dominant discourses, as well as consider whether alterative media sources, generated by academics, educators, and citizens, have the power to (re)frame how the majority of citizens understand the concerns generated by teachers unions at today’s historical juncture.

Author

• Bradley J. Porfilio, California State University - East Bay