Chicago unionists lend a hand in El Paso

Eileen Camacho and Anthony Lopez, field representatives for the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU), went to El Paso, Texas, as part of the national effort to provide support for the El Paso Federation of Teachers and Support Personnel’s organizing campaign.

They came for a great learning experience; what they found was a greater appreciation for their union.

Camacho and Lopez canvassed the schools to find out how El Paso staff would vote and worked hard to educate the teachers and PSRPs about the importance of having single representation.

“In Chicago, people are automatically part of the union,” says Camacho. The anti-union atmosphere in Texas meant we had to present people with a different argument for joining the union, she explains.

In a right-to-work state like Texas, collective bargaining and contracts are not permitted, so the goal for union members and staff who went to El Paso was to let the teachers and PSRPs know that voting for exclusive consultation was as close as they could get to collective bargaining.

The two-week assignment opened their eyes to the conditions workers face in right-to-work states, the field representatives say.

Getting people’s attention was tricky, notes Camacho. At most of the schools, she and her colleagues were forced to hang around the school parking lots trying to catch people as they made their way to and from work. “People shied away from us in the beginning,” says Lopez. “You could see their paranoia and fear. They were scared to talk to us.”

In time, the two CTU members were able to build a rapport with many of the school staff. “We kept coming back and talking to them day after day, and eventually we gained their confidence,” says Lopez. 

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