Learning from Karen Lewis.

• Author: Gunderson, Michelle
• Position: Column

Karen Lewis is a woman who speaks truth to power--boldly and without hesitation. When you listen to her words and watch her actions, you realize the possibility of winning, the possibility of what it means to fight back. She inspired us all when she led the 2012 teachers' strike in Chicago.

Karen Lewis had been on all of our minds lately. In October, she was diagnosed with a brain tumor. She decided not to run for mayor against Rahm Emanuel in Chicago, and has needed to step down for a time as president of the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU).

As Jesse Sharkey, who is now serving as interim president of the CTU, remarked at our leadership conference, "We have all been carrying a heavy load up a steep hill for a long time. When someone has to put the load down for a while, the rest of us need to say we will pick up the load and carry on. CTU will not let up."

But first we need to honor the type of leadership Karen Lewis represents, and the influence she has had on unionism and the political landscape nationwide.

First and foremost, Karen is a teacher. As a national board-certified science teacher and veteran of twenty-two years in the Chicago schools, she leads with first-hand knowledge and excellence of her craft. Former students talk about the life-changing experiences they had in her classes. They speak of the joy and passion she brought to her work, something that she fights to retain in all of our classrooms.

And as a union leader and activist, Karen is always teaching--every moment is an opportunity to educate.

"Karen activates the populace and walks with the people," says Kimberly Goldbaum, an activist with the Caucus of Rank and File Educators (CORE)--the organization that brought Karen Lewis into leadership. "It is activism, not compliance, which moves us towards a better democracy."

Lewis's commitment to the field of education and her role as our "teacher in chief' appeals to young educators, something that is essential if teacher unionism is to survive the political and corporate attacks on collective bargaining. She listens to them, challenges them, and then brings them into the fold. This is the exact opposite of the unionism we experienced before Lewis took leadership in 2010. The old guard practiced a service model of unionism, where rank and file were expected to fall in line with leadership decisions and get involved with the union's downtown offices only when problems arose.

"I've met Karen Lewis a few times, mostly in passing...