Chicago teachers to go on strike

[Anti Federalist]

Chicago teachers to go on strike

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-201_162-57509202/chicago-teachers-to-go-on-strike/

(CBS/AP) CHICAGO — The Chicago Teachers Union announced Sunday night that it will go on strike Monday morning for the first time in 25 years after contract talks with the school district failed over issues including pay, benefits and job security.

"We will be on the (picket) line," Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis said after emerging from all-day talks with district negotiators.

"This is a difficult decision and one we hoped we could have avoided," she said. "We must do things differently in this city if we are to provide our students with the education they so rightfully deserve."

More than 26,000 teachers and support staff are expected to hit the picket lines Monday morning, while the school district and parents carry out plans for keeping nearly 400,000 students safe and occupied during the day in the nation's third largest school district. District officials plan to feed and monitor students at 144 schools throughout the city during the strike.

School board President David Vitale had announced a short time earlier on Sunday night that the talks had broken off, despite the school board offering what he called a fair and responsible contract that would cover four years and meet most of the union's demands. He said the talks with the union had been "extraordinarily difficult."

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel says the strike is unfair to the city's school children.

Speaking shortly after Lewis announced the walkout, Emanuel said the two sides disagreed mainly over two issues that could quickly be finished if the negotiations continued, and that the district's team was ready to start talks again at any time. He said the district had offered the teachers at 16 percent pay raise over four years.

CBS station WBBM in Chicago points out the mayor said he was "disappointed that we have come to this point, given that even all the other parties acknowledge how close we are, because this is a strike of choice. Because of how close we are, it is a strike that is unnecessary."

Lewis said she believed talks would resume Monday but a time had not been set for the sides to meet. She added that progress had been made but not enough to avert a strike.

Union officials said among the outstanding issues were district proposals for standardized student testing that would "cheapen" the school system and a teacher evaluation system that would cost 6,000 teachers their jobs within two years. Lewis said the union had won concessions from the district on other matters.

The walkout was announced after months of tense, at-times heated talks among Emanuel, the school board and union leaders at a time when unions and collective bargaining have come under criticism around the nation during difficult economic times.

The district had been offering a raise of 2 percent a year for four years. The union called that offer unacceptable — particularly after Emanuel last year canceled a previously negotiated 4 percent pay raise, citing budget problems.

The union countered by asking for a 30 percent pay raise over two years, followed by a request for a 25 percent increase over two years. Just weeks ago, Lewis told delegates the union had adjusted its demand and was asking for a 19 percent pay raise in the contract's first year.

The union also has raised concerns about raises based on teacher experience and education. It said the district agreed to retain contract language allowing raises based on experience, called step increases, but would not actually pay the money now.

Teachers also have been concerned about new teacher evaluations, health benefits and regaining lost jobs. An additional issue was how a longer school day for students is being implemented.

The strike is the latest flashpoint in a very public and often contentious battle between the mayor and the union.

When he took office last year, the former White House chief of staff inherited a school district facing a $700 million budget shortfall. Not long after, his administration rescinded 4 percent raises for teachers. He then asked the union to reopen its contract and accept 2 percent pay raises in exchange for lengthening the school day for students by 90 minutes. The union refused.

The longer school day was one of the mayor's campaign promises for the city's schools, and he pushed to have it implemented a year ahead of schedule. He attempted to go around the union by asking teachers at individual schools to waive the contract and add 90 minutes to the day. He halted the effort after being challenged by the union before the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board.

The district and union agreed in July on how to implement the longer school day, striking a deal to hire back 477 teachers who had been laid off rather than pay regular teachers more to work longer hours. That raised hopes the contract dispute would be settled soon, but bargaining continued on the other issues.

[tttppp]

These local governments shouldn't be taking their crap. They should be focusing on privatizing education and firing these teachers. If they need teachers in the short term hire scabs. Unions shouldn't be allowed to boss around their governments or businesses.

[Keith and stuff]

It is a good time to be a student at a government school in Chicago. Well, except for the whole Chicago thing.

[RickyJ]

The only "winners" here are the kids who don't have to go to these forced attendance indoctrination centers while they are having this strike. I am sure that most of the kids are happy about it.

[RonRules]

Good.

[Carehn]

So if they go on strike... How do you suppose they can do less then they already do?

[ghengis86]

The only "winners" here are the kids who don't have to go to these forced attendance indoctrination centers while they are having this strike. I am sure the most of the kids are happy about it.

I'm sure they'll have to attend classes to the middle of July to make up for the missed days i.e. get their government money per slave.

Serious question; why can't they just cancel the union contract and hire private teachers? I realize there are some major political hurdles, but "legally" is there anything preventing a bust of the strike?

[ronpaulfollower999]

The mayor of Chicago is Rahm Emanuel. I'm surprised the entire city isn't on strike.

[kathy88]

I personally know MANY teachers. There are the exceptions. The ones that do put in countless extra hours, coach for a couple extra grand a year, and head up clubs which takes up more of their "free" time. I also know teachers who get to the school at 8 a.m. leave at 3:30 p.m. and never set foot in the building at night or on weekends, never go to games or help with clubs/activities sports. These last described are the majority. a 19 percent increase the first year is a slap in the face to every parent who sends their kids to public schools who hasn't had a pay increase in years. Teachers are not special. It's a job. At my university, the education program was the easiest program at the school and some of the people who graduated with teaching degrees were complete idiots.

[DamianTV]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bx4pN-aiofw

[angelatc]

These local governments shouldn't be taking their crap. They should be focusing on privatizing education and firing these teachers. If they need teachers in the short term hire scabs. Unions shouldn't be allowed to boss around their governments or businesses.

That might be what this is about, but it's not a good thing. Arne Duncan is turning the schools over to the corporations, and calling it privatization.

[cjm]

Teachers are not special. It's a job. At my university, the education program was the easiest program at the school and some of the people who graduated with teaching degrees were complete idiots.

Actually, teachers are pretty special.

They might have been idiots prior to receiving the degree, but not afterwards. Graduation is one of the civil sacraments. Upon receipt of the sheepskin, the degree holder is mystically transformed into an expert on the subject and cannot be criticized by anyone outside of the field.

Government employment is another civil sacrament. Flawed individuals are mystically cleansed of all ill will. Although they can still make mistakes, they always have our best interests at heart.

[Root]

The strike is for the children...

[tod evans]

The strike is for the children...

yup ;)

[matt0611]

Chicago has 10% unemployment. I'm sure some of them are looking for teacher jobs.

[FindLiberty]

Oh oh, I see an opportunity here to eliminate a huge problem facing IL and their looming state bankruptcy.

In order to eliminate the impossible present and projected costs of benefits including: pensions, healthcare and wages from the taxpayer's backs, they might threaten strikers with immediate termination and loss of all benefits. They'll jut feign concern that other workers may also go on strike to show that they side with the striking teachers. Those workers may include police, fire, sanitation and various powerful trades. The strike may spill over into medical and many government jobs that have also unionized.

What could possibly go wrong?

They'll plead with them to, "just go back to work within 14 days, with a slight temporary pay cut, so we can all continue to work this out".

Of course that will piss 'em off more while they wait for a few more workers to join the strike.

It may get sticky when they then fire all of the striking workers (as planned) and terminate all their future benefits and past contractual promises. They might even lump in past retirees with severe cuts to existing pensions and benefits. If that's not harsh enough already, they would also probably move the game up a notch or two by reminding the fired workers that the taxpayers are already mad as Hell and any violence or interference with restoring order and job functions will be handled as the Chinese government does it...

The shocked local MSM will go along and help them announce, "Jobs jobs, JOBS" to international media outlets aimed at anyone who still wants to come to Illinois in America's midwest for the opportunity to get ahead.

[Come to amerika to get screwed by the elite mobsters that hang out in Illinois.]

They'll need to bring some troops home and invite those looking for some temporary work to consider massive job openings in IL. There will be, of course, mounted machine guns at the ready to disperse protesters. They'll have a special MSM press conference and extend a special thanks to the Chinese government for the inspiration and role model they’ve been. They might mention that they too may be invited to help restore order in IL.

If things get real messy, they might need to call Obama and call in those political favors (that got him elected in the first place) in return for sending the national guard and possibly a few drone air strikes to get all the new slaves working again.

The Volt will be decreed the official car of IL. They will say it’s the perfect car for the masses though only the top government personnel will be able to afford these cars since, of course their wages and benefits will not be cut.

They will install a grid like network of computerized security ID checkpoints to help maintain order with minimal inconvenience. As long as you have a clean record with no infractions, and a government approved job and/or purpose, you’ll have almost nothing to fear.

Illinois, soon to become a great place to work and obey.

[jbauer]

The only "winners" here are the kids who don't have to go to these forced attendance indoctrination centers while they are having this strike. I am sure the most of the kids are happy about it.
Right but do the math, wait till the kids come back. Who do you suppose is going to be the bad guys?

[jbauer]

Oh and I want a 16% raise over the next 4 years. Wages/GDP flat for a decade and they're bitching about ONLY 16%?

[jbauer]

That might be what this is about, but it's not a good thing. Arne Duncan is turning the schools over to the corporations, and calling it privatization.

So you're saying that people shouldn't be allowed to take kids where they want? I'm in favor of the voucher system. Each student should be given $X/yr and the parents can send the kid where ever they feel the kid can do best at. (as long as such school meets some sort of educational standard)

[LibertyEagle]

So you're saying that people shouldn't be allowed to take kids where they want? I'm in favor of the voucher system. Each student should be given $X/yr and the parents can send the kid where ever they feel the kid can do best at. (as long as such school meets some sort of educational standard)

The problem with vouchers, as I understand them, is that all schools would be required to accept them. Even private schools. And when they did, that would put them under control of federal government dictates.

[LibertyEagle]

Chicago has 10% unemployment. I'm sure some of them are looking for teacher jobs.
This.

I would rarely give in to demands made through a strike.

[RonRules]

Reagan them.

[green73]

LOL, they're already the highest paid in the nation (76K) and they want a 30% increase?!


Just 15 percent of fourth graders are proficient in reading and only 56 percent of students who enter their freshman year of high school wind up graduating (http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/316395/chicago-bled-dry-striking-teachers-unions-john-fund)

Nice job, slobs.

[green73]

I believe it was John Taylor Gatto who said that teachers are the second dumbest of all professionals, administrators being #1.

[green73]

Reagan them.

What does this mean? Balloon their $700 million deficit even more?

[VoluntaryAmerican]

It's funny but these kids are most likely getting a better education right now surfing the internet.

Let the teachers strike! Who needs them.

[dbill27]

What does this mean? Balloon their $700 million deficit even more?

reagan fired all the federal airline workers when they went on strike, pretty badass move.

[jbauer]

guess it depends what they're googling

[RonRules]

What does this mean? Balloon their $700 million deficit even more?

By "Reagan them", I was referring to the 1981 air traffic controller strike.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0808/12292.html

It was an extremely gutsy move, which defined Reagan forever. Nobody messed with him after that.

Emanuel will never do that.

[RonRules]

It's funny but these kids are most likely getting a better education right now surfing the internet.

Pay them to watch the Khan academy, passing the associated test and getting $1 per video passed. (I don't necessarily advocate paying students, but all I'm saying is that it would be a lot cheaper than paying $76K for each teacher.)

Pretty much all of K-12 is on there now: There's 3,300 videos and I guarantee you, if they passed all those videos, they would all ace the SAT.
http://www.khanacademy.org/

I use as an instant, on demand education when I need to refresh a concept in statistics.
http://www.khanacademy.org/math/statistics

[donnay]

I wished they all go on strike! And if Ron Paul was president, he would fire the whole lot of them and get rid of the Department of Education.

I love this line:
(CBS/AP) CHICAGO — The Chicago Teachers Union announced Sunday night that it will go on strike Monday morning for the first time in 25 years after contract talks with the school district failed over issues including pay, benefits and job security.

Job security? You only get that when you become a politician, just goes to show you, teachers are so smart after all.

[fr33]

Since the US is ranked so low globally, its the students and parents that should be on strike.

Let these teachers strike forever. Somewhere a child isn't being brainwashed thanks to this.

[belian78]

Chicago will make a run at the deadliest city in the world, starting coincidentally the same time this strike starts. It's sad to say, but with the youth sequestered to the school system for 8 hours a day is the only thing keeping Chicago from completely coming undone at the seams.

[HOLLYWOOD]

Oh and I want a 16% raise over the next 4 years. Wages/GDP flat for a decade and they're bitching about ONLY 16%?Rick Santelli from CNBC and the CME did an analysis... it's an initial 19.9% package increase. Like they think they are saving taxpayers money like the pricing of a gallon of gas. :rolleyes:

The unions want double digit percentage increase in a severe recession... pretty stupid timing.

Now where's that old thread on the retirement costs for Illinois education administrators?

Hats Off to RPF AGAIN! http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?252593-Top-100-School-Administrators-Salaries-and-Pensions-Illinois-2007


Top 100 School Administrators Salaries and Pensions - Illinois 2007
http://www.championnews.net/article.php?sid=1023

The top 100 school administrators are owed over $800 million on pensions in Illinois for lackluster results.

Don't you wish you could get paid in the private sector this kind of money for superior skills than these bureaucrats have?

Welcome to the Chicago machine.

[aGameOfThrones]

The union countered by asking for a 30 percent pay raise over two years, followed by a request for a 25 percent increase over two years. Just weeks ago, Lewis told delegates the union had adjusted its demand and was asking for a 19 percent pay raise in the contract's first year.

They're really thinking about the children. :rolleyes:

[tttppp]

So you're saying that people shouldn't be allowed to take kids where they want? I'm in favor of the voucher system. Each student should be given $X/yr and the parents can send the kid where ever they feel the kid can do best at. (as long as such school meets some sort of educational standard)

Why not just get the government completely out of education? No regulation, no subsidies. I would just give tax breaks to companies who would provide free or affordable education to poor people.

[Anti Federalist]

The problem with vouchers, as I understand them, is that all schools would be required to accept them. Even private schools. And when they did, that would put them under control of federal government dictates.

Yes, this is a very valid concern and the huge problem I have with "vouchers".

[tttppp]

I wished they all go on strike! And if Ron Paul was president, he would fire the whole lot of them and get rid of the Department of Education.

I love this line:
(CBS/AP) CHICAGO — The Chicago Teachers Union announced Sunday night that it will go on strike Monday morning for the first time in 25 years after contract talks with the school district failed over issues including pay, benefits and job security.

Job security? You only get that when you become a politician, just goes to show you, teachers are so smart after all.

Job security is not a right. Nobody should have job securtiy. You do your job right or you don't have a job. Teachers already have the job security of most professional athletes. You can't fire them nomatter how much they suck.

[Anti Federalist]

Chicago will make a run at the deadliest city in the world, starting coincidentally the same time this strike starts. It's sad to say, but with the youth sequestered to the school system for 8 hours a day is the only thing keeping Chicago from completely coming undone at the seams.

That is exactly why I highlighted this in the OP:


while the school district and parents carry out plans for keeping nearly 400,000 students safe and occupied during the day in the nation's third largest school district. District officials plan to feed and monitor students at 144 schools throughout the city during the strike

That seemed to be the only concern, what to do with almost half a million prisoners, now that the screws are walking out.

There are few government institutions as bad as the compulsory school/prison system.

[ghengis86]

Pay them to watch the Khan academy, passing the associated test and getting $1 per video passed. (I don't necessarily advocate paying students, but all I'm saying is that it would be a lot cheaper than paying $76K for each teacher.)

Pretty much all of K-12 is on there now: There's 3,300 videos and I guarantee you, if they passed all those videos, they would all ace the SAT.
http://www.khanacademy.org/

I use as an instant, on demand education when I need to refresh a concept in statistics.
http://www.khanacademy.org/math/statistics

Kahn Academy for the win!

The traditional, 8 hours in prison structure of government schools will fall into the dustbin of history. The only thing that is fighting to keep the failed model is the teacher's union(s). The writing is on the wall and they're going to suck whatever they can from the government (i.e. your taxes) on their way down.

Fuck the Chicago teacher's union.

[tod evans]

Chicago will make a run at the deadliest city in the world, starting coincidentally the same time this strike starts. It's sad to say, but with the youth sequestered to the school system for 8 hours a day is the only thing keeping Chicago from completely coming undone at the seams.

Aw, come on man all they need is more free-fed money and life'll be grand...;)

[puppetmaster]

Chicago has 10% unemployment. I'm sure some of them are looking for teacher jobs.


10% is really a 30% level....so yea i bet there are many qualified replacements

[Athan]

These local governments shouldn't be taking their crap. They should be focusing on privatizing education and firing these teachers. If they need teachers in the short term hire scabs. Unions shouldn't be allowed to boss around their governments or businesses.
You forget it's Rahm Emanuel. Democrat mayor from Obama's administration who has to satisfy the unions to the point they don't turn on Obama and/or democrats before November. They do not want to come off strong like Gov. Walker.

[tttppp]

You forget it's Rahm Emanuel. Democrat mayor from Obama's administration who has to satisfy the unions to the point they don't turn on Obama and/or democrats before November. They do not want to come off strong like Gov. Walker.

I understand your point, but government officials should not be doing things just because they are popular. Firing unneeded government employees like teachers might not be popular, but in the long run people will come around when they see the results. You can't get anything done when you spend all your time sucking up to people.

[jclay2]

How anyone supports these government goons is beyond me. I live in Chicago and have a fairly good idea for the benefits that these teachers get, and let me tell you it is pretty sweet (well not for taxpayers).

Firstly, the average teacher in chicago gets paid 76,000 BEFORE BENEFITS. That is right, on annualized basis cps teachers are making around 100k when you consider that they don't work 3 months in summer, two weeks at christmas, 1 week for spring break, and an assortment of other holidays that private workers do not get off. The healthcare that they get while they are teaching is also very good and probably costs well over 15k per teacher. Now the real kicker comes in with the pension. The cps pension is calculated using 75% of the average of the highest 4 years of work in the last 10. Teachers will get this pension for 6 years before receiving a nice and steady increase of 3% per year. In addition to the pension, they have nice healthcare benefits for pre/post medicare. Using the average teacher salary in chicago, I calculated that the present value of a cps teacher pension is about 1 million or so BEFORE healthcare retirement benefits. Wouldn't that be awesome! You get a 1 million + pension plus you get paid 75 k for working 2/3rds of the year with no real accountability. And they wonder why we hate them when they use the figurative gun to the head and unleash 400k students upon the city of chicago.

[2young2vote]

I remember whey my teachers went on strike here in Michigan - they didn't. There is a law forbidding public sector employees from leaving their job to strike so all the teachers wore pins and stuff. That is a heck of a lot better than leaving their job.

[HOLLYWOOD]

$76K average salary for 180 day work year plus benefits and retirement? Christmas/Easter/Summer vacations?

wow...


I know LA school district was one of the worse in the nation, costing $33K per student. I wonder what the cost is for a Chicago student?

[fr33]

$76K average salary for 180 day work year plus benefits and retirement? Christmas/Easter/Summer vacations?

wow...


I know LA school district was one of the worse in the nation, costing $33K per student. I wonder what the cost is for a Chicago student?Man, I don't make that much and I work more hours AND I own my own corporation. These people are entitled self serving thieves.

[TCE]

They could easily replace a nice amount of the teachers they are losing, but the Union would never allow that. The pension crisis in Illinois will cause the state to go bankrupt sooner or later. It is talked about around here every week it seems. When all of these government employees retire, we are screwed. We're going to be $83 billion in the hole. http://www.chicagomag.com/Chicago-Magazine/The-312/May-2012/Two-Sobering-Graphs-About-the-Illinois-Pension-Crisis/

We were also downgraded by S&P: http://southtownstar.suntimes.com/business/14804111-420/sp-lowers-illinois-credit-rating-over-pension-issues.html

[truthspeaker]

Am I the only one at least partially agreeing with the strike? Yes, it should have been before school started, however they do make a point--why should there be longer hours for the same wage or pay based on "standardized test preformance"? We're talking about allowing Bush's system being the measure of a teacher's ability. Bush--the same president that had a "C" average in college pushed a policy of nationalized testing teaching standards that we use today.

We all know that in order for them to have students score well, they must teach the test, thus taking time out of the day for other important things to be learned. This is why we as a nation have had worsening education. This move towards academic collectism is NOT GOOD. Academic freedom should be embraced. Individuals are not cookie-cutters.

[truthspeaker]

How anyone supports these government goons is beyond me. I live in Chicago and have a fairly good idea for the benefits that these teachers get, and let me tell you it is pretty sweet (well not for taxpayers).

Firstly, the average teacher in chicago gets paid 76,000 BEFORE BENEFITS. That is right, on annualized basis cps teachers are making around 100k when you consider that they don't work 3 months in summer, two weeks at christmas, 1 week for spring break, and an assortment of other holidays that private workers do not get off. The healthcare that they get while they are teaching is also very good and probably costs well over 15k per teacher. Now the real kicker comes in with the pension. The cps pension is calculated using 75% of the average of the highest 4 years of work in the last 10. Teachers will get this pension for 6 years before receiving a nice and steady increase of 3% per year. In addition to the pension, they have nice healthcare benefits for pre/post medicare. Using the average teacher salary in chicago, I calculated that the present value of a cps teacher pension is about 1 million or so BEFORE healthcare retirement benefits. Wouldn't that be awesome! You get a 1 million + pension plus you get paid 75 k for working 2/3rds of the year with no real accountability. And they wonder why we hate them when they use the figurative gun to the head and unleash 400k students upon the city of chicago.

I have no idea about cost of living there--is that really significantly higher?

Please don't blast education. People who choose that field take the vacation time in lieu of the pay cut compared to other fields like engineers.

[angelatc]

Am I the only one at least partially agreeing with the strike? Yes, it should have been before school started, however they do make a point--why should there be longer hours for the same wage or pay based on "standardized test preformance"? We're talking about allowing Bush's system being the measure of a teacher's ability. Bush--the same president that had a "C" average in college pushed a policy of nationalized testing teaching standards that we use today.

We all know that in order for them to have students score well, they must teach the test, thus taking time out of the day for other important things to be learned. This is why we as a nation have had worsening education. This move towards academic collectism is NOT GOOD. Academic freedom should be embraced. Individuals are not cookie-cutters.

You haven't actually lived in Chicago, I take it?

The kids that graduate can't read or write, a situation that pre-dates NCLB. But holding teachers accountable for non-performance is unthinkable to the union.

And longer hours with only a small pay raise? Where's that "shared sacrifice" the Democrats are constantly braying about? I'm sorry, but these parasites work 9 months out of the year, with awesome holidays, retirement packages that are the envy of the western world, and what do we get in return? Nothing that the free market couldn't do better.

[angelatc]

I have no idea about cost of living there--is that really significantly higher?

Please don't blast education. People who choose that field take the vacation time in lieu of the pay cut compared to other fields like engineers.

Engineers who can't build safe buildings get fired. And "pay cut?" That's nonsense. They make far more than most professionals do. In fact, teachers make too much as far as I'm concerned. They're basically glorified babysitters.

I'm not big on teacher worship - can you tell? It ranks right up there with "law enforcement worship" and "military worship" in my book.

[dbill27]

You haven't actually lived in Chicago, I take it?

The kids that graduate can't read or write, a situation that pre-dates NCLB. But holding teachers accountable for non-performance is unthinkable to the union.

And longer hours with only a small pay raise? Where's that "shared sacrifice" the Democrats are constantly braying about? I'm sorry, but these parasites work 9 months out of the year, with awesome holidays, retirement packages that are the envy of the western world, and what do we get in return? Nothing that the free market couldn't do better.

spot on. How are you going to bitch about longer hours when you work 9 months of the year. They are indeed parasites. If I was in charge of a newspaper covering the story my headline would be HELP WANTED.

[tttppp]

Engineers who can't build safe buildings get fired. Teachers make too much as far as I'm concerned. They're basically glorified babysitters.

Excellent point. Public education is daycare, nothing more.

[tttppp]

Engineers who can't build safe buildings get fired. Teachers make too much as far as I'm concerned. They're basically glorified babysitters.

Excellent point. Public education is daycare, nothing more.

[tttppp]

Am I the only one at least partially agreeing with the strike? Yes, it should have been before school started, however they do make a point--why should there be longer hours for the same wage or pay based on "standardized test preformance"? We're talking about allowing Bush's system being the measure of a teacher's ability. Bush--the same president that had a "C" average in college pushed a policy of nationalized testing teaching standards that we use today.

We all know that in order for them to have students score well, they must teach the test, thus taking time out of the day for other important things to be learned. This is why we as a nation have had worsening education. This move towards academic collectism is NOT GOOD. Academic freedom should be embraced. Individuals are not cookie-cutters.

You are right. Acedemic freedom should be embraced. We should fire all teachers and privatize the industry. I'm sure that's what these teachers are fighting for.

[angelatc]

To make my point, 80% of Chicago 8th graders can't even read. (http://theunionlabelblog.com/2012/09/10/chicago-teachers-strike-meanwhile-80-of-chicago-8th-graders-not-proficient-in-reading/)

[NoOneButPaul]

I live here... it's pretty crazy... everywhere you go they are striking in public places and teachers are wearing their Union T-shirts like little soldiers.

I just want to walk up to a rally and scream, "GO BACK TO FUCKING WORK YOU LAZY BASTARDS YOU GET 3 MONTHS OFF A YEAR AND YOU MAKE MORE THAN YOU DESERVE FOR THE JOB YOU'VE GIVEN US!"

Instead I say nothing and wonder why Rahm doesn't fire all of them and bring in an army of entry level teachers for half the cost... this way you could set up entirely new pension programs as well (or nothing at all) and save the city millions.

[RonRules]

Here are your Chicago teachers actually doing something:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NFqrg4SVCqA

[HOLLYWOOD]

Okay, Chicago school union protesters have gone too far

http://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/c100.0.403.403/p403x403/564705_10151211991471350_1800713244_n.jpg

[Keith and stuff]

Am I the only one at least partially agreeing with the strike?

Government workers shouldn't strike. In fact, there shouldn't even be government unions. A union is to protect workers from an evil corporation. The government is to keep people safe and protected. The government is already protecting the workers. If a person doesn't want to do a job, leave the job.

[HOLLYWOOD]

Government workers shouldn't strike. In fact, there shouldn't even be government unions. A union is to protect workers from an evil corporation. The government is to keep people safe and protected. There is no need for the union. If a person doesn't want to do a job, leave the job.There's a paradox for yah!


Here's the what lit the fuse: http://www.suntimes.com/news/marin/15081962-452/rahm-emanuel-picked-this-fight-with-teachers.html


Rahm Emanuel picked this fight with teachers
BY CAROL MARIN cmarin@suntimes.com September 11, 2012 7:14PM

http://www.suntimes.com/csp/cms/sites/dt.common.streams.StreamServer.cls?STREAMOID=z1qgz h3bVpqAQ9gXGw1qpc$daE2N3K4ZzOUsqbU5sYtkSBHbFWylTX5 kmF2f_u2nWCsjLu883Ygn4B49Lvm9bPe2QeMKQdVeZmXF$9l$4 uCZ8QDXhaHEp3rvzXRJFdy0KqPHLoMevcTLo3h8xh70Y6N_U_C ryOsw6FTOdKL_jpQ-&CONTENTTYPE=image/jpeg Mayor Rahm Emanuel speaks Tuesday at a news conference at Tarkington School of Excellence in Chicago as Principal Vincent Iturrald listens. | M. Spencer Green~AP



Updated: September 12, 2012 2:26AM


Rahm Emanuel started a fight with teachers that only he can finish.
In his 2011 campaign for mayor, he took the Chicago Teachers Union on as an adversary rather than attempt to make them a partner. He opted for a blunt instrument rather than a finessed approach. In hammering home how he was “for the children,” he left the implication that teachers were not.
And then, shortly after his election, Emanuel went to Springfield to get Senate Bill 7 passed. Touted as education reform, it was really an anti-collective bargaining measure, setting up a 75 percent vote threshold for union members to authorize a strike.

“No other union in the history in America has ever had to hit a 75 percent vote of membership,” said Bob Bruno, a University of Illinois at Chicago professor and director of the Labor Education Program.



Jonah Edelman, executive director of the deep-pocketed, pro-business group Stand for Children, was caught on video gloating about its legislative victory, saying: “The unions cannot strike in Chicago. . . . They will never be able to muster the 75 percent threshold.”


Though Edelman later publicly regretted his bravado, his agenda clearly is on behalf of the privatization of public education. And of charter schools. Even though the metrics of charter-school performance mirror the highs and lows of neighborhood public schools.
“I ran the numbers when I was at CPS,” said Terry Mazany, former interim CPS superintendent and CEO of the Chicago Community Trust. “Charters, based on . . . being freed from restrictions of bureaucracy, should be knocking the socks off neighborhood schools. But they’re not. It’s a dead heat.”
And while there is, in this tortuuous contract fight, a lot of talk about making teachers more accountable — a good thing — there is no talk from the mayor about making charters similarly accountable. Charter schools are taxpayer-funded, but they’re not closely overseen by the Chicago Board of Education.
Nobody argues Chicago isn’t in dire financial straits. Or that our schoolchildren aren’t in desperate need of every advantage we can muster for them.
But teachers have been demonized to such an extent that it has led us to this strike.
“The elephant in the room is respect,” Mazany said.
And so Chicago teachers did exactly what Edelman thought impossible. They blew past the 75 percent barrier and got a 90 percent strike vote.
For the moment, according to a new poll by McKeon & Associates, more of Chicago’s registered voters support the strike than oppose it, 47 percent to 39 percent, with 14 percent undecided.
According to the survey, only 19 percent believe the mayor is doing an excellent or good job handling the strike, with nearly three quarters rating him at average, below average or poor.
I don’t know what kind of advice the mayor has been getting. But it should not have brought us to this Armageddon moment.

[tttppp]

Government workers shouldn't strike. In fact, there shouldn't even be government unions. A union is to protect workers from an evil corporation. The government is to keep people safe and protected. There is no need for the union. If a person doesn't want to do a job, leave the job.

I really don't see the point of any union, government or private. If you don't like your job, go somewhere else. You shouldn't be allowed to blackmail a company to give you something you don't earn. Companies should have the option of whether or not they allow unions.

[tod evans]

I really don't see the point of any union, government or private. If you don't like your job, go somewhere else. You shouldn't be allowed to blackmail a company to give you something you don't earn. Companies should have the option of whether or not they allow unions.

Public schools are not "companies".

[tttppp]

Public schools are not "companies".

Read the post I was responding to. He pointed out that unions were there to protect people from evil corporations. I was pointing out that even in the private sector, no company should be forced into allowing unions.

[Free in CT]

Here's Gary North's solution to the strike.

http://www.garynorth.com/public/10049.cfm

How to Break the Chicago Teachers Strike in 7 Days
Gary North

Reality Check (Sept. 11, 2012)

"You never want a serious crisis to go to waste. Things that we had postponed for too long, that were long-term, are now immediate and must be dealt with. This crisis provides the opportunity for us to do things that you could not do before." -- Rahm Emanuel (Nov. 2008).
He said that when he was President Obama's Chief of staff. Today, he is Mayor of Chicago. The teachers union is on strike. 350,000 students have no schools to go to. They are being looked after in churches and other private facilities.

If he were not a screaming liberal, he could solve this in 7 days. It requires a 30-day program to make it stick. Permanently.

Here is Dr. North's sure-fire 30-day remedy for any teachers' strike.

AN ANNOUNCEMENT

First, the Mayor cites the statement sent by Governor Calvin Coolidge to Samuel Gompers, head of the American Federation of Labor, in 1919 during the strike of the Boston police. "There is no right to strike against the public safety by anyone, anywhere, any time." That phrase made him famous nationally. The next year, he was nominated as Vice President by the Republican Party. He was elected in 1920. He became President when Harding died in 1923. He then oversaw the boom of the 1920s. His career rested on that telegram.

The public knows that this policy is right morally. Public employees are highly paid -- far higher than the private sector. They do not work as hard or as long as private sector employees do. They are protected from being fired. They get this in exchange for not striking. As soon as any public employees' union threatens a strike, it is fair game politically. The politicians can and should refuse to negotiate.

We are living in the last days of public employees unions. Their pensions are breaking city, county, and state governments. There will be widespread defaults. The way to escape is to declare bankruptcy. Voters have had enough -- more than enough. Governor Scott Walker and the Wisconsin legislature called the unions' bluff in 2011. They passed legislation outlawing union strikes. The state's unions tried to recall him in June, 2012. They failed. This is in a traditionally pro-union state, right next door to Illinois. The public employee unions are now a paper tiger. It is time to challenge them if they threaten to strike. All of them. Every time.

REPLACEMENTS

Second, he says that the city will hire up to 11,000 new teachers in 30 days, and will not hire any presently employed teacher in the future who remains on strike one week from today. There will be no exceptions. This was Reagan's strategy in 1981 when PATCO, the air traffic controllers union, walked out. He gave them a deadline, and he stuck to it. He replaced every worker who failed to be on the job on the deadline day. He broke the union. The voters were happy to see it go.

The Mayor then invites any unemployed certified teacher in the United States to send in a job application form to him personally. He places the form on his newly created blog. He tells them to send the filled-in forms to the Mayor's office, Chicago, Illinois. He says that the jobs will be granted at entry-level pay, that class size will be 33 to 1, and that the jobs are non-tenure-track jobs. He announces that there will be no future tenure-track jobs left in the city of Chicago. Any teachers who are willing to replace the fired teachers of Chicago will be given preference in the future, but that the school board reserves the right from this time on to fire any teacher who asks too much in pay.

There are something like 500,000 unemployed or barely employed certified teachers in the United States today. The White House estimate is 300,000 jobs lost since 2008, with at least 280,000 jobs at risk in 2012. The Mayor's biggest problem within 48 hours will be to sort through the mountain of job requests coming in to his office.

SALARIES ONLINE

Third, the Mayor tells parents to look up the salary of each teacher who teaches their children. This information is online, but few people in Illinois know this. The Mayor promotes it: http://www.openthebooks.com. He reminds them that this is with four months' paid vacation, plus retirement benefits.

He should be sure to set up a site that shows what the retirement benefits are.

He says that this is the new policy for every employee of the city. There will be transparency. Anyone wishing to work for less, who has the same credentials, can submit a job application at any time.

See how the unions like this new policy: police, fire, etc.

STUDENT/TEACHER RATIO

Fourth, the Mayor emphasizes the student/teacher ratio in the city. At present, there are 350,000 students in the city. There are 29,000 teachers. This is a student-teacher ratio of 12 to 1. When I was in school, long before the days when the American Federation of Teachers had any clout, the average class size was about 33 students. The new classroom size for Chicago will therefore be 33 students. This means that the city will need a maximum of 10,600 teachers. But, just to have some teachers in reserve, the city will hire 11,000.

DEADLINE; 7 DAYS

Fifth, one week and one day later, after the deadline issued by the Mayor for teachers to come back to school, every teacher who was not on duty in his or her class the previous day will be issued notification of permanent firing by the city's Board of Education. The list of these people will be posted on the Mayor's blog site.

The Board of Education will begin sorting through the job applications. This will not be necessary, however. In all likelihood, more than 11,000 teachers will have broken the picket lines the day before, and will be in their classrooms ready to teach.

NO MORE STRIKES

Sixth, the Mayor on day 30 holds a press conference. He brings in the stack of job applications. It will be a very tall stack. It will probably fill several desks with piles of applications 3 feet tall.

He then announces to the public that the past pay scales were unfair to taxpayers. He repeats the statement of Calvin Coolidge. He says that no teacher in the city of Chicago will be kept on the payroll who joins any strike in the future, for any reason.

He tells the public that their children are going to be well taught, and that he will not tolerate any union action that threatens the continuity of teaching for the children of the city.

BALANCING THE BUDGET

Seventh, he shows that the new pay schedule will begin to balance the school board's budget, which is estimated at $1 billion a year for the next three years. He says that the school board will bring the budget into balance.

COSTS OF ADMINISTRATION

Eighth, he announces a new policy. This new policy is that only 20% of the total school budget will be allocated to administration. At least 80% of the school budget will be allocated to the teachers and support employees like janitors. He then announces that existing administrators will either suffer massive pay cuts, or else they will leave the employment in the city of Chicago and seek employment elsewhere.

The new policy will begin in the following school term. He announces that any administrator who wishes to leave will be given a letter of recommendation, but that any administrator who fails to report for duty in the following August will be permanently fired, and a letter will be placed in his employment file stating that he refused to work.

SETTING FIRE TO A PAPER TIGER

This plan would end strikes on a permanent basis in the city of Chicago. This strategy will end the power of the American Federation of Teachers in every city or town that implements it. The American Federation of Teachers is a cartel, and the supply of available certified teachers who are unemployed is so huge that you might call these people the reserve army of the unemployed.

The American Federation of teachers is a paper tiger. It has no clout that is not given to it by boards of education. If the National Labor Relations Board seeks to sue a town, the town should simply say that it will not cooperate, and that if the state wants to shut down the public schools, that is the decision of the state.

At that point, school boards across the country should begin to promote homeschool public education based on the web. They would begin to promote the Khan Academy, which is free of charge. The student-teacher ratio for home schooling in high schools is easily 40 to 1. There are no disciplinary problems with home schooled students. For every home school teacher, the district can fire at least two high school teachers. Online education is as effective academically as face-to-face education in public schools. (http://bit.ly/OnlineEd2011)

The school boards would begin to promote other free web-based teaching materials. They could get rid of expensive textbooks.

No school board would ever again be bullied by the American Federation of Teachers.

This strategy could easily break the teachers union. The teachers union does not have the ability to resist this. The board can go through the motions of negotiating, in order to keep the National Labor Relations Board happy, or at least silent, but the reality is this. No school board will ever again tolerate a strike. Every school board will increase class teaching sized 33 students per teacher in a classroom, or 40-to-1 online.

All school boards should cut the percentage of the budget going to administration to 20%. The rest of the money will go to the teachers, or the janitors, or the school buses, but it will not go to administration. The teachers will all get pay raises, even though class sizes increase. That will break the American Federation of Teachers, and it will break the administrations, which are not represented by a labor union. The administration is management, and therefore the administration is helpless.

CONCLUSION

All of this should be obvious, and all of it is doable. The fact that it is not done in every school district in America is indicative of just how weak school boards are, and how they can be buffaloed by an impotent labor union that is threatened by 500,000 ready-to-work certified teachers.

The American Federation of Teachers is a paper tiger. I have just produced a match. It is time to strike the match.

[Pauling]

^ Bravo.

[The Free Hornet]

I have no idea about cost of living there--is that really significantly higher?

Please don't blast education. People who choose that field take the vacation time in lieu of the pay cut compared to other fields like engineers.

Check out GRE scores by profession. I thought Education would be on the bottom but they edged out "Public Administration" by a substantial margin.

http://www.ronpaulforums.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=1595&d=1347499811

Yes, government wants to "forgive" the loans of the least capable, worst "investments".

Fuck 'em!


Source: http://www.arisbe.com/detached/?p=1905
1595

[TCE]

Interesting posts and ideas, the ones above. Rahm obviously has the power to end this if he wants to, he just doesn't want to.

Come on Hornet, if kids don't learn art history, society as we know it would collapse. We need as many Art History professors as we can get!

[Lymeade-Lady]

I'm likely to be against teacher strikes, but there is something legit to this one (unless I'm misunderstanding)! They cut back raises that are built in (4% per year is not much considering it's the only raise teachers can get) to nothing and then added 90 minutes to the student day (adding close to2 hours to the teacher's work day b/c the teacher now has to plan for, keep grades for, etc. this extra time.) And for this extra 1.5-2 hours of work per day they want to give them a 2% pay raise! (which is half what the teachers would normally get!) If I followed that right, I understand why they are upset.

[jclay2]

I'm likely to be against teacher strikes, but there is something legit to this one (unless I'm misunderstanding)! They cut back raises that are built in (4% per year is not much considering it's the only raise teachers can get) to nothing and then added 90 minutes to the student day (adding close to2 hours to the teacher's work day b/c the teacher now has to plan for, keep grades for, etc. this extra time.) And for this extra 1.5-2 hours of work per day they want to give them a 2% pay raise! (which is half what the teachers would normally get!) If I followed that right, I understand why they are upset.

Do some more research, and you will learn that cps teachers are very well paid glorified babysitters. Private teachers DO NOT receive this type of compensation. I went to a small christian school in the middle of the state where most of the starting teachers were making near 30k with very basic healthcare and no retirement benefits. If anyone should get paid more, its these teachers. However, it is hard to pay private school teachers when all of our property tax is going to subsidize the public union thugs.

[The Free Hornet]

Do some more research, and you will learn that cps teachers are very well paid glorified babysitters. Private teachers DO NOT receive this type of compensation. I went to a small christian school in the middle of the state where most of the starting teachers were making near 30k with very basic healthcare and no retirement benefits. If anyone should get paid more, its these teachers. However, it is hard to pay private school teachers when all of our property tax is going to subsidize the public union thugs.

Yep! Imagine working for a business where your competition has double the pay taken by force from your customer base, but then you still have to convince people to buy your product on top of the product they already paid for. The government cheese has to stink really bad for a business like that to survive.

[FindLiberty]

Teacher Pay Database: http://www.familytaxpayers.org/salary.php

[Pericles]

The real tragedy is that this will make no difference in the lives on the students.

[matt0611]

Do some more research, and you will learn that cps teachers are very well paid glorified babysitters. Private teachers DO NOT receive this type of compensation. I went to a small christian school in the middle of the state where most of the starting teachers were making near 30k with very basic healthcare and no retirement benefits. If anyone should get paid more, its these teachers. However, it is hard to pay private school teachers when all of our property tax is going to subsidize the public union thugs.

Yup, this. My sister is a teacher at a christian private school with 4 years experience. She makes somewhere in the high 30s / year and this is in the Boston area.

These teachers are way overpaid. They only get this because of the union and coercion via the public school system.

[UMULAS]

How I see it:

I support the government on providing school education, because not all kids have parents who actually want to work. Most parents put those kids there as a daycare of not wanting them. But we have to understand that although KhanAcademny and other sites are good, many parents will not work and how will these kids get an education? Many people will go and "well this country never had a system of education", but we have to remember that literacy rates were low during that time. I'm not saying that the teachers are wrong nor right, but we should see what the contract has been put out, if they were expected a raise, we give it to them, hence forth A CONTRACT. If they are just complaining like some OWS, then Reagon them.

BTW: I use virtual school and IRL highschool, I tried the charter school system, they f'd me up pretty bad. I never really learned anything, they fired all the teachers every year, very misorganized. Now I have to fight with the broward county of education to change my GPA because the charter school didn't update my GPA from a D to a C, B to an A, and C to a B. If I were in a public school, I would have done AP's, gotten dual enrollement, attended clubs, and done much more (although I started a bible club in that school, but it was not pretty). So if you guys say lets take out education from government, let it be known how the private sector screwed me up bad, why? Because their capitalists, all they care about is the amount of money I bring in the school, at least the state cares about what test scores I got.

[Philhelm]

Because their capitalists, all they care about is the amount of money I bring in the school, at least the state cares about what test scores I got.

And yet, the more the State cares, the lower test scores become.

[tttppp]

How I see it:

I support the government on providing school education, because not all kids have parents who actually want to work. Most parents put those kids there as a daycare of not wanting them. But we have to understand that although KhanAcademny and other sites are good, many parents will not work and how will these kids get an education? Many people will go and "well this country never had a system of education", but we have to remember that literacy rates were low during that time. I'm not saying that the teachers are wrong nor right, but we should see what the contract has been put out, if they were expected a raise, we give it to them, hence forth A CONTRACT. If they are just complaining like some OWS, then Reagon them.

BTW: I use virtual school and IRL highschool, I tried the charter school system, they f'd me up pretty bad. I never really learned anything, they fired all the teachers every year, very misorganized. Now I have to fight with the broward county of education to change my GPA because the charter school didn't update my GPA from a D to a C, B to an A, and C to a B. If I were in a public school, I would have done AP's, gotten dual enrollement, attended clubs, and done much more (although I started a bible club in that school, but it was not pretty). So if you guys say lets take out education from government, let it be known how the private sector screwed me up bad, why? Because their capitalists, all they care about is the amount of money I bring in the school, at least the state cares about what test scores I got.

Private schools today are shit because of government involvement. If the government just got out of the way, private school quality would go way up while prices go down, and the time spent in school would go down.