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EDUCATION

26,000 Teachers Are on Strike in Chicago

First strike in 25 years affects 400,000 kids

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by Mary Noble

Senior Editor t

Image: AP

Chicago teachers are striking for, meaning no school for 402,000 children. The strike no surprise to anyone, since the teacher's union promised in August to strike if their concerns over pay and job security weren't met.

Mayor Rahm Emmanuel is facing a lot of blame for the strike. It's alleged by union leaders that instead of negotiating, his role at meetings involved "bulling" and swearing.

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Do you support the striking teachers, or the Chicago city government?

Comments (view in Forum)

  • o
    Lasvegas711
    !
    Martin Armstrong lastest analysis tells it all about items like this teachers strike.

     This whole Sovereign Debt Crisis is starting to look like Nero playing the fiddle as Rome burns. We have to realize that Western society is at the breaking point where Democracy fails for the majority has discovered they can simply vote themselves the assets of the minority. A Russian client writes just as Putin merely changes the title of his job to keep power:“democracy and equal rights are fairytales for boys and girls never the real world.” Obama talks about “trickle down” and speaks nothing but Marxist Class Warfare. He demonizes the mere possession of wealth as if this is the reason government is faltering and instills hatred against the “rich” while courting Goldman Sachs as his biggest contributor. He blames the rich for somehow causing the collapse of government ignoring the fact that it has been the irresponsible policies of politicians that have brought us to the brink of extinction. This is just not going to end well. Attacking the rich will cause the VELOCITY of money to decline and with it; government will be unable to sell its bonds. The bankers will demand higher taxes and already are adopting the same anti-American policies. HSBC now refuses to accept accounts from Americans in Asia. The witch hunt for wealth is spreading globally and the banks are leading the charge.
  • Wilberhum
    !
    "Obama talks about “trickle down”? WTF That's Romney's tune. Tax breaks for the rich the middle class jobs. Ya right. We all know what "trickles down" and it ain't jobs. But really add you think Romney concepts are Obama's.
  • marine1
    !
    @Wilberhum wilby, if you an I could question these two nimrods on national tv, i believe EVERYONE would vote for Rocky & Bullwinkle.
  • DerivePI
    !
    16% increase would be nice. Should have been a teacher. I could be making way more than I am now, get three months of vacation and strike every so many years for way more money than I've earned. What was I thinking? Who is John Galt?
  • ir0nw0lfe
    !
    @Wilberhum considering the current economy it is a staggering amount. Where I work pay raises have been frozen for the last couple of years. With the cost of living skyrocketing its basically a pay cut. Good thing I'll be eligible for good stamps soon. Yea, Obama.
  • methinks
    !
    @Wilberhum I don't know about Chicago, but here in PA, we're about to take it up the pooper with the PSERS, the public sector retirement fund that got a huge boost from the state legislature and teachers with 30 years or more get 80% of their salary as a lifetime pension.

    Not to mention the Cadillac, or should we say Rolls-Royce benefit plan they receive with very little contribution on their part.

    So, along with a 4% increase, add in their pension and health insurance and you have a sweet deal on their part...and they don't even have to perform at their job because of tenure!
  • View all 6 replies >
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  •
    DARSB
    !
    @Neo_NtheMatrix An incoherent bit of libel is "truth?"

    No, I'm mocking his grammar, vocabulary, spelling and logic - all things that an adult can address and should.

    If you're going to comment on a teacher strike it's important to give at least the impression of having actually met a teacher.
  • u
    funnymoney
    !
    @Neo_NtheMatrix

    Your defense of libelous statements is ironic, as you mentioned "truth", as if you would even recognize it, had it been available to you....
  • View all 8 replies >
  • Wilberhum
    !
    "the teacher's union promised in August to strike if their concerns over pay and job security weren't met." While I have no issue with a wage increase of less than 4% each year for the next 4 years, I do have an Issue with them expecting job security. There is no place in the privit sector where there is job security. That is part of the 'New Reality'. Teachers need to accept that fact.
  • Neo_NtheMatrix
    !
    Welcome over to the conservative side of thinking. Job security should be strictly tied to job performance. If the task is performed and the organization advances then so should the employee. However, if the employee doesn't perform, thus causing the organization to fail, why should the employee get anything other than termination papers?

    Unions should be illegal in this country, especially in the public sector. This is just extortion. A bunch of tenured teachers than can't be fired and only end up playing the role of babysitters for part of the year think they are underpaid? Disgusting. So very sad...

    And guess who really loses out? The children who foolishly will probably grow up to vote Democratic not knowing that they are voting to continue the very cycle that has held them back.
  • Wilberhum
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    @Neo_NtheMatrix I was with you until you decided to kill unions. Obviously your understanding of labor in the US is post Union.
  • Pflack
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    @Neo_NtheMatrix you have some of it right, but I don't think demonizing unions is beneficial to anyone. The average man has no leverage to negotiate fair pay for a fair days work. As it was before unions and seems to be going back to is, take what is offered or go fly a kite.
  • Chomsky0
    !
    Teachers are standing up for their rights! Better hurry and shout them down, they'll spread dissent amongst the bewildered heard! The masters will be displeased and punish us!
  • Neo_NtheMatrix
    !
    Some teachers are just pure evil. They are more worried about stealing from the taxpayers than they are about teaching the most vulnerable in our society. The truth be told, if any teacher in an urban district truly cares about the education of their children, they would be willing to work voluntarily. Yes, I said it - voluntarily! Instead, they demand high wages, guaranteed job security, high benefits package, and only a 8 month work year. SICK, SICK, SICK!!!

    And who loses out? The poor children who have nothing but gangs and drugs on one side of the street, and a school on the other side of the street. Liberal teachers have elected to shut down the school system in Chicago (a city that hosts 50 shootings every weekend) and send vulnerable children into the arms of gangbangers and drug dealers.

    I can never ever look another liberal in the eye and have respect for them ever again. This is outrageous, anti-American, and most of all it hurts the children. The children of America don't deserve this.

    obysmal, your time is almost up!
  • Chomsky0
    !
    @Neo_NtheMatrix I saw your post on the Onion.com , you should cite your sources.

    “My fellow Americans and godless infidels, I command you to join me as we cast an endless pall of far-left evil across the hills and valleys of our nation!” Obama bellowed from the stage, as thousands in attendance moaned in compliance and gyrated their hips and groins in a lascivious dance.“Together, as a barbarian people forged by the wicked flames of irreligiosity and united by visions of a liberal dystopia, we will rise up as one to scorch the earth with boundless amorality.”

    “A glorious new age of sinister, unconstrained liberalism is dawning! Oh, dear Satan, I can feel it coursing through my veins at this very moment!” shrieked Obama, ripping off his shirt to reveal an ornate tattoo of a pentagram, with a different homosexual act positioned at each of the star’s five points.“Agnosticism, contempt for human life, and radical sexual experimentation shall rule the day! Any good, virtuous, family-values-oriented Christian Americans who seek to topple our magnificent liberal kingdom of eternal darkness will be powerless to stop us! We will crush them!”

    All hail Obama and his minions of education!

    http://www.theonion.com/articles/obama-help-u...
  • Neo_NtheMatrix
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    @Chomsky0 - Yeah, make jokes instead of addressing the comments I made. obysmal is dedicated to destroying the American dream. You won't see it until it is too late. How can any teacher deny a child, in an already depressed condition, a chance to be educated? These selfish teachers are demanding more money from taxpayers that just don't have the money to feed their endless greed. The children who already receive a vastly inferior education will get no education at all. Instead they'll have more time to be influenced by the plethora of gangs and drugs that have enslaved their community.

    How could any liberal see this condition (caused by their policies, I might add) and not be heartbroken and demand a change in direction? Do you have any defense of what these self centered, education hating teachers are doing? Anything worthwhile at all? I'm desperate to understand how these hateful teachers could look into the eyes of their students day after day after day and then conclude what is more important to them is to feed their pockets instead of the minds of these children.

    UGGGGGHHHHH!!!!
  • Chomsky0
    !
    @Neo_NtheMatrix Here is the rest of your article. Librarians are my favorite evil children of darkness. Spreading demonic knowledge to all the unbelievers. Obama is going to kill your grandma, mawhahaha.

    “The streets shall run red with the blood of forced sodomy, performed daily upon every American man, woman, and child!” the commander-in-chief shouted, froth forming around his mouth as the crowd threw hundreds of aborted fetuses onto the stage.“Die, Christians, die!”

    As members of the audience violently tugged at their genitals and howled like sex-starved, atheist wolves, Obama stated that his administration would then seek to make free, taxpayer-funded abortions legal at any stage of pregnancy, even up to one full year after birth, in order to supply his newly created “federal stem-cell harvesting plants” with raw materials.

    In addition, the cackling president vowed to “end traditional marriage as we know it” by passing legislation that would allow only homosexuals to raise children, a longtime Democratic policy goal.

    Added Obama,“Thank you, may Satan reward you all, and may God tremble in fear at the United States of America!”

    The president was then handed an unbaptized, orphaned newborn baby drenched in the blood of 666 slaughtered Christians, which he handed over to its new, gleefully squealing homosexual parents.

    http://www.theonion.com/articles/obama-help-u...
  • u
    Progun
    !
    Of course you do. And I bet you have no clue about the real world and how it works. Here's some advice, turn off MTV and the Real Housewives of where ever and read a newspaper. Teachers are over paid cry babies, usually. Though not all of them fall into that generality.
  • Quantummist
    !
    The Average Chicago Teacher get 76 grand a year salary for a 9 month school year... And only Half of the students graduate High school .... Charter Schools in Chicago have a 90% graduation rate and the teachers get on average 30k a year for a 10 month school year... Also Chicago has one of the Highest Per Student funding in the US...
  • ir0nw0lfe
    !
    So if the teachers do the math correctly- 16% for poor performance ewutes to hiring new teachers at half pay for a 40% in student grad rates, then how many union teachers does it take to stand in the unemployment line until we can balance the budget and improve graduation rates= most of them. No wonder they want job security guarantees. If I was underperforming like that is want a safety net too!
  • mimi57
    !
    @ir0nw0lfe Typically I am anti-union, and certainly throwing money at schools has never solved the problem. The schools
    that have the biggest budgets are often the worst schools.

    I know what my daughter-in-law goes through teaching. She
    has been yelled at, called every name imaginable, grabbed and shoved. She is very tiny and blonde, she said that the kids often
    come to school without even a pencil. There is no parental involvement at her school and there is also little support from administration...other than calling the police.

    A job she once loved, she now dreads. You cannot teach children who refuse to learn, where education is made fun of by peers and most parents do not care if the kid gets an education or not. They send them to school with nothing, don't encourage
    them to do homework, or even have respect for themselves, let alone a teacher. And the only involvement they have, is to go to the school and yell at the teachers and blame them. I'm sure
    there are bad teachers, I had a few, but I think the majority are good teachers, who overwhelmed by administrators who fail to
    back them, and by parents and students who really do not want to be there. You cannot force parental involvement and you cannot force kids who are not encouraged by their parents to
    ever value learning, or value respect for others..sad commentary on our society..
  •
    ir0nw0lfe
    !
    @mimi57 I agree it's sad but that doesn't justify breaking the budget for higher pay. Sounds like the system needs fixed before we throw more money at it.
  • mimi57
    !
    @ir0nw0lfe The problem is "double dipping". Tax payers should not have to pay for a pension system where administrators can
    retire in their 50's , collect 100,000 pension, and then return and
    recieve a full salary. That is being done all the time, and should
    not be allowed. No taxpayer should have to pay for administrators to get rich. The system does need fixed, and it needs to start at the top with no one being able to double dip.
    It explains a lot as to where our tax dollars go, and it's not on
    the kids. It's really not the fault of the teachers, I sure would not want to teach in any inner-city school today...It's a different time.
  • View all 9 replies >
  • o
    Lasvegas711
    !
    I finished by quoting the tenth plank of the communist manifesto: Free education for all children in public schools. Abolition of children's factory labor in its present form. Conform education with industrial productions.

    I said "Are you a homeowner?" He said "yeah." I said "you pay the property tax?" He said "Yeah." I said "Do you know where 75% of the property tax goes in this state?" He said "no." I said "It goes to support the public fool ..ahh .. the public school system. I looked at him, I said "You don't tithe your children to the state, do you? You raise them at home the way Yahweh told Moses to tell you to do, don't you?" As he got up and walked away, I said "If you support the public education establishment, you are in violation of Deuteronomy 4:9-10, Deuteronomy 6:1-25 and Deuteronomy 11:19. And you practice the tenth plank of the communist manifesto."
  • truthsayer
    !
    Sounds to me like 26,000 new job openings to me. Seems to me just based on there past performance record they would have been terminated from private employment. How long do you think you would have your job if your success to fail ratio was equal to the teachers in Chicago?
  • Buzzfriendly
    !
    Chicago has a high drop out rate, low graduation rate, ranks quite low in students who will go on to receive a collage degree. Obviously, you can't blame all of this on the teachers, BUT they must have some responsibility in all of this. Were they not unionized teachers who performed better could make more those who don't well should make less or be dismissed. The problem here seems quite evident.......the union.
  • o
    Sonny
    !
    I don't know about tht "evaluation system"? Its based on standardized testing...(the average teacher in Chicago had no input in putting that test together)---so why should they be held to someone else's "standard"...And, also I remember how school was in grades K-12....There were (and probably is) a lot of kids who are disruptive, and really interfere with the class room instruction...How is a teacher supposed to "make" a kid learn....?
  • BigD1391
    !
    @Sonny
    I think that teachers should evaluate other teachers. Not based subjectively on scores. And if teachers are on strike, it must be pretty serious.
  • o
    Sonny
    !
    The teachers, of course!!!---If the city of Chicago can not manage the people's money any better than they have...then don't blame teachers for their incompetence. These teachers do their job day in and day out...and are holding up their part of the bargain...So the local gov. needs to hold up theirs....
  • u
    Lorth
    !
    I don't know that I would want my job security tied to test scores of a bunch of poverty stricken kids who might live in homes where schoolwork isn't assisted or encouraged. One can only do so much....
  • MarkJM
    !
    16% pay raise over 4 years and that still is not good enough for them? Sorry, I can't side with a union that puts their own interests over their very cause: the education of children. I can't believe I'm saying this but I actually side with Rahm Emanuel over this.
  • CanisCanemEdit
    !
    The average teachers salary in Chicago right now is $76,000 while the median income in Chicago is $40,000.

    The teachers should be ashamed. The union is disgusting.
  • MarkJM
    !
    @CanisCanemEdit Exactly, and it's a $76,000 salary for nine months of work at that. Then they flip when Rahm asks for 90 minutes more in a school day to ensure the children are learning the material needed to pass state exams. I understand some teachers really do get the low-ball end of pay, but this is ridiculous. I know a lot of folks who would love to have a $76,000 salary for nine months work at most.
  • TheLoneRanger
    !
    Breitbart:

    Flashback: 39% Of Chicago Teachers Send Their Kids To Private Schools http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2012/...
    The Washington Times:
    Public schools no place for teachers’ kids

    Nationwide, public school teachers are almost twice as likely as other parents to choose private schools for their own children, the study by the Thomas B. Fordham Institute found. More than 1 in 5 public school teachers said their children attend private schools.

    Public school teachers told the Fordham Institute’s surveyors that private and religious schools impose greater discipline, achieve higher academic achievement and offer overall a better atmosphere. http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2004/sep/...
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