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Sitthixay Ditthavong / AP
Members of the Chicago Teachers Union hold an informational picket outside Willa Cather Elementary School on Monday in an effort to call attention to ongoing contract talks with the city's Board of Education.
The Chicago Teacher's Union voted unanimously Thursday to strike on Sept. 10, with members agreeing to head to the picket lines unless a deal can be reached with the city’s schools -- a move that could affect 400,000 students.
The result of the ballot, cast at a Chinatown union hall, was met by cheers from the more than 700 delegates who voted.
The decision comes a day after CTU president Karen Lewis issued a 10-day strike notice. Sept. 10 is the earliest that teachers can strike, and the date falls a week after many students head back to class.
"We're tired of being bullied, belittled and betrayed," Lewis said at a news conference following the meeting. "We have done everything asked of us, yet we continue to be vilified and treated with disrespect."
Read the full story at NBCChicago.com
Lewis said negotiations will continue until a contract is hammered out that resolves concerns over wages, job security and a new evaluation system.
In a statement, Chicago Public Schools chief executive Jean-Claude Brizard said: “If our priority is our kids, then strike should never be an option.”
"Should CTU leaders decide to strike on September 10, more than 350,000 students will be taken out of their classroom, just as they're making progress with a Full School Day. Varsity sports for 11,000 student athletes will be suspended. More than 400,000 daily breakfasts and meals will no longer be served.
6 July: Students who suffer from drug and alcohol addiction are finding help at special schools where the kids work toward common goals: education, graduation and recovery. NBC's Kate Snow reports.
“College transcripts and recommendations for 20,000 seniors will be put on hold. If our priority is our kids, then strike should never be an option. That's why we need to take advantage of each of the next 11 days and work until we reach a fair resolution for our teachers that will allow our kids to stay in school where they belong."
CPS officials have been making preparations in the event of a strike.
Brizard said the district plans to keep 145 schools open for half-days even if the Chicago Teachers Union calls a strike and teachers walk off the job. The union on Wednesday filed a 10-day strike notice that would allow them to strike as early as Sept. 10, just a week into the school year for a majority of public-school students.
If that happens Brizard said CPS will partner with City Sister Agencies, local faith organizations and other non-profits to keep kids engaged.
"We need to be prepared to provide our students with services they need should CTU leaders decide to strike, and our Children First plan will do that," Brizard said.
As part of the precautionary strategy announced Thursday, CPS would keep the group of schools open from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Monday through Friday to provide activities to children and keep them engaged in independent reading, arts, sports and computer-based programming.
27 June: The City of Stockton, California, is likely to become the largest municipality to declare bankruptcy in an effort to deal with a $26 million deficit and $700 million in debt. Cnbc's Jane Wells reports other cities may soon follow suit.
Per the plan, the schools would be staffed with Central Office personnel, non-CTU employees and organizations that submit a request for proposals to provide programming. Brizard said the staff-to-student ratio would be capped at 1 to 25.
CPS also said it will provide breakfast and lunch to all students at the locations and will extend between 70 and 80 Chicago Park District summer camps.
Brizard said he's committed to avoid a strike but says CPS will be ready if the teachers strike.
“These plans are simply a precaution," Brizard said, "but we have an obligation and responsibility to our children and their parents to make sure they are not left behind in the event of a strike.”
CPS said it is seeking a waiver from the Illinois High School Association to continue sports if teachers strike.
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Leave a Comment:
Imagine that, One of the most Liberal Democratically controlled cities in this country telling the teachers union we can no longer afford your demands.
I agree with the right for CTU to strike. That is all part of the collective bargaining process. However, CPS has something called a budget to work with. If the money is not available in the public fund, there is no room for any pay raises.
articles.chicagotribune.com/2012-03-28/news/ct-met-cps-budget-preview0328-20120328_1_cps-budget-budget-deficit-school-day
They mention nothing about this in the article. The slant goes to tell of non-union workers taking the CTU teachers place. This story is full of holes and reporting piss poor at best.
Hey Rahm, you happy you went home to this cesspool called Chicago? You certainly fit right in. What, with the stench of Obama still on you, you should be quite content. Have a nice day.
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Rahm's city in the soup again !
There just is no money left especially with the added cost to the city this year of cleaning blood off the streets.
Not to worry though. Rahm has friends in high places.
Can you say - THE LARGE URBAN BAILOUT ACT OF 2012 ??
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Chicago has has teachers and schools?
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Yes.
Every developing country is getting them these days.
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Let them go on strike. The union bosses will cave when they have to give up their precious cash to pay strike benefits. Why is everyone so worried about feeding kids. Who has been feeding them for the past 2 months? Any poor Chicagoans have food stamps and welfare to feed their own kids. The Nanny state has indoctrinated its potential voters starting at age 3. Teachers accross America always want more money for less work and dismal test results. Those teachers could not survive in the real world. In the real world you produce. Failure equals termination or a bankrupt business, not a raise.......
Chicago should look at the strike as an opportunity. They aren't under contract anymore and can simply just be dismissed. In this environment, I am sure Chicago could find enough well-qualified teachers coming out of colleges for the last 3 years that have not found teaching positions.
Start fresh and start over. If just one city had the balls enough to take a stand like this, these unions wouldn't keep striking.
Interesting point. If all the teachers strike, the contract is up and the city can fold it's arms and wait to hire an army of non-union teachers. hmmm... but it probably won't happen.
Remember: unions are a legal subsidiary of organized crime. Ever notice that unions are most powerful in areas with organized crime?
When unions start going broke (and it's coming), a whole LOT of stuff is gonna jump off. It won't be pretty.
I support unions, but I don't support these teachers! Teachers get paid well for 9 months work, and they have one of the best benefit packages in the nation. Chicago has some of the worse schools in the country and these people want to be respected for doing their job well and are against changing things?!?!?
Send them to unemployment!!!
That is the ONE part hardly anyone talks about. Their REAL salary should be computed by multiplying their pay by 1.25. If the average is $42k, the full-year equivalent is $52,5000. Chicago's $60k teachers make the equivalent of $75k. Not too shabby.
Chicago teachers make an average of $69,000. So that's over $86,000 if they worked a full year.
Illinois is in a financial death spiral. Many rural "outstate" school districts in the state have been denied millions in promised state funding because the state carries billions in unfunded liabilities. Instead of trying to get a handle on spending, the politicians have been raising taxes on everything from income and property to gasoline and cigarettes. But they're still no where near a balanced budget. This is a state where Democrats have controlled government for decades supported in large part by the deep pockets of public employee unions. This is happening in other states as well. California is another scary example. It would be great if the effects of these problems were contained to the states where they exist, but when these states go bankrupt, hundreds of billions of federal tax dollars are going to be required to bail them out. It's all about the kids ya know. Rrrright!
"400,000 students face disruption after Chicago teachers vote to strike"
No problem when they strike just fire them. Lots of qualified people would like to have one of those high paying teaching jobs with golden benefits.
30 per cent plus drop out rate. These teeachers want more money? It appears all they are doing now to collect their papychecks is babysit and not much else. I for one am tired of feeling like I am being held hostage by the local school board and teachers union. They act as if the home and property owners in the area are a bottomless cash cow.
This is ridiculous. I think the teachers are just being lazy and don't want to go back to work. Chicago public schools are among the worst in the country, have one of the shortest school days, yet teachers are paid very well and have decent benefits packages. If they are going to strike it is purely for selfish reasons and it is only harming the students they claim to care about. I turned down a cushy job in the Chicago public schools for these very reasons. Now I work almost twice as long for a lot less pay!! Stop demanding what you don't really deserve CPS teachers!!
with all the people out of work, I'd fire everyone of them, it's not for the kids, they want more money, guess what, get paid more your tax's should take it away. where do you win.
Even as a former educator it is difficult to the support the Chicago teachers in their desire to strike. Most people in private sector jobs have not received a raise in years. Heck, most people are happy if they have a job. Thanks to militant unions like the NEA teacher salaries are much higher than the average salary for a college graduate. Factor in the number of days worked in a year and they are well paid. My own daughter, with a degree in finance and accounting, works a full year and long hours for a major investment firm and is paid a starting salary least $10,000 less per year then the starting salary of a new teacher in my own school district. In our current economy I can have no sympathy for the Chicago teachers or any other teachers union. Remember the quote uttered by the retiring executive of the NEA.
Comment made by Bob Chanin - Former General Counsel for the NEA
And that brings me to my final and most important-point, which is
why, at least in my opinion, NEA and its affiliates are such effective advocates.
Despite what some among us would like to believe, it is not because
of our creative ideas. It is not because of the merit of our positions. It is not
because we care about children. And it is not because we have a vision of a
"great public school for every child." NEA and its affiliates are effective
advocates because we have power. And we have power because there are
more than 3.2 million people who are willing to pay us hundreds of millions
of dollars in dues each year because they believe that we are the unions
that can most effectively represent them, the unions that can protect their
rights and advance their interests as education employees.
“When school children start paying union dues, that’s when I’ll start representing the interests of school children”
Al Shanker, former president of the AFT
This is not to say that the concerns of NEA and its affiliates with closing
achievement gaps, reducing dropout rates, improving teacher quality, and
the like are unimportant or inappropriate. To the contrary, these are
the goals that guide the work we do. But they need not and must not be
achieved at the expense of due process, employee rights, and collective
bargaining. That simply is too high a price to pay.
When all is said and done, NEA and its affiliates must never lose sight
of the fact that they are unions- and what unions do first and foremost is
represent their members. If we do that, and if we do it well, the rest will
fall into place. NEA and its affiliates will remain powerful, and that power
will in turn enable US to achieve our vision of a "great public school for
every child."
I rest my case.
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Shame on you for exposing their intent.
What is really revealing is the non-appetite of the Wisconsin teachers for paying dues after collection by the school districts was no longer mandated.
A vast majority realized what their money was really going for.
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This is why I support Cyber schools. No building to keep up no breakfast no lunch no strikes!! I would have loved this when my kids were in school. Our teachers went on strike about twenty years ago Let me give you a look into how long it lasted I did not have to dress them for the Halloween Party at school No exchange gifts for Christmas No valentines. BUT they made those kids go to the school daily to take roll call then load them on the bus and sent home!!! They did call the local radio station daily to tell the parents no bus trip tomorrow it will be a strike day, you see they had to have 180 days in at the end of the school year they had to go to school most of the summer BUT our PTO made a killing selling "we had to go to school all summer INCLUDING Saturdays!!Thanks Teachers...WOW were they Pizzed off when the kids wore them to class...It was a wasted school year and NO the teachers did NOT get what they wanted and they never went on strike again!!!
Glad I live in Wis.!
Let's see. These are among the highest paid, fewest hours/days for teachers in America. Their students perform poorly.
They have spent months demanding more for themselves.
Ugh!
Not that I'm for unions. It's sad that our so called political leaders make more money than the people who deserve it more, the teachers! On another note, I'm sure dead fish Emanuel will take care of this right away! Ya, Right!
Awesome! The teachers have my full support! Any Union, anytime, anywhere. I will support you!
teachers making an average of $69,000 striking because they aren't receiving a 30% pay raise.
You wonder why we think public sector unions should be outlawed.
@milidad: Are you an Educator?
I think that parents and Chicago lawmakers are about to find out what most educators already know, the profession of teaching is going down. As an educator in higher ed, I often ask new students if they are going into education and out of almost 40 students maybe one hand will go up. I'm wondering if parents understand that if all of your current teachers retire or quit and there are no students going into the profession - who will teach America's children?
The system is no longer free, parents will need to do a lot more home education of their children and those that arrive here from other nations may need to pay into the educational system before they can place a child into the public school system.
Parents had better hope that these teachers strikes don't spread. If they do, its going to be a long cold and brutally eye opening winter for the entire country. We may want to rethink the low salaries of our military, teachers and law enforcement employees.
Maybe we could enact a new law that says "you can not produce children unless you can afford them and educate them".
The United States can no longer count on teachers wanting to teach for darn near pennies - they have lives and families too and in a crime-ridden city like Chicago I would demand combat pay prior to accepting the job and maybe teachers should be armed in that city.
I'm behind the teachers, enough is enough.
Maybe us parents don't want to support this overpaid union. Start paying your medical, 401ks and working year round and I will support you.
Shut 'em down. We need to show them 1%'ers who is boss. Sure, few eggs need broken to make omlet. We cannot go hungry.
The average Chicago teacher makes $69,000 and they are striking for a 30% pay raise. I'm not sure what 1% they are sticking it to. The average income in their district is $49,000 (for a household). They are sticking it to the poor. But hey, teachers can't go hungry. The families of the students... sure, but not the teachers.
I see the teachers are here and busy rewriting the situation to justify their demands for exceptional pay without accountability or any demonstrable performance.
Letusreason,
Question - most school districts instruct teachers as to what they will teach and I'm not sure if everyone understands, this do you? The United States public school system is not the best but it (was also not) designed to hold and educate as many children that are packed into the system now, seriously.
Today you may have a class of children where many of them arrive hungry, have psychological or physical issues, on various medications, general special needs or simply lack home training. Can you imagine (1) teacher in a class with this group of students with all of the various issues?
As an educator I want to teach, it is my passion but I'm not teaching for pennies and it is really difficult to deal with one child that has a truckload of issues let alone 25 other kids. Many teachers are not trained to deal with all of the issues that various children may have in the public school system.
Our schools lack counselors, advisors, clinical social workers, nurses - really, as a nation we may be expecting too much from a teacher or anyone with a (4) year college degree. In some cities with a (2) year degree.
We can either train and pay more teachers or open the homeschool market and let parents do it themselves.
Frankly, I don't think that very many parents can educate their own children beyond 4th grade in many cases and lack the patience to do so. Do we really want to see a teachers strike that spreads across the entire United States?
Don't forget, Canada and the Middle East are hiring many of our best and brightest particularly in the math and technology fields because they will pay them! Do we really want to lose our best and brightest teachers?
Surely we can do something that makes every one happy and is in the best interest of US children.
Maybe its time to be realistic about what we can provide the student of today and what we will need to adjust (pay) to keep the best and brightest teachers. Just a thought.
Teaching is a job. It is difficult, as is every other good paying job. Yes, teaching in Chicago is a good paying job. The average teacher makes $69,000. They are demanding a 30% raise. Let that sink in for a minute. Maybe their students wouldn't arrive so hungry if the teachers weren't taking so much from the parents in the form of taxes...
Not much lost, the majority of the teachers are not "Teaching"; and the majority of the students are not "Learning". Thus, the net loss in class time during the strike is Null.
So are you saying that we should shut down the entire educational system?
If you did, parents would probably scream the loudest and the first couple of sentences would sound something like:
"I have to work"
"when I get home, I don't have time to check homework"
"I have to work, I don't have the time to attend parent teacher conferences" and
"I need a babysitter"!
I would love to count on parents educating their own kids but honestly, I think this concept is more than a long-shot.
Karol,
Not what I was intimating; just the time of the strike would be Null.
Several Points though:
School was and is not meant to be a Babysitter for a child
It is unfortunate that some parents are unable to take a more active role in their children's education; the real sorrow is the parents that don't give a hoot about their child's education.
Class time is a guide, the learning comes out of the classroom. Sitting playing electronic games, spending many hours at electronic communication, not studying at home, has a tendency to produce the uneducated and obese.
Education only comes by the work and desire of the Person. Unfortunately we can not yet download it.
Advise for the Children during the Strike, Read...Read...Read, educate thyself.
The republicans have done a great propaganda job through Faux news. All government union members are greedy, lazy, bloodsucking slobs robbing the non union members of the middle class. When in fact the reason there are few good paying private sector jobs is greed by the 2%ers. The investment bankers, wall steet and the CEO's destroyed entire industries by shipping our industries to the third world sweatshops to benefit who - THEMSELVES. Now that they have eliminated those jobs they have set their sights on the government workers jobs to reduce these jobs to the crumbs they let fall from their table. Wake up middle class america its divide and conquer. Stop chastising your middle class neighbor and direct your wrath at the bought off 2%ers republican politicians who are out to make this country nothing more than a third world hell hole. For whose benefit, Rummey, Ryan the Liar, Koch brothers, Norquist and the rest of these greedy slimeballs.
A couple of facts.
Chicago teachers (2010-2011 school year) make an average of $69,000.
They are striking, demanding a 30% pay raise (this demand may have been dropped to 25%).
Whether you think teachers making $90,000 for only 9 months out of the year is greedy or not is up to you. I personally think they make good money. I personally think this is a greedy move to hurt the children in order to try to force the city to give a 30% pay raise.
I personally see them as greedy parasites. A good parasite consumes enough from it's host that it's host doesn't realize it's there. A greedy parasite kills it's host.
Long live Nation of Islam.