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Scott Olson / Getty Images, file
Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) delegates embrace after voting to end their strike on September 18, 2012 in Chicago, Illinois.
Members of the Chicago Teachers Union have overwhelmingly ratified a new contract, union officials said late Wednesday, ending a bitter dispute with Mayor Rahm Emanuel over school reforms that prompted the first strike of city teachers in 25 years.
The deal will give teachers an average pay raise of 17.6 percent over four years if the three-year contract is extended an extra year.
The pay increases would cost an extra $74 million a year, the district has said. Chicago teachers make an average of about $76,000 annually, according to the school district.
In addition to the pay raises, the deal establishes for the first time an evaluation system for teachers that is based in part on student performance on standardized tests. It also gives principals more authority to hire teachers for their schools and extends the length of the school day.
Scott Olson / Getty Images, file
Mayor Rahm Emanuel greets students as they arrive for school at Frazier International Magnet School on September 19, 2012 in Chicago, Illinois.
The union got guarantees that any teachers laid off will have preference to be rehired by the district, and Emanuel dropped a demand that teacher pay be tied to merit.
A statement from the CTU said 79.1 percent of the 20,765 votes cast by teachers, paraprofessionals and school clinicians were in favor of the contract, put before them on Tuesday. Ratification required a majority vote in favor.
“This shows overwhelming recognition by our members that this contract represents a victory for students, communities and our profession,” CTU President Karen Lewis said. “Our members are coming are coming out of this with an even greater appreciation for the continued fight for public education. We thank our parents for standing with their children’s teachers, paraprofessionals and clinicians.”
The Chicago Teachers Union agreed on Tuesday to end its strike, allowing 350,000 students to return to classes on Wednesday and ending a tense standoff. However, the contract still requires ratification by the union's 26,000 members. NBC's Rehema Ellis reports.
Members of the Chicago Board of Education must also vote approve the contract before it becomes effective. That vote is expected Oct. 17, and approval seems likely.
Biggest losers of Chicago's teachers strike? The students, critic says
"I am pleased that the members of the CTU have ratified this contract, and we can now demonstrate to our students that even when two sides start far apart, they can find common ground and reach a resolution. It’s an incredibly important message to send," Chicago Board of Education President David Vitale said in a statement.
Thousands of teachers in the nation's third-largest school district walked off the job on Sept. 10 after more than a year of slow, contentious negotiations over salary, health benefits and job security.
Students were kept out of classes for seven days before CTU's members voted to end the work stoppage.
Chicago teachers agree to end strike, classes to resume
Fitch Ratings earlier this week downgraded the Chicago Board of Education's debt rating, citing the school system's increased budget pressures in the wake of the deal.
This followed a downgrade by Moody's Investors Services last week and could mean the district pays higher interest rates on any debt issues.
Reuters contributed to this report.
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Leave a Comment:
This is truly insane....you can't get that kind of four year raise anywhere in the US except at a taxpayer supported, union member, poor performing school system!! Go figure?!
And don't forget this is a template for big-city, big-union packages that will be demanded across the country at the expense of the kids! btw from further developed socialist countries, in Candada the Ontario Teachers Union huge pension fund owns a majority of all the unionized professional sports teams!
In a crappy economy, these people get a 4.4% raise each year, relatively speaking. Have any of you gotten a 4.4% raise? Then you cannot weed out the poor teachers. Do any of the liberals understand that this is part of the reason cities are going bankrupt? Chicago in order to get the union teachers vote, kissed their butts again and put themselves in a deeper financial crisis with pay, benefits, pensions, and retiree benefits. They did nothing to address these. They are so far in a financial crisis for future costs and did nothing. What are they expecting? A bailout? I certainly hope not. What happens when financially, the city and school system collapses from their financial decision, or lack of smart intelligent decisions. This is unsustainable. If they raise taxes, more people move out of your state. Living in Michigan, we will welcome the businesses that need to relocate due to Chicago's and Illinois terrible decisions and raising of taxes. Thank you Chicago and Illinois!!!!!!
Who gets a 17% raise in any other profession? When we get raises it is 1-3 % and are dam*med lucky to get that.
Teachers work 9 months a year and make more money than most of us make in 12 months. I guess when you hold the children of an entire city hostage you can pretty much get what you want.
Well surprise surprise, over 17% in four years in a stalled economy with millions out of work. Surprise surprise, NOT. I wonder how the property owners who will be paying for these increases feel about it when their property tax bill arrives.
Now that they got there little deal done you know what this means don't you? Come on take a guess, smarter kids, no, higher graduation rates, no, more money out of their dues noe can be sent over to the Dumbocrats! That control Chicago, and Ill and all the other rotten to the core big cities and big blue broke ass states, like mine NY. So the taxpayer again take in the shorts, as these vile and corrupt union teachers get more money and do nothing to earn it. Perfect example of a public school grad who made it big is their hero barry, did you see him last night? There is a guy with a masters degree, taught classes at law school (all lies no one remembers him ) that has about a 4th grade education and can't put two sentences together without a teleprompter. So you dumbocrats out there keep voting a straight party ticket you are getting exactly what you deserve, too bad the rest of us have to pay for it. And you union teachers, go to hell all of you!
Is this the "substantial progress in education" Obama talked about last night?
A 17.6% average annual pay increase on the highest paid, least performing teachers in the country?
Tax payers of Chicago, for your own economic safety, get out of Chicago and do it quick. These teachers unions will soon want everything you have so they can live a lavish lifestyle and retire on a sweet pension. All this on the Chicago tax payers.
Leave now! Go to school districts that actually listen to parents and tax payers.
Can't the union teachers voting Dumbocrats give them a @!$%#ty education, then they are forced to stay right where they are. Dependent on the Dumbocrats to hand them rent, food stamps, free medical etc, just for one little thing. Their freedom and a yearly Dumbocrat vote. Lived in NY State all my life and if you want to see union teachers and Dumbcorats and the peeps they create, man we have patent on it. Our vile and corrupt teachers make on average 100k after 20 years and the benefits are to die for. Class sizes of about 10 to 12, phat pension of around 75k after 25 years etc. The rest of the economy, that is is not so good, empty buildings, roads full of pot holes, pretty much hell on earth if your not a teacher.
Astonishing!
You're opposed to socialism, but want to terminate the only non-government organization protecting teachers against their government employers.
You're opposed to communism, but support the one thing communists always do when they take power, ban unions.
You want your kids educated, but are willing to fire the professionals, and replace them with what? Child molestors & illegal immigrants? Who else is will take a position with no job security?
You want performance, but the surest way to guarantee minimum performance is to pay minimum wage.
Some of you need to sit back & think before you post.
I will make it real simple forget all the mobojumbo, here is what I want. I want the customer, ie the parents or parent to have the right to choose the education of their liking. Just like they do when they decide to have an abortion, where to live, or work, or who to lay with, or what cell phone or TV to buy or Doctor or lawyer to go to. Why can't the consumer of education have that right and then who care what a teacher makes, it will be a free market? Became the vile and corrupt unions will not allow that right.
The vile & corrupt government won't allow that, obviously. Privately operated schools inevitably become diploma mills. You won't pay them otherwise.
Some things should never be operated on a for profit basis.
Funny the ones that operate in the worst ghetto in NYC where all the students are black as the ace of spades. Guess what they out perform the super rich school districts in Westchester county at far less the cost per student. And the reason, no union teachers, simple as that.
Musician666, unions ONLY benefit the poorest performers; anyone who is really good at their job gets paid accordingly ... unless it's a union shop! Pick a famous actor or accomplished musician ... do you really think that they need a 'union' to command an audience or appropriate compensation! btw private schools don't get enrollment without a good reputation for success. Public schools get unionized teachers.
The reason is because both students & parents want an education, not just a diploma. Since the parents are willing to pay for an education, there's no need for a union. Simple as that.
Hey people of Chicago, when you are all taking pay cuts, or haven't seen a raise in many many years, someone that works 9 months out of the year..just hit the jackpot on your dime...........remember this on election day, you get what you vote for, looks like you voted to get screwed.
Teachers generally put in 50 to 60 hours per week for those 9 months. They work more than you do over a year.
Teachers generally put in 50 to 60 hours per week for those 9 months. They work more than you do over a year.
Sorry again hate to correct you but they work about 4-6 hours per day, for 180 days a year. No Sat or Sun, no holidays no summers etc. They work far less hours per year than any worker in the private sector do. And please don't give me their bull@!$%# that they go home and correct papers.
You obviously no nothing about teaching, & should discontiue posting on this site. There's no posible way a teacher can teach 6 classes, plus preaparation, plus records keeping, & yes, grading papers too, in 6 hours.
Oh wait! I left out all those extracurricular activities requiring a teacher's presence. Army, you're clearly confusing "teachers" with "coaches".
Musician666.....I work 6 days a week... pull your head out of your rear before you go spouting out your crap....I am paid a performance based pay, I am rewarded for a job well done, I don't get a raise despite the fact that only 15% of the people you "teach" can read at a proficient level,.......but then again it's not about the money.... it's about the kids right?......your all a bunch of crooks
It was too much to expect Rom to face down the Teachers Union in an election year. Too bad Chicago. You lose.
He is a progressive liberal Dumbocrat they has created the vile and corrupt lack of public workers who the teachers are by far the worse. He like is brother in DC is just hanging around managing the decline and the ultimate bankrupcy of the city, state and country. Then they will ride in on their white horses with another solution to the problems they have created. Get ready the end game for them is coming soon, very soon if barry make it for another 4.
Sooner if Mitt gets in. He openly wants to deregulate Wall Street. The very same people who gave us the Great Subprime Morgage Scam. I wonder what they'll do to us this time.
Can the government pay another bailout without going bankrupt?
You make no sense what so ever.
Ted says "They will now recieve an average wage of $89,000.00 ( more then DOUBLE the average wage in Chiago)!"
Ted do you have a brain?? The CPS pay scale is public knowledge did you google it?? You Ted are a picture perfect example of the word MORON--look it up if you know how to use a dictionary. You make me want to puke with your ignorance and false judgements.
I will use the highest caliber educater at the TOP of the pay scale as a reference--The pay TOPS OUT at $92,227 and this requires 20 years of service and a doctorate degree. For Ted and the rest of you media misinformed judgemental aholes go effe yourselves. I have provided a link, so instead of coming back with some dimwitted BS response look up the facts.
A Lane IV teacher holds a master's degree and 30 hours of approved graduate credit. The Step 1 salary for Lane IV is $55,969, while Step 5's salary is $66,396. After 20 years, the salary of a Lane IV teacher is $88,721. Lane V teachers have a master's degree and 45 hours of approved graduate credit. They earn $57,671 in Step 1 of their Lane, and Step 5 means a salary of $68,099. With 20 years of teaching, a Lane V teacher earns $90,473. A teacher in Lane VI holds a doctorate degree. Step 1 of Lane VI is $59,374, while Step 5 pays $69,801. After 20 years, a teacher in Lane VI earns $92,227 per year.
Read more: Chicago Public School Salary Schedule | eHow.com #ixzz28KvJcuEc
What's the average salary for someone with a law degree? How about a doctorate in economics? Or a masters of business administration?
Which of these contributes more to societly than teachers?
Depends on who has a job right now. Why would you need a Masters or PHD to teach grade school classes?
Again musician what others make is no business of you and I. I could care less what dentist, doctors, lawyers etc make. Becuase I get to chose who I give my business too, but can't do that with teachers. Got to send my kid to the school according to the district I live in, and of course I have to pay them whatever they want. Just give me the option to chose the education for my childern, that is all I want.
Army, how do you keep "getting an education" from "buying a diploma". The prosperous parents in my town all did the latter. When their spoiled brats got to college they were too stupid for science, too lazy for law or art, to apathetic for the social "sciences", but mommy & daddy had money so they had to get a degree.
Do you know where they wound up?
It is really irrelevant how many years they put in when in reality it takes almost two school years in Chicago to make a years worth of working hours at most jobs and their salaries should reflect that. When I was a school bus driver, while going to school to complete my BSN I put in more hours per week than the teachers do and we were locked in a hot box with the students that had to deal with those teachers all day. Yes I did say , the students had to deal with the teachers all day, unfortunately the mentalities of many of today's teachers is not much different from those of the students in the classroom. In addition these short hours do not even account for the times that they have no student contact throughout the day, because they have to have "planning" time, you know whats for dinner, where are we going on vacation, things like that.
Teacher's unions are one of the things killing this country.
So you support making government employees helpless against their employers. Do you know how socialist that sounds?
Unions of any kind in general are killing this country.
Do you know what communists do when the seize control of a country? First, shoot the previous regime. Second, ban unions.
Are you really on the side of the communists?
What a great gig! How many of us have received 17.6% worth of raises the past four years much less going forward the next four year?? I only wish I could guarantee myself that... especially in this economy... unreal.
Get a teaching degree. There's a crying demand for teachers, since so many of them burn out within a couple of years. Retaining skilled professionals should be at least as important as retaining the corporate execs who pulled off the Great Subprime Mortgage Scam.
Remember how much of that bailout money went to bonuses?
That must be why there are over 50+ applicants for every vacant teaching position in this country.
There's hundreds to thousands of applicants for most jobs. Why are there so many teaching vacancies?
Sheesh! A 4.4% a year pay raise and they already make an average of $76,000.00 a year! What the hell were they complaining about in the first place! Teachers where I am at make an average of around $40,000.00 a year, and they don't go on strike! Being damn greedy in my opinion.
What better example of bullying is there?
Do it the government's way & become a stooge to a socialist system.
people that bow down to sorry unions are just stupid. tell then heres the deal take it or get out and we will replace your over payed azz, kids in school ony learn what they want to any way and paying these bunch of chicago unions punks what they were already getting is a damn sham let alone a raise,
Replace them with who? Who's going to take a position with no job security? Child molestors & illegal immigrants maybe?
Think.
Jerry-1903677
I have friends who are teachers. Every day they have to deal with "students" who refuse to do assignments or homework. They just won't do it. When the parents are informed and asked to make sure the work is done correctly, the parents state that they will not force their precious brood to do something they don't want to, insisting that doing so would be "bad parenting." And when these kids obviously flunk the "standardized tests," the fault is placed on the teachers whose jobs are now on the line because of it.
I live here in Illinois, more centrally located however I'm sure the teacher mentality is about the same here as it is in Chicago. My son is in 8th grade, he had ODD and struggles getting through everyday, at home and at school. His teachers want him to do home work such as vocabulary words, he does not do homework, and as his parent I do not have to come to his rescue he speaks for himself and has told his team of teachers with the principal present "I'm not wasting my time doing something that I am not learning anything from." Now you may feel that he should do the homework because it is his responsibility, however I feel that it is the teacher's responsibility to teach him at a level that challenges. Needless to say, that is not going to happen, last year we found that if he stayed after school with the resource teacher or any of his team of teachers he was able to communicate better with his teachers. When I informed a teacher about that this year, he told me "I am hesitant to stay after for kids that are not doing their work because then I am punishing myself." These are the types of teachers that have no place in the public school system when there are plenty of teachers that are unemployed and they would like nothing more than to teach and be a mentor for students. In addition we also had the pleasure of dealing with another teacher this year who thought it was appropriate to call my son "Mr Pathetic," I notified the principal of this (she is a great principal) and she immediately called that teacher in and told him if she ever received a report of anything like this again he would never teach in the district again. Now in relation to the "Standardized Test," I'm sure you will be surprised to know that I received the results of my sons in the mail yesterday (the one he took in March of this year while in 7th grade) and his rankings are as follows Reading 99%, Math 93%, and Science 82%, in addition he is generally one of the first students done with the tests as well. These scores are his national ranking, he reading Lexile is well into the college level as well. Please keep in mind that there may be students that need to do the "homework" because heaven forbid a teacher actually teach them during the school day, there are also teachers that need to do their "homework" on teaching all of the children in their classroom and not just making sure they meet standards. My son started pre-algebra in 4th grade due to an excellent teacher he had and then in 5th grade he was unfortunately assigned to the same teacher he had in 3rd grade and she still has a high school cheerleader mentality that it is all about her and she is tenured and has nothing to be concerned about and was TOO LAZY to get the books from the junior high to teach him and about 4 other students at the level they have a right to be taught at, it is a right here not a privilege. On a final note I have nothing against Unions in general, I am a past Steward of the Year for my local, however I feel the teacher's union is an insult to all unions out there. They do not look at teaching as a profession or a passion, but rather a paycheck and that is very sad. We have an art teacher in the elementary schools here that makes $90,000 a year, under no circumstances can that be justified unless she is a descendant of Picasso. I did agree with the problems they were having with books, air conditioning , and classroom sizes, but those situations aren't solved by raising their salaries. There is absolutely no reason why a teacher should be coming to work at the same time students are getting off or leaving before the students get out of the parking lot in the afternoons either. The teachers in Chicago put in an average of 977.5 hours of work in per year compared to the average American working 40 hours a week which is more like 2080 hours per year, and let's not use the excuse that they spend so much of their own time working on things outside of the classroom, this is few and far between. Yes teachers should have some responsibility in regards to maintaining their positions and this should not be just showing up for school when the bell rings on the first day of class every year.
I teach in North Carolina and they are currently making over double my salary a year. I realize that cost of living is probably more expensive in a big city but still. This just shows how much our nation is divided on education. I wish I made $70,000 something a year. Student loans would be gone in a matter of no time.
Props to you, my son actually went to stay with family last year to attend school in NC and see if it was any better for him than the one he was attending in Illinois. He did not have one discipline problem, he was on the honor roll and the teachers could not say enough positive things about him. He came back home (to the house he has lived in since he was a year old and is now 13) and within 3 weeks he was failing everything and had been suspended from school. It is sad that teachers like this are rewarded and those that truly deserve it are left out in the cold. Keep up the GREAT work there in NC.
I don't know what is more loathsome, pathetic and vile nowadays corrupt politicians, lawyers or teachers.
Stockbrokers & money managers, hands down. After pulling off the Great Subprime Mortgage Scam they had the unmitigated gall to demand a bailout. As if the government wasn't courting bankruptcy already.
A final word about unions. They're always banned in communist countries. They were banned in the Soviet Union (ironic isn't it?), & they're banned today in China, Cuba, N Korea, & everywhere the government calls itself communist. If fact, unions are private, non-government organizations & can only exist in a free enterprise system.
In a free enterprise system, unions are a vital necessity. They're the only way to keep the business owners from becoming plantation owners. We've already seen companies abandon the production of goods & services in favor of producing executive compensation & stockholder dividends. Wage slavery is an important part of the process.
Those of us who work for a living need unions, even if you don't belong to one yourself.
Who told you that? Unions are deeply rooted in Marxist ideology. Karl Marx references this all over the place in the 'Communist manifesto' as the proletariat or worker by organizing trade unions, unorganized workers and low wage workers as organized centers for the whole class. Unions were NOT banned in the former Soviet Union, they were absorbed into the government itself. As a matter fact Lenin stated, quote..."Trade unions are a school of communism". Soviet trade unions were, in fact, actually governmental organizations whose chief aim was not to represent workers but to further the goals of management, government, and the CPSU. Look it up for yourself. I don't know where you're getting your information from but it's inaccurate and disingenuous. Unions have NO place in a free market system or a Democratic Republic, Comrade.
A final word on teachers' salaries. I'm not sure when it happened, but several decades ago our public schools were transformed from educational institutions into day concentration camps for people too young to get jobs, & too old to be cute. Don't take my word for it, ask anyone who is currently, or has been recently attending one.
Common sense folks! You have to pay your guards, & pay them well, or the inmates will be running wild.
Perhaps if teachers were allowed to teach, maybe... but no, kids need discipline. Right?
And a final word on Chicago. If the city fired all the teachers, who would they get to replace them? It's Chicago folks! Don't you think political hacks, the "connected", & cronies are going to get the plum jobs? What do you think their salaries are going to be? And what kind of performance can you expect from them?
At least the union has standards.
Not that I don't think the teachers do a truly thankless job dealing with this generation of 'do nothing' students who are the spawn of 'do nothing' parents but.....gee, wouldn't it be nice to have a raise? I haven't had one in 8 years. I've actually lost income and have had more and more work thrust on me with no compensation. Hmmm......how nice it must be to be 'rewarded' for doing a job where they don't require you to meet any requirements to get a raise and you can bully it out of a bankrupt city. WTG teacher's union.....disgusting.
Michelle,
That's what happens when you work for the government. No one is forcing you to keep teaching and accept years without any pay raises. You have sick days, weekends, vacation and summers off. The rest of us in the real world can only fathom that luxury. Go work in the private sector where performance is rewarded and salaries are negotiated based on your skill, performance, experience and leadership. It's that easy. I know this because I was a former public sector worker for 15 years.
The next step in Chicago is to close all of the public schools creating Charter Schools in every neighborhood where the people will stop any attempt by a labor union to hurt their kids again! When only 20% of the students read at grade level, something is seriously wrong! Either CPS students are imbeciles or the teachers are incompetent. Pick one.
Today, teachers and the Public schools are institutions of Socialism and tools for big government dependency and conditioning. They have political motifs with neo-marxist agendas. They are nothing like the institutions of knowledge & education that I grew up in over 30 years ago. Just look at what & who they support politically. I have seen this first hand with my own two children. Biggest mistake I made in my life was enroll my children in public schools. It will NEVER happen again.