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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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The teacher's union is the largest union in the United States. WOW -- 18% over 4 years -- regardless of whether they're a good OR bad teacher. Teacher's should be held to the same accountability as all others -- PERFORMANCE! You're a good teacher you get a merit increase. You're a bad teacher you get canned....JUST LIKE EVERYONE ELSE!
AND they get holidays, summer vacation -- must be nice.
It sure is nice that the highest paid teachers in the nation are now guaranteed on a 17.6% raise in the next four years, at the taxpayers expense. This recession sure isn't hurting them any.
Enjoy your Pyrrhic victory, the reason they were trying to cut cost is that your wages are out of balance with the rest of the US. Excellent job bankrupting your communities!
....this is why public sector unions should be abolished......they rob the taxpayer and the system is never improved....it's a joke that should have died twenty years ago.....wake up citizens.....
The taxpayers and their children are getting a raw deal!
...so the teachers get an average of 4.4% pay raise every year for the next 4 years.
...meanwhile, the Chicago students will still not be able to read, write or do mathematics and the Chicago School District will still have a +50%drop out rate.
Instead of indoctrinating student into a particular ideology using social engineering / brainwashing, why not teach them life skills they can apply every day? Ya know, things like critical thinking & problem analysis.
Paying the teachers more and /or hiring new teachers is not the solution when what is being taught in the classrooms is the problem.
Do not those teachers realize that the entity that has to pay them is broke & heavily in debt? I guess they don't realize that their pay comes off the back of the parents in the form of more taxes. Where were the math teachers explaining where the money to pay them comes from? sounds to much like CA. Glad I'm getting out of this (formerly) golden state.
What? With the shape the country is in, and many of us tightening our belt and are living on less in order to make it, and then there are some who think we should pay more just for them??? Greed! They are not living in reality. They have lifted themselves high, thinking they deserve more, while others go without and work hard and get less and less. They get the summer off, while the rest of us work days and nights year around, no vacations or entitlements....I am so tired of entitlements by taking thru more and more taxes some of us pay. There are givers and takers....and the takers just keep on taking and helping to drown this country...We do not get raises in this economy, so why do teachers?
So a group of people not doingtheir job get raises? With all the unemployed; no raises for most; and no inflation, they get raises. Join a union and not only d oyou get to be a failure, you make a great living doing it. Anyone who votes for Obama is supporting this, but I bet its not from their pocket.
I hate unions.
I hope there's a special place in Hell for Rahm Emanuel and all of those money-grubbing teachers. They should have fired the lot of them. I guess Rahm's buddy Barack can count on all of those votes. What are they going to do when the city goes broke and their pay and benefits house of card goes up in flames?
What are the ratings for the Chicago students and teachers compared to the rest of the US?
nothing like demanding a raise while the company is going bankrupt. yup.
And notice how this left sided media well avoids on one BIG question:
HOW ARE THEY GOING TO PAY FOR IT??? There was NO mention about the increase in taxes that will be necessary to hold up the contract's bite. Ya gotta love it.
The REAL losers, will be the property taxpayers, trying to figure out when it will be time to just pull up and move, when they get socked with the added expenses...
GO ROMNEY 2012!!!
Wow, way to fleece the tax payers teachers.. good job you Unions thugs.. Now that's the way you use the children as a pawn, well done Unions and teachers.. got yours! Hallelujah! we got tenure
As near as I can figure based on current ECI numbers published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, these teachers (already making 60%?? more than the median Chicago income) are now set up to get a raise that's about 10 times the inflation rate for the next 4 years.
While I might be griped out just over sour grapes, I've got to say that this seems pretty outrageous. Especially when you consider Government employees (no, I'm not one) are pretty much on a pay increase freeze, and individuals working under contracts to the Federal government are often being dictated maximum annual pay increases below 3%.
Well, what can I say -- the teacher's union may be corrupt, but they sure managed to get one hell of a good deal for the teachers. Now, to the teachers, I would say: STFU for at least the next 4 years, you've done much better than about 90% of the rest of working America. And actually, when you consider the cumulative effects of a 4.4% raise from a baseline of $76K over 4 years, the fact that you'll be hitting around $90K/year at the end of the contract tells me I don't want to hear any of your crap for at least another 4 years beyond that.
The teachers who participated in strike should have been fired. Let em go, just like the air traffic controllers were let go back in the late 70's. You don't like being held to a high standard of being a quality teacher, don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out. This whole thing is despicable. All they did was set a poor example to students .... if you don't get your way, walk out.
These Teachers are the 12 th highest payed in the world ,, but we are 25 th dumbist in the world. that don't add up , I ain't real smart but even I can tell we ain't getting our money worth . Now the teacher want a raise in one of the worst school systems in the country . We need to start demaning better Teachers. If we don't do are job we get fired , it's called performance pay , and I don't mean 20 or 30 percent of the kids passing , it should be 70 to 80 percent passing if they don't have 70 to 80 percent passing in there class's , YOUR FIRED !!!
It's not all the teachers fault they are dealing with a stupid population that dosen't value education. You can make all the movies you want with "The Miracle Class" blah blah blah but fact is it's cultural and spreading to the rest of society.
CPS =FAIL