September 10, 2012
Teacher Walkouts in Chicago, Conspicuous Details
The Chicago Tribune is reporting that 25,000 public-school teachers are picketing, rather than teaching, today. The details are a bit distant from Rhode Island for a finely tuned analysis, but it's fair to say that the union is not fighting a political class on the verge of right-to-work legislation. A significant political emphasis on "labor peace" can just mean that the goalposts move.
In this case, Chicago school district administrators are saying that they offered 16% raises over four years. The union is complaining about health benefits, teacher evaluations, and job security.
Taking a long-term view, though, the key sentence in the entire story, by reporters Noreen Ahmed-Ullah, Joel Hood, and Kristen Mack, may very well prove to be the one that I've emphasized in the following paragraph:
Continue reading on the Ocean State Current...
Great next-to-last paragraph.
Posted by: Andrew at September 10, 2012 11:09 AMC'mon Rahm. Channel your inner Reagan and fire them all.
Posted by: Bob at September 10, 2012 1:09 PMIs the leadership of these unions so mad with money and power that they think parents will view this favorably? This is a public relations disaster with these communities, who now have to reorganize their home and professional lives because the teachers want more money.
Posted by: Dan at September 10, 2012 1:58 PMPresident Obama on Central Falls teacher firings
"If a school continues to fail year after year after year and doesn't show sign of improvements then there has got to be a sense of accountability And that's what happened in Rhode Island last week at a chronically troubled school" Barack Obama
President Obama has often challenged union orthodoxy in his education agenda, promoting the expansion of public charter schools, which frequently are not unionized .. and teacher pay for performance
It is interesting to note that the average salary is $91,000 (including benefits). There is one teacher for every 16 kids, I am not sure that is reflected in class size.
After nationalizing the British car industry as BMC, Margaret Thatcher learned that governments cannot win a fight with unions.
Posted by: Warrington Faust at September 10, 2012 5:01 PM"Chicago school district administrators are saying that they offered 16% raises over four years."
Welcome to the public sector.
"The union is complaining about health benefits, teacher evaluations, and job security."
Welcome to the private sector.
Posted by: Monique at September 10, 2012 10:39 PMI just saw a video still of the Chicago strike; it was captioned:
"Chicago Teacher: We're Fighting for Students"
Yeahright.
Posted by: Monique at September 10, 2012 11:11 PM