Strike day two– Chicago teachers party in the streets (Update — Video added)

Legal Insurrection ^ | September 11, 2012 | Anne Sorock

[2ndDivisionVet]

The Chicago Teachers Union continued its second day of the strike by celebrating in a party-like atmosphere with kids, festive music, and a giant fuzzy elmo doll. They may be anticipating a long strike: according to CTU President Karen Lewis, the idea that a contract will be settled by the end of Tuesday “is lunacy.”

I traveled downtown to view the protest. The “L” train was packed with young teachers in red t-shirts, smiling and laughing about the strike. One teacher commented that all they were doing at his high school to provide for students was “plopping in The Hunger Games” all day; another said that they were glad the schools weren’t inundated with all of the 400,000 children left in the lurch by the strike–otherwise, it might “make them look bad.”

The protest snaked from Daley Plaza in downtown Chicago around the “loop” area. Teachers wearing red union shirts filled the streets, many with young children grasping their own pro-strike signs.

I took video footage of the protest, where you’ll hear the reaction to my questions about “merit pay”:

(VIDEO AT LINK)

The Teachers Union seemed to be intent to stress that they were not striking over the 16 percent raise over four years that the Chicago Public Schools has now offered them (the union is demanding 30 percent). Nor was it about the sticking point of enforcing accountability through merit pay. Rather, according to the teachers I spoke with, it is about getting air conditioning in the 10 schools that currently are without and ensuring that there are enough social workers.

With chants like “get up, get down, Chicago is a union town,” and signs expressing solidarity, it is clear that what is really at stake is union power–and with that the ability to continue to negotiate huge pay raises. Chicago public school teachers are the highest paid in the nation. When faced with this fact, the teachers I spoke with countered that Chicago’s cost-of-living is higher than other places.

Thanks to the Illinois Policy Institute for crunching the numbers on that:

On average, the cost of living is 21 percent more in Chicago than the other cities, according toCNNMoney. After this cost of living adjustment (COLA), Chicago public school teachers are still overpaid by a whopping 31 percent! This is morally indefensible.

And for our overly generous teacher pay we get a tragic 40 percent dropout rate for children who enter a Chicago public high school.

Don’t be fooled by CTU President Karen Lewis or the angry protestors in the streets. CTU teachers don’t deserve a pay raise of even a penny. They deserve a cut of at least 30 percent.

CTU President Lewis told the crowd Tuesday that “the whole world is watching us.” They’d better hope that the rest of Illinois isn’t watching; 35 percent of the cost for the Chicago Public Schools is funded by Illinoisans outside of Chicago.

[notpoliticallycorewrecked]

Another Freeper posted a comment about this being used as a ploy to make Obama look good. The thought process was that Obama will be able go to Chicago to bring the two side together and end the strike. I would not put it past him to have this set up to make him look pro union while acting as a savior to heal the ails of Chicago.

[skr]

Before leaving the rally to go back to the negotiating table, Lewis told the crowd, “I’m going to go back to the silly part of my day. … Y’all continue to have fun.”

Struck me as inappropriate under the circumstances.

[rainee]

It’s all fun & games for them, all a big joke...I heard they’re keeping some schools open for free meals, I’m sure they don’t mean the teachers because this blob & others clearly haven’t missed any.

[Secret Agent Man]

Red shirt communist Takers.

2012: Makers vs. Takers. That’s what it boils down to.

I.E. - Franklin’s Warning.

[AZLiberty]

They're the best marketing campaign that charter schools have ever had. The charter schools are staying open while the public schools are shuttered. I bet the waiting lists for existing charter schools are growing through the roof, and the pressure to start new charters will be huge.

If the City of Chicago really cared about kids and the taxpayer's wallet, they would immediately create opportunities for 100 new charter schools in Chicago. Even the threat of that would bring the union to the bargaining table.

[AZLiberty]

A good part of the higher cost of living in Chicago is higher taxes. Increasing the cost of schools won’t help that.

[UCANSEE2]

The strike is not about the pay raise (which they would never see anyway, the 'raise' would actually go to the Union fund), and it's not about air conditioning.

It's about STOPPING the rating of a teacher's performance by the student's grades. The teachers already tried helping the students CHEAT on tests, but some have been caught. SO... now they want to eliminate tests(grades,etc) as a measure of their teaching ability. They (the teachers) are being TAUGHT NOT TO teach their students, but merely babysit them.

They (the teachers) are just being used to find a way to keep students (future drone bees) AS DUMB AS POSSIBLE.

The poorly educated are much easier to control.

(think I'm making this up?

[RginTN]

My sister’s in medical school, takes alot of tests.
These teachers want to be operated on a doctor who wasn’t throughly tested!!

[freekitty]

I agree.

[Venturer]

Stop sending pay checks to striking teachers.

That will take the fun out of it.

[Boomer One]

Why don’t they allow the citizens of Chicago to vote on this? They could present the options like this: Your neighbor, a teacher, makes twice as much as you, works less hours, is not responsible for results/job performance, has an exceptional health and retirement plan, and job security. However, at a time when you have lost your job or had no raises for years, they are demanding a 16% increase. In order to fund this, it will cost you this much in sales and income taxes, thereby reducing your net income. As a side note, this amount could rise by an additional amount if the federal subsidy is deleted. Never mind that these are the same people unable to get your children through high school or meet national testing standards. Oh, and as a side note, forget about the inconvenience they caused you by striking and your lost wages as you scrambled to make arrangements for keeping your children. Now, in the interest of fairness, I’m sure this would pass.

[UCANSEE2]

My sister’s in medical school, takes alot of tests.

Those 'teachers' on strike in Chicago do no teach in MEDICAL SCHOOL.

[RginTN]

Yeah and the children they teach won’t make it to medical school after being dumbed down by the lack of testing promoted by the teachers..

[PhilCollins]

I agree with your suggestion. I also think that Chicago should have an elected school board. All of the board members are appointed by the mayor.