Chicago Teachers Union Continues Strike – Children Lose As “Pawns Of Dispute”
Posted by Andrea Ryan on Sunday, September 16, 2012, 8:52 PM
The children lose…all 350,000 of them. Another week of no school while the Chicago Teachers Union fights for more money and Rahm goes to court for an order to end the strike. The Chicago mayor accused the union of using the city’s students as “pawns in an internal dispute”.
Chicago teachers uncomfortable with a tentative contract offer decided Sunday to remain on strike, insisting they needed more time to consider whether to end an acrimonious standoff with Mayor Rahm Emanuel that will keep 350,000 students out of class for at least a few more days.
Emanuel fired back Sunday night by instructing city attorneys to seek a court order forcing Chicago Teachers Union members back into the classroom. “This was a strike of choice and is now a delay of choice that is wrong for our children,” he said in a statement. …
But in a statement, Emanuel was typically blunt. He accused the union of using the city’s students as “pawns in an internal dispute.” He said the strike was illegal because it endangers the health and safety of students and concerned issues that state law says cannot be grounds for a work stoppage.
“While the union works through its remaining issues, there is no reason why the children of Chicago should not be back in the classroom as they had been for weeks while negotiators worked through these same issues,” he said.
The walkout, the first for a major American city in at least six years, canceled classes for students who just returned from summer vacation and forced tens of thousands of parents to find alternatives for idle children, including many whose neighborhoods have been wracked by gang violence in recent months.
With an average salary of $76,000, Chicago teachers are among the highest-paid in the nation. The contract outline calls for annual raises, but it doesn’t restore a 4 percent raise that was rescinded by the mayor last year.
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Hobbitually conservative commented:
How many children are going to starve to death?
sally commented:
One thing, karen won’t be starving anytime soon.
Sorry to Live in Illinois commented:
Jim, SIU did a study that compiled the average ACT scores of Chicago teachers. It was only 19! To put this in perspective, all Illinois HS Juniors are required to take the ACT test and their average score was just under 21.
Of course, we see this no where in the media.
kato commented:
The children also lose when some of these union time-servers are in the classroom.
At least the children are being spared the brainwashing that will turn most of them into good little Democratic parasites, just like their parents and teachers.
Sorry to Live in Illinois commented:
Here’s the story: http://watchdog.org/56075/reeder-chicago-teachers-score-below-high-school-students-on-standard-test/
Rachelle commented:
The children lose?
I don’t think so!
The longer the children stay out of the clutches of these leftist losers the better!
Remco Kimber commented:
A lot of hard bodies among the union leadership (cough) AND the rank and file.
Alvinp commented:
Wait …. you had 10 months to fix this! You guys crack me up.
Alvinp commented:
… oh now we don’t like democracy? You guys crack me up! lol
Whistleblower commented:
“Golden,” the whitewashing of a Department of Justice crime spree
http://illinoispaytoplay.com/2012/09/16/golden-the-whitewashing-of-a-department-of-justice-crime-spree/
atticcellar commented:
Oh my! What am I going to do with my children? Who is going to raise them and teach them right from wrong? I can’t believe the governent is doing this to me.. They owe me this basic service of raising my kids.. Who else can provide this free daycare? Please help save the Chicago children Obama.. We need you to give our teachers whatever they want! PLEASE HELP US NOW! As one of the greatest presidents ever, I know you can fix this problem.. For the children!
Alvinp commented:
The mayor announced in a statement that he’s asked city lawyers “to file an injunction in circuit court to immediately end this strike.” He contended the strike is illegal because “it is over issues that are deemed by state law to be nonstrikable, and it endangers the health and safety of our children.”
“I will not stand by while the children of Chicago are played as pawns in an internal dispute within a union,” Emanuel said.
…. wait you guys have been standing by for 10 months!
… lol you guys crack me up!
john b commented:
Michelle Obama is right! Judging by these 2 cows in the picture, America DOES have an obesity problem.
pjean commented:
Taxpayers of Illinois, should demand that the union contract be made public so all taxpayers know every detail.
Joe College commented:
Socialists are running out of other people’s money again
Hospitals ‘on brink of collapse’
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-19577489
The BBC will be pleased to see their story linked here. They’re huge fans of this blog.
Opaobie commented:
Hey, Chicago Teachers’ Union, Michelle Obama told everybody to get moving, remember? OK, then LET’S MOVE!
Multitude commented:
OCCUPY EDUCATION – CHICAGO!!!
Hey Chicago Tea Partiers… want to raise the ante? It’s time to stage a Teach-In: “Occupy Education” movement.
Why not organize lectures at the city libraries with professionals from all walks of the “real world.” If I can get to Chicago and someone’s interested in doing this I may just make the time to do so, I’d love to lecture in my area of professional expertise. Imagine, top professionals in finance, marketing, journalism, manufacturing, operations, economics, political science, etc. conducting open lectures for free across city libraries, doing the job the unions refuse to do.
Anyone game? The bonus is we can steal the Occupy brand and do something meaningful as a protest against the elite, fat-cat 1% (Chicago’s union teachers *are* the 1% elites in the country’s teacher system per pay and benefits). I can probably pull executives from some of Chicago’s known food industry as well as partners from senior advisory firms if there’s interest.
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