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Chicago Teachers On Strike: Average Annual Salary $71,000
Sunday, September 9, 2012 21:36
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The Chicago Teachers Union announced Sunday night that it will go on strike Monday morning for the first time in 25 years after contract talks with the school district failed over issues including pay, benefits and job security.
“We will be on the (picket) line,” Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis said after emerging from all-day talks with district negotiators.
“This is a difficult decision and one we hoped we could have avoided,” she said. “We must do things differently in this city if we are to provide our students with the education they so rightfully deserve.” READMOREHERE
Mitt Romney on Monday rightfully blasted the Chicago Teachers Union for its decision to “turn its back” on students in the Windy City after the labor group, representing teachers and support staff in the nation’s third-largest public school system, walked off the job for the first time time in 25 years.
“Teachers unions have too often made plain that their interests conflict with those of our children, and today we are seeing one of the clearest examples yet,” said Mr. Romney, the GOP’s presidential nominee.
The two sides are reportedly not far apart in salary negotiations, but other issues — such as changes to health insurance packages and the implementation of evaluation systems that rank teachers partly based on students’ standardized tests scores — are still outstanding. Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, formerly President Obama’s chief of staff, said the walkout is “not a strike I wanted.”
“It was a strike of choice … it’s unnecessary, it’s avoidable and it’s wrong,” he said.
Teachers unions have been among the most ardent supporters of Mr. Obama and Vice President Joe Biden, and have for decades been loyal foot soldiers for the Democratic Party. Last year, long before Mr. Romney had emerged as the Republican candidate for president, the National Education Association endorsed Mr. Obama, despite not knowing who his opponent would be.
Mr. Romney is now seeking to use the Chicago strike — which may carry extra significance as it’s taking place in Mr. Obama’s hometown, and in a city run by one of the president’s former chief deputies — as a campaign weapon, positioning himself as the candidate standing with ordinary families and students, while the Democrats stubbornly stand with their friends in organized labor at the expense of children.
“President Obama has chosen his side in this fight … I choose to side with the parents and students depending on public schools to give them the skills to succeed, and my plan for education reform will do exactly that !”