Chicago teachers strike to enter second week

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CBS News:

The Chicago teachers union decided Sunday to continue its weeklong strike, extending an acrimonious standoff with Mayor Rahm Emanuel over teacher evaluations and job security provisions central to the debate over the future of public education across the United States.

Union delegates declined to formally vote on a proposed contract settlement worked out over the weekend with officials from the nation's third largest school district. Schools will remain closed Monday.

 

Union president Karen Lewis said teachers want the opportunity to continue to discuss the offer that is on the table.

 

"Our members are not happy," Lewis said. "They want to know if there is anything more they can get."

 

She added: "They feel rushed."

 

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Whoa! Don't want them to feel "rushed"....

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Breaking News ‏@BreakingNews

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel says city will file lawsuit to force end of teachers strike - @AP

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Che Lives!

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Who Rewrote the Chicago Teachers Union’s Hollywood Ending?

Mike Antonucci

September 17, 2012

 

Up until yesterday afternoon, everything was going according to plan for the leadership of the Chicago Teachers Union.

 

Having been saddled with a law that required 75 percent rank-and-file approval to authorize a strike, CTU went out and got 90 percent. The mayor, though a prominent Democrat and ally of President Obama, was not a sympathetic figure, regardless of whether one viewed his proposals as fair or not. The CTU president had run on a platform of greater militancy against school reforms such as those championed by the mayor. And, most of all, CTU was ideally positioned to present itself as the successor to the Wisconsin protesters and Occupy demonstrators, holding the progressive line against corporate privatizers.

 

(Snip)

 

I honestly don’t think anyone “wins” this strike. Gains made by the “you can’t stomp on unions!” crowd are offset by gains made by the “you can’t negotiate with those unions!” crowd. This battle may be drawing to a close, but it looks like both sides will finish with more ammunition than they had at the start.

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Chicago Teachers Union strike ends

 

The Chicago Teachers Union voted to end its strike Tuesday, concluding an episode that put President Obama in a bind between siding with a major labor union in his hometown and Rahm Emanuel, his former chief of staff and the current mayor of Chicago.

 

The strike's end means at least 350,000 students who had not been attending Chicago public schools for a week will return to the classroom.

The end of the strike came Tuesday afternoon after the Teachers Union's House of Delegates voted to end the dispute and accept a contract offered by the city.