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Chicago Teachers Push Strike Into Second Week: ‘Want to Know If There Is Anything More They Can Get’

Sep. 16, 2012 7:40pm Erica Ritz

Chicago Teachers Union Pushes Strike Into Second Week

Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis speaks to supporters during a rally at Union Park September 15, 2012 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo: Getty Images)

CHICAGO (TheBlaze/AP) — 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.”

(Photo: Getty Images)

She said the union’s delegates will meet again Tuesday, and the soonest classes are likely to resume is Wednesday.

“We felt more comfortable being able to take back what’s on the table and let our constituents look at it and digest it. We can have a much better decision come Tuesday,” said Dean Refakes, a physical education teacher at Gompers Elementary School and a delegate.

The walkout, the first in Chicago in 25 years, had instantly canceled classes for 350,000 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.

The walkout was the first for a major American city in at least six years. And it drew national attention because it posed a high-profile test for teachers unions, which have seen their political influence threatened by a growing reform movement. Unions have pushed back against efforts to expand charter schools, bring in private companies to help with failing schools and link teacher evaluations to student test scores.

The Associated Press has video of one of the demonstrations:

The strike carried political implications, too, raising the risk of a protracted labor battle in President Barack Obama’s hometown at the height of the fall campaign, with a prominent Democratic mayor and Obama’s former chief of staff squarely in the middle. Emanuel’s forceful demands for reform had angered the teachers last year as the cash-strapped city began bargaining with a number of unions.

The teachers walked out Sept. 10 after months of tense contract talks that for a time appeared to be headed toward a peaceful resolution.

Emanuel and the union agreed in July on a deal to implement a longer school day with a plan to hire back 477 teachers who had been laid off rather than pay regular teachers more to work longer hours. That raised hopes the contract would be settled before the start of fall classes, but bargaining stalled on other issues.

(Photo: Getty Images)

Emanuel decried the teachers’ decision to leave classrooms, calling the walkout unnecessary and a “strike of choice.”

Almost from the beginning, the two sides couldn’t even agree on whether they were close to a deal. Emanuel said an agreement was within easy reach and could be sealed with school in session. The union insisted that dozens of issues remained unresolved.

Chicago’s long history as a union stronghold seemed to work to the teachers’ advantage. As they walked the picket lines, they were joined by many of the very people who were most inconvenienced by the work stoppage: parents who had to scramble to find babysitters or a supervised place for children to pass the time.

(Photo: Getty Images)

To win friends, the union representing 25,500 teachers engaged in something of a publicity campaign, telling parents repeatedly about problems with schools and the barriers that have made it more difficult to serve their kids. They described classrooms that are stifling hot without air conditioning, important books that are unavailable and supplies as basic as toilet paper that are sometimes in short supply.

The strike upended a district in which the vast majority of students are poor and minority. It also raised the concerns of parents who worried not just about their kids’ education but their safety. Chicago’s gang violence has spiked this year, with scores of shootings reported throughout a long, bloody summer and bystanders sometimes caught in the crossfire.

The district staffed more than 140 schools with non-union workers and central office employees so students who are dependent on school-provided meals would have a place to eat breakfast and lunch. But most parents refused to leave their children at unfamiliar schools where they would be thrown together with kids and supervising adults they may never have met.

When the two sides met at the bargaining table, money was only part of the problem. With an average salary of $76,000, Chicago teachers are among the highest-paid in the nation. After weeks of talks, the district proposed a 16 percent raise over four years, including bumps for experience and education – and far beyond what most American employers have offered in the aftermath of the Great Recession.

But the evaluations and job security measures stirred the most intense debate.

The union said the evaluation system was unfair because it relied too heavily on test scores and did not take into account outside factors that affect student performance such as poverty, violence and homelessness.

The union also pushed for a policy to give laid-off teachers first dibs on open jobs anywhere in the district. The district said that would prevent principals from hiring the teachers they thought best qualified and most appropriate for the position. The tentative settlement proposed giving laid-off teachers first shot at schools that absorbed their former students.

Emanuel did not personally negotiate but monitored the talks through aides.

(Photo: AP)

The strike was just the latest and highest-stakes chapter in a long and often contentious battle between him and the union.

When he took office last year, the former White House chief of staff inherited a school district facing a $700 million budget shortfall. Not long after, his administration rescinded 4 percent raises for teachers. He then asked the union to re-open its contract and accept 2 percent pay raises in exchange for lengthening the school day for students by 90 minutes. The union refused.

Emanuel, who promised a longer school day during his campaign, attempted to go around the union by asking teachers at individual schools to waive the contract and add 90 minutes to the day. He halted the effort after being challenged by the union before the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board.

—

Associated Press writer Sophia Tareen contributed to this report.

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Comments (183)

Tom Ballard
Posted on September 16, 2012 at 8:25pm
Privatize the system ,get rid of the losers

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- WindyDualism
  Posted on September 16, 2012 at 8:41pm
  And rush them away from the buffet too. What would
  Moochelle to say about these porkers?
  
  Report this comment
- RepubliCorp
  Posted on September 16, 2012 at 8:42pm
  they picked the right color t-shirts
  
  Report this comment
- Chuck7884
  Posted on September 16, 2012 at 8:43pm
  The people could not afford a privatized system. In a few years of this you all will be screaming foul at the cost’s. And yes the privatized system would and can be unionized as well . You yourself may be able today but tomorrow will be a different be a different story.
  
  Report this comment
- Walkabout
  Posted on September 16, 2012 at 9:03pm
  If we fired all the teachers, shut down the schools & gave every family a computer so they could home school, we would have a lower drop out rate, higher test scores & happier parents.
  
  Report this comment
- OlefromMN
  Posted on September 16, 2012 at 9:12pm
  Vouchers would have the same effect. Attach the money to the student and watch the government system evaporate.
  
  Report this comment
- Smokey_Bojangles
  Posted on September 16, 2012 at 9:23pm
  “When school children start paying union dues, that’s when I’ll start representing the interests of school children.” Albert Shanker, the teachers’ union president who, years ago, first turned teachers unions into a national political force.
  
  Report this comment
- oldguy49
  Posted on September 16, 2012 at 9:51pm
  they feel rushed……..how about make them feel unemployed and hire teachers that actually teach……non-union
  
  Report this comment
- just the facts
  Posted on September 16, 2012 at 9:57pm
  Fire them – there are many more highly capable and wanting to replace them. Scrap the unions.
  
  Report this comment
- jzs
  Posted on September 16, 2012 at 10:15pm
  Give thanks that we live in a Democracy! You don’t see this kind of thing in China or Russia or Iran. We the people can join together to exercise our First Amendment right to petition the government to redress grievances.
  
  I know many here want the Right of Assembly guaranteed by the Constitution restricted. I know that many here want the right to free speech restricted. The right would clamp down on those Constitutionally guaranteed rights, restrict them, and reduce the freedoms we all share to further their own political agenda. The fringe right wing threatens our freedoms by preventing Americans from joining together and exerting influence as a group (although they are fine with corporations doing the same).
  
  Sorry, this is America and we are country of laws. Americans have rights and if you think you can limit them to promote your agenda you are sadly misinformed and underestimate the character of this nation.
  
  Report this comment
- Fatheroftwo
  Posted on September 16, 2012 at 10:16pm
  All public employee union negotiations should be subject to a final approval of the people who pay their salaries! No campaigning for or against should be allowed! the Ballot should have a clear description of what a yes or no vote would entail! If you strike; your fired!! No recourse!!! On a personal level I think that everyone of the Chicago Teachers should be fired! There isn’t a one of them that cares a tinkers cuss about the kids!
  
  Report this comment
- Obamammy
  Posted on September 16, 2012 at 10:18pm
  Karen Porker Lewis didn’t get the “lets move” memo.
  
  Report this comment
- Fatheroftwo
  Posted on September 16, 2012 at 10:33pm
  JZS:
  Wow! have you been caught off base!
  History Lesson….We live in a Constitutional Republic NOT a Democracy!
  The rest of your comment is nothing but a bunch of random letters put together that have no meaning! Blah! Blah! Blah! would have served you better! People might have been able to understand your point then!
  
  Report this comment
- Cavallo
  Posted on September 16, 2012 at 10:44pm
  Give them double everything they want, double the taxes on all businesses and rich people. Its not like that people could leave Chicago, right? I hope this goes on for weeks, or maybe all the way to the election! I love watching evil eat itself. Eat up unions.. Chicago still has a way to go before becoming Detroit, or Kabul. Look at all the wealth that is still there to expropriate!
  
  Report this comment
- booger71
  Posted on September 16, 2012 at 10:50pm
  Give thanks that we live in a Democracy! You don’t see this kind of thing in China or Russia or Iran.
  ==========
  Your right, they would be in prison or dead. I just want them fired. They do not have a right to a government job.
  
  Report this comment
- americansfightingforcommonsense
  Posted on September 16, 2012 at 10:59pm
  Exactly right!!! Fire them all and hire some new teachers who actually care about the students instead of giving more money to the corrupt Communist Unions. It is not right that public employees can hold the public hostage for unreasonable reasons. They are greedy and corrupt.
  God Bless America!
  
  Report this comment
- Cavallo
  Posted on September 16, 2012 at 11:15pm
  Hey, does anyone get a property tax rebate for the time these worthless commie peons are on strike?
  
  Report this comment
- db321
  Posted on September 16, 2012 at 11:36pm
  I hear Obama is going to through in an extra month of Vacation time of each teacher to include unlimited use of Air Force One for that Month. Obama has plenty of Money.
  
  Report this comment
- progoyim
  Posted on September 17, 2012 at 1:04am
  Maybe if Obama would cut some of the money that we give Israel and the bribes we give to the Muslim countries to tolerate Israel there might be enough money to pay to educate or children. Not necessarily
  In the same manor
  
  Report this comment
- USA DJ
  Posted on September 17, 2012 at 2:24am
  I agree. Where is Ronald Reagan when you need him. Fire these jerks who have no regard for educating children, only lining their pockets. Chicago teachers are a discrace to the profession. They are holding the city hostage and are no better than a terrorist organization. Seem they have much in common with the Occupy protesters and the extremist across the world. Fire them all!
  
  Report this comment
- sillyfreshness
  Posted on September 17, 2012 at 2:25am
  There’s nothing better than money hungry, greedy communists like the teacher’s union and their teachers. BTW teachers are the highest paid part time job in the world.
  
  Report this comment
- MIBUGNU2
  Posted on September 17, 2012 at 3:27am
  Hell, give them 20% + bumps, that would get them all close
  to 100 K a year by 2016, time to renegotiate again with the
  Unions….Oh,Boy !! Chitown should be pretty Much in the
  Crapper by then…..No accountability HUH ?? NICEEEEEE….
  Unions are just Great for the Country.. don’t Ya’ think ???
  I like the way these Whales tell us it’s “All About the KIDS”….
  in 2016 Obama can move to Dearborn with his Bud’s and
  they can practice Sharia Law and Mo can go on a Vacation..
  Just get these POS away from the WH… of course BO will
  have his mug put on Mount Rushmore by then…
  
  Report this comment
- 000degrees
  Posted on September 17, 2012 at 6:47am
  I could never leave my child in the care of these people ….
  
  Report this comment
- historyguy48
  Posted on September 17, 2012 at 8:02am
  Chuck7884: Are you aware that Americas schools were strictly private until Wilson began pushing for “free” public education, which is one of the basic tenets of Marxism. At that point America led the world in almost every category and was very close in the few categories we weren’t number one in.
  Now, after a century of wonderful “public” education, our kids are still number one, but only in a single category, self-esteem. Otherwise we generally rank at or near the bottom in every other category.
  Now lets talk money. America currently spends the second highest amount per student for education in the entire world and we are very close to the leader.
  So a simple cost benefit analysis does say that we are not receiving anything of value for our treasure except a highly paid baby sitting service.
  Since it is obviously not working why would we want to continue to do stupid? If the poor choose to not send their children to private school it really doesn’t matter, they aren’t learning anything from our public schools anyway so whats the difference?
  Meanwhile, the kids whose parents choose to pay for their education would actually receive one, only everyone isn’t paying for what those children are getting, just the parents.
  Like everything in private industry in an actual free market, the cost of education would come down. There would no longer be an excuse for property taxes freeing up capital and the children’s test scores would return to being at or near the best in
  
  Report this comment
- Zipit
  Posted on September 17, 2012 at 8:46am
  I agree with CAVALLO! Let’s keep these idiot’s on the front page as long as we can! If there is anyone out there who is still undecided as to who they will be voting for, exposure to this circus may clue them in as to, “life the Obama way”! Sanity should certainly prevail! Ya’d think!
  
  Report this comment
- happ77
  Posted on September 17, 2012 at 9:03am
  I finally figured it out JZ, You go to a middle school in Chicago.
  You are dumber than goose poop. We don’t want to limit
  any Constitutional rights. I stand by the teachers right to
  assemble, only I’d like it to happen on the unemployment line.
  They could collect their 99 weeks and spend all their free time
  assemblying. 50% of the kids would be no worse off anyway.
  Why don’t you encinom and dora gasbag go back to the huff post
  your wasting our time.
  
  Report this comment
- SocialistSlayer
  Posted on September 17, 2012 at 9:50am
  Anyone notice their shirts are designed with the colors of Communist obama’s campaign material?
  
  Report this comment
- johnjamison
  Posted on September 17, 2012 at 10:37am
  Exactly, Any mayor with in caliber of integrity would have laid down the hammer on these communist.
  By simply stating you’re back at work tomorrow or in the unemployment line the day after tomorrow.
  
  Report this comment
- Secret Squirrel
  Posted on September 17, 2012 at 2:07pm
  .
  “”Our members are not happy…”"
  So quit and get a real job.
  
  Report this comment
- KURT1010
  Posted on September 17, 2012 at 5:37pm
  Red shirts / Communists ?
  
  Report this comment
noslave
Posted on September 16, 2012 at 8:21pm
the lazy over-paid worthless lard asses,should be replaced $74 ,000/YR IS NOT ENOUGH? one good thing the childrens brains get a rest from socialist indoctrination,may even re-generate new brain cells????most things heal with time,hopefully they’ll stay out till romney becomes pres then he can fire their asses and replace them by executive order,like obumbles uses much to often??

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- Chuck7884
  Posted on September 16, 2012 at 8:56pm
  Let,s just say we do it your way. instead of the teachers strike they all quit and walked of the job for good!. how would you replace them?. Hint in about maybe 4 or 5 years. in the mean time what are you gonna do about your kids?.You really have that much free time on your hands or that much money to throw at it?and how long you think your money would last?.
  
  Report this comment
- Walkabout
  Posted on September 16, 2012 at 9:05pm
  Teachers represented by a Democrat leaning (in the bag actually) union are negotiating with a Democrat mayor to educate the kids of Democrat voters.
  
  Bush’s fault!
  
  Report this comment
- Chuck7884
  Posted on September 16, 2012 at 9:23pm
  You really believe that all those teachers are Democrats? every Union worker as well. the Union I was in were all Republicans although it was a trade union I.E. Construction. It Goes to demonizing those you disagree with and somehow okay.
  
  Report this comment
- scrudge
  Posted on September 16, 2012 at 9:24pm
  looks like commie red shirts
  
  Report this comment
- Psychosis
  Posted on September 16, 2012 at 9:36pm
  chuckie doesnt know the difference between a public and private union
  
  go figure …………………he has a public education
  
  Report this comment
- WarMunger_Al
  Posted on September 16, 2012 at 10:39pm
  Chuck-
  Replace them with the unemployed folks holding master degrees. These dirtbag teachers are failing to teach the students. Spongebob would do a better job. Look at Chicago’s drop out rate, and even their graduates can barely read, much like at allot of CA schools, though probably not as bad as Detroit…..that ones hard to top.
  
  Report this comment
- booger71
  Posted on September 16, 2012 at 10:51pm
  That’s good money for a part time job.
  
  Report this comment
- Chuck7884
  Posted on September 16, 2012 at 11:30pm
  Replace them with out of work people with master degrees. damn you really think they want that big of a pay cut. don’t think so.when with a masters you can teach at the local college with a lot more money and a lot more perks not to mention you can not let just anyone have access to you kid’s Anymore.Teacher have to go through a lot of their education on what you can and can not do or say to Children what was once okay yesterday is a huge no no today.Another words you would have to reeducate those with degrees and certify them before they could enter a K Throug 12 classroom.
  
  Report this comment
- Chuck7884
  Posted on September 16, 2012 at 11:43pm
  @Psychosis Oh yea I know the difference The boss man can disappear the work and lay them all off at taxpayers dime.you know unemployment compensation for a few weeks or months.Kinda hard to hide the work with a public Union.Seems that you have no clue between the 2.
  
  Report this comment
- Jenny Lind
  Posted on September 17, 2012 at 8:39am
  Chuck, here’s a thought replace them with computer teaching with live stream teaching. Teahers aids can monitor, help and keep order. testing online means no teacher cheating to make grades look better than they are. Also there are specialized programs for the kids falling through the cracks that can be purchased by school districts. My daughter teaches the teachers this great program and it’s working in Akron Ohio which hasn’t had a steller record. Each district can purchase the programs their kids need most. There could be ways to cut back the teachers who don’t teach. You get from the elected school district what you want if you use your votes carefully. Parents want good education? Then change your school boards, get out and talk until you convince enough people to change them.
  
  Report this comment
- 13th Imam
  Posted on September 17, 2012 at 9:36am
  Probably 50% of teachers are conservative, 50% liberal. My wife is a conservative , and hates the union she is forced to join. Thing is probably half of your family are libs, and the same with your friends, so I think you should stop with the blanket insults.
  
  Report this comment
Shasta
Posted on September 16, 2012 at 8:21pm
And yet they claim that the students are their priority. The left is nothing but corrupt liars, from OBummer on down.

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TJexcite
Posted on September 16, 2012 at 8:19pm
Four years ago Rahm Emanuel would be in the crowd wanting more and they know they he can get it for them.

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Indymaverick
Posted on September 16, 2012 at 8:18pm
I feel bad for the very few conservatives that are left in Illinois.Any business that`s left after being taxed 67% and it looks like higher if they get their way, please move to a conservative state. They want your business and jobs.

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- kaydeebeau
  Posted on September 16, 2012 at 8:36pm
  Please pay extra careful attention to the CONSERVATIVE requirement – those of us in decent states don’t want the commie leftists coming to destroy our states…. We have enough trouble fighting the ones already here
  
  Report this comment
blackyb
Posted on September 16, 2012 at 8:18pm
That big mouthed hog up there in front does not seem to have missed any meals. You can tell she spends most of her time on her fat behind. What does she do to earn her money?

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- DIR
  Posted on September 16, 2012 at 10:01pm
  @BLACKYB: “That big mouthed hog up there in front does not seem to have missed any meals.”
  
  If you’re talking about the person that looks like the goodyear blimp, in red, in the first picture, she’s another in character evil ‘Mom’ originally portrayed in the old movie ‘Doctor Detroit!’ She might even be the prototype for ‘Fat B@stard’ in the Mike Myers movie ‘Gold Member.’ If I were parents in Chicago, I’d be a little worried my kid(s) might become a gourmet meal as part of her daily cuisine. Of course she’s there chanting “I want those baby back, baby back, baby back ribs” as she stuffs her face with twinkies while the crowd goes nuts.
  
  Report this comment
blackyb
Posted on September 16, 2012 at 8:17pm
Your children are better off at home and you hiring someone to look out for them. Put them in charter schools and leave off those Socialists around your children.

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- Chuck7884
  Posted on September 16, 2012 at 9:12pm
  The only reason Charter schools work is because there are public schools in place. you really ought to research what they charge in tuition on top of what the States pay them. they collect a hell of a lot more money per child than the state is willing to pay. the tuition is roughly the same as college and you keep them at home!.
  
  Report this comment
- nonliberal
  Posted on September 17, 2012 at 12:32am
  @ chuck, Actually if they were not throwing all that good money at the failed public school system they would have more than enough to fund 100% of a charter school.
  
  In DC, the public school system was spending $29,400 per student per year. That’s higher than most Universities tuition.
  
  http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/census-bureau-confirms-dc-spends-29409-pupil/
  
  Report this comment
- 68Patriot
  Posted on September 17, 2012 at 5:23pm
  CHUCK, wrong. Charter schools are the same as public schools…tax payer funded, no tuition.
  
  Don’t argue with me on this. I have 3 kids in Charter school.
  
  68
  
  Report this comment
blackyb
Posted on September 16, 2012 at 8:16pm
Yes, there is something else more they can get. Just GET OUT. Leave our country and find you another one where you can make more money and suck the public dry while you indoctrinate the youth. We no longer trust or need you. America does not intend to pay you to indoctrinate our youth. You are already making twice what the average salary ob the population of Chicago is making. You are not worth anywhere near what you are making.

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progressiveslayer
Posted on September 16, 2012 at 8:12pm
That crowd of communist heathen looks thirsty,I suggest some kool aid and the Jim Jones recipe would go down real good.

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- Pouncing Porcupine
  Posted on September 16, 2012 at 8:19pm
  The best thing for the children involved would
  be for this strike to continue indefinitely.
  I would NEVER in a million years let one of these
  #/%*@!’s have influence over any of my children.
  
  Report this comment
- progressiveslayer
  Posted on September 16, 2012 at 8:29pm
  Good for you,I just wish the whole country or at least enough to make a difference felt the same way.
  Unions, private sector and public need to be eliminated once and for all and union busting should be a national sport.
  
  Report this comment
wisehiney
Posted on September 16, 2012 at 8:10pm
Good, one less day to mis-educate/indoctrinate the kids.

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alpha2omega47
Posted on September 16, 2012 at 8:10pm
This strike defines what the unions represent today. The cupboard is bare, people don’t have jobs, Obama is bankrupting America and the morons want a 30% raise over four years. We need to do away with unions ~ all of them.

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progressiveslayer
Posted on September 16, 2012 at 8:09pm
Union pigs are so greedy,just a bunch of fat cat parasites draining the taxpayer,they want more pay for being incompetent and producing ignorant kids.

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Micmac
Posted on September 16, 2012 at 8:05pm
Get scabs and give them a full-time job. If Reagan could do it with the traffic controllers, so can they. Students don’t matter to these teachers, retire them. But it’s Shatcago, the future capital of NoBama’s government.

NoBama > MoBama

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- PorkPIG
  Posted on September 16, 2012 at 8:12pm
  BINGO! bring in a temp service and call the casual workers like Harley Davidson does .
  We should form a taxpayers union and go on strike from paying there salaries .
  
  Report this comment
bikerdogred1
Posted on September 16, 2012 at 8:04pm
What a bunch of classes people and they teach our kids.

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mcjones123456
Posted on September 16, 2012 at 8:03pm
Fire the losers!

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- kickagrandma
  Posted on September 16, 2012 at 8:11pm
  As a professional teacher (REAL teacher), I agree with you 110%!
  Everyone of their shiftless, lazy backsides ought to be hit on the way out the door.
  NO severance pay. NO benefits.
  They have put those children at risk for nothing more than selfish greed.
  They are done.
  
  Report this comment
45Cal
Posted on September 16, 2012 at 8:02pm
Let them stay on strike. After missing a pay check or two they’ll be more then ready to go back to work even at a smaller salary.

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- chips1
  Posted on September 16, 2012 at 8:20pm
  That would be the same as voting current politicians back into office. We need to vote for Americans in November. Not these RINOs and Liberals.
  
  Report this comment
- WarMunger_Al
  Posted on September 16, 2012 at 10:40pm
  i bet they get paid regardless…they are salaried employees.
  
  Report this comment
SandyfromChesterfield
Posted on September 16, 2012 at 8:02pm
http://nation.foxnews.com/culture/2011/02/23/teachers-union-big-wig-says-its-not-about-kids-its-about-power

National Education Association’s retiring top lawyer, Bob Chanin, speaking at the NEA’s annual meeting in July, 2009 Says It’s Not About Kids, It’s About Power!

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Pergolesi
Posted on September 16, 2012 at 8:01pm
This may be a good thing: Chicago schools are some of the worst in the world (while the teachers make more money than just about anywhere), with dismal outcomes, so it looks like the Chicago public schools are making kids dumber the longer they’re in the system. In the case of Chicago no school would be a plus.

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- barber2
  Posted on September 17, 2012 at 9:28am
  PER: Agree. Chicago teachers’ salaries : proof that don’t always get what you pay for…especially if you are an American tax payer or the parent of a kid in a Chicago public school..
  
  Report this comment
slordax
Posted on September 16, 2012 at 8:01pm
i vote to give them all unemployment checks … 6 months worth.

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possom
Posted on September 16, 2012 at 8:00pm
Rahm and the union’s are holding out so our glorious leader can come and pretend to save the day.

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rickroland
Posted on September 16, 2012 at 7:58pm
Fire them all, right now.

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MrButcher
Posted on September 16, 2012 at 7:57pm
They want to know if there is anything more they can get, eh?

How ’bout some pink slips?

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- AmericanPatriot
  Posted on September 16, 2012 at 10:25pm
  I agree.
  
  It does show their level of concern and commitment to the students, though, doesn’t it? I mean, it wasn’t a matter of saying, “They want to know how if there is anything more they can get for the kids,” it was ““They want to know if there is anything more they can get.”
  
  Report this comment
KickinBack
Posted on September 16, 2012 at 7:55pm
I see a lot of commie red in those pics.

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Psychosis
Posted on September 16, 2012 at 7:55pm
they want to see what else they can get?????

GIVE EVERYONE A PINK SLIP and tell them to go duck themselves

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WarMunger_Al
Posted on September 16, 2012 at 7:52pm
what else can they get? A pink slip. Every one of them should be fired. they don’t deserve their paychecks or pensions. To bad someone with too much time on their hands couldn’t print a bunch of pink slips to leave on all their doorsteps. Even as a joke it would be tremendously funny.

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- barber2
  Posted on September 17, 2012 at 9:26am
  WAR. Make that RED slips….
  
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