Chicago Teachers' Strike & Corporal Punishment (from Very-Many-Questions XXXVIII)

[Estebonrober]

The raises are always incidental. The union officially doesn't strikes over wages. Get on Chicago's level.

Yeah, they were losing the PR battle and had to agree before the student athletes became ineligible for stat tournaments.
Yeah, the strike was all about the kids.
But they sure showed the mayor.

Teachers want 3% raises during good years. Seems fair to me.

 

[rah]

That was offered before the strike. They refused it. Which was why they were losing the PR battle. Under the initial proposal they were offered to be the highest paid teachers in the country. But they heaped on political demands like rent control and helping the homeless just so they could drag it out and make the mayor look bad. All they accomplished was looking bad themselves.

 

[Farm Boy]

Under the initial proposal they were offered to be the highest paid teachers in the country.

And they never strike for wages. It's amazing.

Repetition repetition repetition, like I said with Tim elsewhere.

 

[rah]

It is amusing to hear claims of victory from both sides. (when both sides really lost)

 

[Zkribbler]

...they heaped on political demands like rent control and helping the homeless just so they could drag it out and make the mayor look bad.

For awhile, I was the head of one of the most conservative locals in AFSCME, and I've been in similar situations. So even tho I was not there, I can say with some confidence that isn't what happened. The leftists in the union want to go off on some damn fool crusade to save the world. It was my job and that of the other leaders of conservative locals to pull the union back to reality and focus the issues on those which will help our members.

It is amusing to hear claims of victory from both sides. (when both sides really lost)

Strikes are like wars. Both sides always lose.

 

[rah]

Trust me, the union backed her opponent in the general but she defeated her with 74% of the vote. They were trying to show her who was in charge.
Heck the union took a day off of walking the picket line to protest Trump's visit to the city. Anyone that doesn't think this whole strike was political is naive.

 

[Synobun]

Hopefully someday someone will rise up against the vile teachers.

 

[Lexicus]

A political strike? Will wonders never cease?

 

[rah]

But listening to everyone plead in the papers and on TV that it was "all about the Kids" made me sick.

 

[Synobun]

Step aside norovirus, we've got unions, and they last for more than 24 hours.

 

[Lexicus]

But listening to everyone plead in the papers and on TV that it was "all about the Kids" made me sick.

The idea that kids should have access to quality public education is certainly political, so you need to adjust your thinking somewhere. Strikes are, obviously, always political.

 

[Farm Boy]

But listening to everyone plead in the papers and on TV that it was "all about the Kids" made me sick.

<shrugs> Well, they've never not been liars.

 

[Traitorfish]

Strikes are like wars. Both sides always lose.

If workers strike for better pay, and get better pay, in what sense are they "losing"?

 

[Lexicus]

If workers strike for better pay, and get better pay, in what sense are they "losing"?

because rah and farm boy dont liek the teacher unions

 

[rah]

Actually I like most teacher's unions, just not the one in Chicago. They've proven time and time again that it's more about the power of the union and not about the children like they claim. Maybe if you were in Chicago and saw all the coverage you could get past your usual pro union bias. Not ever union is good.

 

[Estebonrober]

Actually I like most teacher's unions, just not the one in Chicago. They've proven time and time again that it's more about the power of the union and not about the children like they claim. Maybe if you were in Chicago and saw all the coverage you could get past your usual pro union bias. Not ever union is good.

National Police Union is like this too. I’m okay with the criticism. It’s just that teachers deserves benefit of the doubt and what they are going against in Chicago is challenging.

 

[rah]

what they are going against in Chicago is challenging.

Yeah, being offered to be the highest paid teachers in the nation and still asking for help for the homeless and rent control was quite challenging.

 

[Lexicus]

"The homeless don't deserve help and rent control would drastically reduce the income from my investment properties!"

 

[rah]

While I agree they need to be helped, that's shouldn't be the main concern of the teachers union. The City basically folded to all the monetary demands but the union couldn't give the Mayor anything that looked like a win so they kept throwing non teacher related issues in so they could make the Mayor look bad.
Fortunately the dead line for student athletes playing in state tournaments forced them to accept so they wouldn't look like total monsters.
Looking at the polls, that was the lowest public support in Chicago history. They may think they won and showed the Mayor who was the boss, but PR wise they lost big time.

 

[Estebonrober]

While I agree they need to be helped, that's shouldn't be the main concern of the teachers union. The City basically folded to all the monetary demands but the union couldn't give the Mayor anything that looked like a win so they kept throwing non teacher related issues in so they could make the Mayor look bad.
Fortunately the dead line for student athletes playing in state tournaments forced them to accept so they wouldn't look like total monsters.
Looking at the polls, that was the lowest public support in Chicago history. They may think they won and showed the Mayor who was the boss, but PR wise they lost big time.

Unions nation wide are going to have a reckoning with conservatives who want their destruction and progressives who want to save them from themselves. Healthcare is another good example where unions are still getting it wrong.