20 Comments - Cincinnatus - Tuesday, Sep 11, 12 @ 2:12 pm: What was the wording of the question? - Rich Miller - Tuesday, Sep 11, 12 @ 2:14 pm: ===What was the wording of the question? === “Do you support or oppose the strike by the Chicago Teachers Union?” Click the link, for crying out loud. - Cincinnatus - Tuesday, Sep 11, 12 @ 2:29 pm: Well, who looks at the pretty pictures in the left-hand column? - Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Sep 11, 12 @ 2:34 pm: Give it a few days … Rahm is really good at changing the narrative … and if he rails on the salary, (with all the unemployed people watching this), and the “raises” … and the test scores/ performance rejection by the union … this can turn quickly. I hate to say this … this might be a time where the CTU’s timing will hurt them more than what they are asking … and timing is everything, so they tell me. - cermak_rd - Tuesday, Sep 11, 12 @ 2:51 pm: I’d be interested in knowing how many of the respondents actually have students in CPS. One of the interesting aspects of Chicago is that only a small minority actually have students in CPS. This is in the interest of the mayor usually as few care then what’s going on with them. But now, that disinterest may mean that people are more generically going to support a strike by the teachers because they are completely unaffected by it. - Homer - Tuesday, Sep 11, 12 @ 2:57 pm: They have nothing to complain about with the average salary at $76,000, plus benefits. Dis- appointed with unions. They once were supportive and not a hindrence for economic growth and vitalization. Let’s get realistic and support those who are not close to that type of salary in rural Illinois. - RetiredStateEmployee - Tuesday, Sep 11, 12 @ 3:10 pm: Once upon a time in a country not far from here labor rose up and demanded to be treated fairly there was violence, death and many suffered until one day a middle class arose thanking those who sacrificed who gave their lives to make this country a better place for the common man no longer did a ten year old have to work in the coal mine eight hour days, forty hour weeks, a living wage but you can’t keep the captains of industry down forever higher salaries for the elite, lower wages for the workers forgotten history of how we got here no more respect for the worker one would have hoped for a better future but now the future is dim how does it end? - hisgirlfriday - Tuesday, Sep 11, 12 @ 3:50 pm: CermakRd - That is an excellent point. I generically support the teachers against the mayor (and still can’t believe he hasn’t gotten any heat from the media for ducking last week’s negotiations to hobknob at the DNC and do more publicly to avert this mess) but it’s easy for me to say as one without kids effected by this. I still am glad for them making a stand against the privatization and charter school influence on public education. Homer - You do realize that the cost of living is way more in Chicago than in other parts of the state right? I grew up rural and looked up my old high school teacher salary info. The average high school teacher has a salary of 63,000. Meanwhile my rent is three times in Chicago than it would be if I lived back where I grew up. - The Other Anonymous - Tuesday, Sep 11, 12 @ 4:14 pm: Rich, I’m curious why the headline is “39 per cent oppose strike” rather than “47 per cent support strike”? It seems to me the high number supporting the strike is as important. - hisgirlfriday - Tuesday, Sep 11, 12 @ 4:22 pm: Yeah, I was thinking the same thing, TOA. - Katiedid - Tuesday, Sep 11, 12 @ 4:38 pm: I truly don’t know the answer to this - is the $76,000 average salary number that everyone in the media is using (and I think I’ve heard from at least one of the sides at the bargaining table) really just an average of teachers; or does it include all certified staff, which would include administrators, making the average artificially high; or does it include all CPS payroll, which would include all of the administrative/janitorial/transportation staff, artificially decreasing the average? It gets stated as the average “teacher” salary, but I don’t know if that’s really the case. - Concerned Voter - Tuesday, Sep 11, 12 @ 6:33 pm: This is interesting. As a state employee, I see all the articles about the state pension issues, state employee healthcare, state contracts, etc.. many of which seem to show the public siding more with the state than the employees. Then I see a survey like this and it gets me wondering. I know that not all of a child’s performance in school is the teachers credit/fault. But in just doing a quick search for rankings I find things like this UIC study from 2010 http://www.uic.edu/depts/oaa/degree_progress/Preparing%20%20Students%20for%20Postsecondary%20Success.pdf which says, “Grad Rates for Principal School Districts Serving Nation’s 50 Largest Cities: 50 City avg. = 52.8% National avg. = 70.6% Chicago Public Schools Rank 30th = 51% OtherDistricts ranking lower include NY,LA, Minneapolis, Indy, Cleveland, Det., and Milwaukee” I mean, if the CPS were in the top 5 or 10 in the country, I could fully understand folks saying do whatever it takes to keep that type of success going. I find it interesting that the teachers seem to have so much support in this survey, when the results of the educational process are where they are. Not trying to stir things up, just something to think about. - geronimo - Tuesday, Sep 11, 12 @ 6:43 pm: Visit a south side school. Stay, sit in that classroom for the whole day….or two. Reevaluate. - Yellow Dog Democrat - Tuesday, Sep 11, 12 @ 7:02 pm: I think that probably one of the biggest ancillary benefits to the CTU is that for the past year, Karen Lewis has been the sole face and voice of Chicago’s teachers. Now, every day, people are seeing a lot of different faces and hearing many voices. I hope Thursday’s poll has a strongly support/strongly oppose break out. My sense is that the Strongly Support far outweigh the Strongly Oppose. There’s been alot of honking in my neighborhood this week. That’s not good for the mayor, because the longer the strike drags out, the more likely the public is to gravitate to the side that is most passionate. - geronimo - Tuesday, Sep 11, 12 @ 7:17 pm: I think people don’t know what to believe. I know that Rahm is so polarizing. He comes off as so authoritarian that it’s a knee-jerk response to oppose what he says. I do remember hearing in a statement Sunday night by Karen Lewis that one of the issues was having textbooks provided to students on day one of class instead of waiting for up to 6 weeks to get them. Hello? What are you supposed to do for 6 weeks without books? That is symptomatic of a myriad of other problems dooming the learning process, obviously out of the classroom teachers’ control. And one wonders about results? - Shore - Tuesday, Sep 11, 12 @ 8:08 pm: Rahm is getting badly outworked in the chicago media game right now and it’s not even close. He looks timid and overwhelmed on tv-not the guy you saw last week on pbs like he owned the world. There’s one of him doing one press conference a day for 20 minutes with an unhappy look on his face in a suit. Last night he trotted out Bruce Rauner-not the best face for this who looked completely lost. Meantime there’s 25,000 teachers in red shirts in the streets everyday-a lot of which are young white/latino/black women giving interviews everywhere on tv making this look like a few rich guys in suits are trying to ruin the school system and the city. Now you have stuff like this coming out of the washington post from liberal sane national writers xxxx In Chicago, a Democratic civil war By Harold Meyerson, Tuesday, September 11, 6:49 PM So much for Democratic Party harmony. Just a few days after a convention that displayed the party as one big happy family, a civil war has erupted in Chicago between the Democrats’ disparate wings. http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/harold-meyerson-in-chicago-a-democratic-civil-war/2012/09/11/cf396964-fc44-11e1-8adc-499661afe377_story.html?hpid=z4 - CircularFiringSquad - Tuesday, Sep 11, 12 @ 8:44 pm: But wait Bruce is the GOPies latest hedge fund hustler hope for Governor in 2014. He must be wonderful. Did not realize McKeon was still in the business. Anyone ask for the phone receipts? - Jack - Tuesday, Sep 11, 12 @ 8:53 pm: I don’t think any union employee really wants to strike. It is an action of last resort. The average salary of $74k isn’t a lot of money to earn while living in the Chicago area because of the high cost of living. I certainly wouldn’t work in that area for those wages. - Plutocrat03 - Tuesday, Sep 11, 12 @ 10:16 pm: Amazing how many have an opinion without knowing what the issues are on the table. For all we know they are sitting at the table on their oversize Aeron chars, ordering takeout while playing video games. - hisgirlfriday - Tuesday, Sep 11, 12 @ 11:45 pm: Agree with you Shore on Rahm not seeming up to the moment in his public appearances. It just seems like Rahm should have always been the power behind the throne guy if when the heat was on he was not going to step up to the plate strong and confident as a leader. It makes it seem like Rahm has no end game in mind for this and this troubles me as a chicago taxpayer, as a teacher union supporter, and someone who wants obama reelected. Carol Marin really hits the nail on the head with her piece about how Rahm brought this all on. Sorry, comments for this post are now closed.