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Report: CTU could delay strike

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The Chicago Teachers Union appears to be backing off an end-of-year strike, citing concerns about losing health insurance as well as pay all summer, as the committee tasked with setting a strike date is to meet Wednesday.

The union also is concerned about the difficulty of winning support so close to the end of the year from Chicago Public Schools parents, who’ve already scrambled to make plans for kids out of class on a district-mandated March furlough day and a one-day teachers strike on April 1. […]

“If CPS provokes us, and unilaterally effects change, all bets are off,” [CTU Vice President Jesse Sharkey] said, referring to the district’s assertion it could yank a 7 percent pension benefit. “In the absence of that, I get a sense that our members would not be looking at a strike in May.”

CPS has announced that a mid-May strike wouldn’t prevent kids from graduating or finishing the school year, so a strike at that point wouldn’t accomplish much except whacking teacher paychecks and upsetting parents.

* And this is also interesting…

At a regular monthly meeting Wednesday, members of the House of Delegates will consider whether they want to set a strike date. The earliest state law permits a strike is May 16. The union has to give at least 10 days’ notice before walking out. The union’s executive team also will meet this week and discuss strike possibilities, Sharkey said. But CTU leadership would like to give legislative proposals in Springfield, including a school funding bill proposed by state Sen. Andy Manar, D-Bunker Hill, time to play out.

The CTU has until now been non-committal about joining up with CPS to push Manar’s bill.

posted by Rich Miller
Monday, May 2, 16 @ 10:48 am

Comments

For the obvious reasons listed in the post, a summer strike was always a ridiculous bluff.

Start of the next school year is a different story.

Comment by wordslinger Monday, May 2, 16 @ 10:52 am
I cringed when I saw the words “losing pay….summer” because I just KNOW there are uninformed people out there who don’t understand how teachers are paid.

You get X amount of pay. How do you want it? That amount divided up by 10 payments or 12? Most choose 12 so they can manage their monthly expenses. So those who choose to say they’re being paid for not working do not understand or choose to use inflammatory ideas.

Comment by AnonymousOne Monday, May 2, 16 @ 11:02 am
= joining up with CPS to push Manar’s bill.=

This would be bad for Illinois.

Comment by JS Mill Monday, May 2, 16 @ 11:11 am
A strike doesn’t solve the problem. You can’t get blood from a stone.

Comment by 47th Ward Monday, May 2, 16 @ 11:15 am
=You get X amount of pay. How do you want it? That amount divided up by 10 payments or 12? Most choose 12 so they can manage their monthly expenses. So those who choose to say they’re being paid for not working do not understand or choose to use inflammatory ideas.=

Actually, with CPS it hasn’t worked that way in three years. CPS kept bungling payroll so they decided it was just easier to give the teachers the money when they earned it. My wife has three and a half more checks and then she’ll get paid again in early October.

I think CTU just kept the strike threat to have something to hang over CPS’s head if they tried to unilaterally cut off the 7% pension pickup.

If anything, the financial hardship on striking teachers may be worse in fall, when they’ve gone so long without getting paid. CPS has done a stall game on the contract negotiations that would have made Dean Smith proud, but if legislation from Springfield doesn’t provide revenue, I expect there will be a strike in the fall.

Comment by Carhartt Representative Monday, May 2, 16 @ 11:17 am
CTU, always thinking about the kids first. /s

Comment by Anonymous Monday, May 2, 16 @ 11:18 am
=A strike doesn’t solve the problem. You can’t get blood from a stone.=

CTU isn’t looking for raises. They’re trying to keep cuts as low as possible while winning some non-economic issues. Both of those are possible without really hurting CPS’s bottom line.

Comment by Carhartt Representative Monday, May 2, 16 @ 11:19 am
===but if legislation from Springfield doesn’t provide revenue, I expect there will be a strike in the fall.===

As hard as it is to imagine, I think CPS and CTU need to put aside their differences and work toward a mutually agreeable solution in Springfield first. Then they need to work together to get a referendum to raise Chicago property taxes on the ballot and passed by the voters. Until then, we’ll continue lurching from crisis to crisis.

But again, I still don’t see how a strike advances the ball for CTU.

Comment by 47th Ward Monday, May 2, 16 @ 11:44 am
Big difference between now and 2012 is that CPS isn’t as poorly run. CTU out foxed CPS every step of the way leading up to the 2012 strike; Forest isn’t going to let that happen again.

That said, it always made more sense for CTU to wait until Labor Day to strike from a PR stand point. Finish the year, attempt to negotiate through the summer, and if CPS is still dragging its feet, call them out, gain 75-80% parent support, strike, and once again get a big win.

Comment by From the 'Dale to HP Monday, May 2, 16 @ 11:45 am
47th, completely agree they need to work together; problem is CPS isn’t asking for more revenue state wide, while the CTU is. So not sure how a conversation gets beyond “we need more money for CPS” seeing that City Hall hasn’t let CPS call for more state wide revenue.

Another problem is CPS pushing this 20 for 20 stuff which anyone who spends more than five minutes looking at it realizes is a horrible plan/idea/ask.

Comment by From the 'Dale to HP Monday, May 2, 16 @ 11:48 am
I asked a couple of weeks ago whether CTU really wanted to go out at the end of the year, when there was no way to recoup pay through makeup days. The apparent answer is no.

Carhartt Representative: After teachers crying all these years that they were paying their share, they are now crying that they will take a 7% cut if they have to pay their statutory share. That isn’t economic? And if their issues aren’t economic, are they worth losing pay that the CTU members can’t recoup?

Wordslinger: That appears correct. And we’ll have 4 more months of Karen Lewis shrieking in our faces until the Board of Delegates really decides whether to walk.

Comment by jack28 Monday, May 2, 16 @ 11:51 am
=Carhartt Representative: After teachers crying all these years that they were paying their share, they are now crying that they will take a 7% cut if they have to pay their statutory share. That isn’t economic? And if their issues aren’t economic, are they worth losing pay that the CTU members can’t recoup?=

Yes, CPS was broke and CTU agreed to take the pension payout instead of raises. About 2/3 of the teachers in the state get this now and many of them not only get a larger chunk paid for, but their employer actually makes it’s obligated payments. CTU rarely has gotten the 7% paid in the 35 years since it agreed. In the 90s when the stock market was booming, the pension made enough on investments that CPS stiffed it. When times got hard, then came the pension holidays.

Comment by Carhartt Representative Monday, May 2, 16 @ 12:15 pm
Carhartt: But that doesn’t answer the questions (especially about the situation in 2016).

Comment by jack28 Monday, May 2, 16 @ 12:51 pm
The CTU has no business calling a strike in this current political climate. Negotiate the best deal you can. Then hold the big press conference with Bruce up on stage talking about how your partners with him.

Live to fight another day.

Comment by Anonymous Monday, May 2, 16 @ 1:41 pm
- wordslinger - Monday, May 2, 16 @ 10:52 am:

For the obvious reasons listed in the post, a summer strike was always a ridiculous bluff.

Start of the next school year is a different story.

Yep, talk to any CTU teacher and this was very apparent.

Comment by Tone Monday, May 2, 16 @ 1:59 pm
The only reason CTU won’t strike now is that it will the hurt the teachers pockets. More proof that CTU does not care about the students and/or the parents. If they did care they would not have conducted the last recent and useless walk out.

Comment by Groucho Monday, May 2, 16 @ 2:07 pm
–More proof that CTU does not care about the students and/or the parents. –

Sure. They just live in the city, send their own kids to the public schools and are actually there every day.

If only they cared as much as you. I’m sure your actions in support of Chicago school kids and their parents are epic.

Comment by wordslinger Monday, May 2, 16 @ 2:15 pm
==CTU doesn’t care about the students===

Apparently those who do care about students should work for free and live underneath a bridge in order to give the best to your children. Oh, and they should do this holding only the highest of educations themselves….at least masters degrees. Only the best for the kids but nothing for those who provide it?

Comment by Anonymous Monday, May 2, 16 @ 2:38 pm
http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/sick-detroit-teachers-prompts-43-school-closures-38807186

Comment by Just Me Monday, May 2, 16 @ 6:06 pm
Surely CPS will have a surplus and be debt free after summer…

Comment by Anonymous Monday, May 2, 16 @ 6:10 pm
CTU is saying pay is the reason to not strike instead of the more nefarious reason of helping the children /s

Comment by upstater Monday, May 2, 16 @ 9:49 pm