American Federation of Government Employees Local 704
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SOPHIA TAREEN and TAMMY WEBBER | September 17, 2012 08:56 AM EST |
CHICAGO — Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel is turning to the courts to try to put an end to a teachers strike that’s entering its second week and has left parents scrambling to make alternative child care arrangements for at least two more days.
The union and school leaders seemed headed toward a resolution at the end of last week, saying they were optimistic students in the nation’s third-largest school district would be back in class by Monday. But teachers uncomfortable with a tentative contract offer decided Sunday to remain on strike, saying they needed more time to review a complicated proposal.
Emanuel fired back, saying he told city attorneys to seek a court order forcing Chicago Teachers Union members back into the classroom. Continue reading “Chicago teachers strike enters 2nd week”
By TAMMY WEBBER 09/16/12 08:25 PM ET
CHICAGO — 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.
Emanuel said he would seek a court order to end the strike, which he said is illegal under state law.
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. Continue reading “Chicago Teachers Strike: Union To Continue Industrial Action Into Second Week”
CHICAGO — Leaders of a teachers union extended their strike on Sunday, saying they needed more time to consider a contract deal reached by negotiators over the weekend and forcing 350,000 students around this city to begin a second week without classes.
The decision, which was certain to infuriate City Hall and frustrate parents already weary from juggling day care for a week, dashed earlier hopes that hundreds of public schools around the city might reopen on Monday. It came as a setback to the union’s bargaining team, too, which felt it had secured an agreement its leaders might accept, even if it did not quell every concern voiced at protests across the city over the past week.
“I do what they tell me to do,” Karen Lewis, president of the Chicago Teachers Union, said on Sunday, after a majority of nearly 800 union leaders — the House of Delegates — opted to meet again on Tuesday rather than immediately lift a strike in the nation’s third-largest school system. “There’s all kinds of stuff that they’re concerned about,” Ms. Lewis said of the delegates’ reluctance to accept the negotiated deal. “This is the deal we got.” Continue reading “Teachers Union in Chicago to Extend Strike Into 2nd Week”
Pushing strollers, toting signs and towing wagons of children, thousands of red-shirted teachers cheered and chanted as speaker after speaker urged them to stand firm until they have a deal in writing. They told the teachers that their strike was a symbol of hope for public teachers and other unions that have been losing ground around the nation.
“I’m pretty confident that something will come together that both sides will agree on,” said Ramses James, a sixth-grade math teacher. “I believe this is a very strong turning point when you have so many people coming out to fight alongside (the teachers union). That means a lot.”
Ed Sadlowski
Alice Peurala
Frank Lumpkin
American Federation of Government Employees Local 704 