Chicago teachers strike

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bzking23

bzking23

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bzking23
The chicago teachers have decided to strike, from my information this is the first chicago teachers strike since the 80's. The mayor wants to increase school hours and pay teachers less, The teachers want around 30% raises in their check and will strike until necessary. All school children (including myself) cannot by law be taught in the CPS school districts however they will be opening some schools as holding areas.
What is your opinion on this problem and how long do you think it will last? I personally believe that this will go on for 2 weeks since our mayor is a crook.

You can find more and better information on google or wikipedia:dunce:
 
The teachers are striking and are demanding 30% raises while Chicago has has a 9.8% unemployment rate? Hard to sympathize with the teachers with the teachers.

I actually side with Mayor Rambo Dead-Fish on this one.
 
bzking23
The chicago teachers have decided to strike, from my information this is the first chicago teachers strike since the 80's. The mayor wants to increase school hours and pay teachers less, The teachers want around 30% raises in their check and will strike until necessary. All school children (including myself) cannot by law be taught in the CPS school districts however they will be opening some schools as holding areas.
What is your opinion on this problem and how long do you think it will last? I personally believe that this will go on for 2 weeks since our mayor is a crook.

You can find more and better information on google or wikipedia:dunce:
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I believe most Chicago politicians are crooks.

Will it end? Who knows?

What do I think should be done? Do what we did in Wisconsin.

The public employee unions didn't even want to contribute 25% of their pay into their own benefit packages and had a list of unaffordable demands. They didn't get their way, and I'm sure most of you saw all the pro-union protests that went on last winter up here on the Capitol Square in Madison.

So what did we do? We passed Act 10, which stripped most of their collective bargaining power.

Everybody talks about Scott Walker like he's the devil, but he did what was necessary and fiscally responsible and sooner or later everybody else is going to face the same dilemma.

Scott Walker even survived a fraudulent recall which only goes to show that the majority of people that voted approved of what he did.
 
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If I were in charge of that situation I would resolve it. Then I'd ban all government employees from unionization. I'd consider charging all those who participated with child abuse and neglect.
 
Danoff
Gives them them legal protection to demand higher salaries and for no reason.
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Which makes me a little annoyed now that you say that.

Call me crass or whatever, but if a teacher wants better pay, then he or she has to improve her work to justify that pay.
 
Do these teachers realize they get about 80 days off every year? My mom is a teacher, and although she has been given mandatory furlough days and sometimes temporary 10% paycuts, the trade off is that you have so many days off compared to the rest of the working class.

Maybe we can give them the 30% increases, but not send them a paycheck for the days they don't work. That's what my job would do.
 
Keef
If I were in charge of that situation I would resolve it. Then I'd ban all government employees from unionization. I'd consider charging all those who participated with child abuse and neglect.
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I believe they tried to disband all chicago unions but that would have caused another strike, and i think having all people who participated charged with child abuse and neglect is way too harsh. The teachers do deserve at least some kind of raise because this has been an issue for a long time.
 
If the city can't afford to pay them then they're not getting raises. Like Danoff insinuated, the main point of unionization is to more easily suck the life out of corporations and government institutions. If your employer can't afford to pay you then you either need to shut up and deal with it or get another job. It was their fault in the first place for going into a profession that depends on near-bankrupt government institutions for funding. What a stupid, stupid idea. Unless they're the best and highly educated, which most of them aren't, then they won't be able to get a private school or college position.
 
Keef
If the city can't afford to pay them then they're not getting raises. Like Danoff insinuated, the main point of unionization is to more easily suck the life out of corporations and government institutions. If your employer can't afford to pay you then you either need to shut up and deal with it or get another job. It was their fault in the first place for going into a profession that depends on near-bankrupt government institutions for funding. What a stupid, stupid idea. Unless they're the best and highly educated, which most of them aren't, then they won't be able to get a private school or college position.
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so basically what your saying is they shouldnt have become teachers? true there are a lot of teachers who should pursue other interests but there are a few who actually care but cant keep going on with this low pay
 
It's their choice. If they made a bad one then they need to deal with that. It ain't my problem, it's theirs.
 
All striking teachers deserve to be fired. Abolish public schools. It's not fair that kids are having lecture time taken away from them because of this. Schooling should be by contract.
 
Omnis
All striking teachers deserve to be fired. Abolish public schools. It's not fair that kids are having lecture time taken away from them because of this. Schooling should be by contract.
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so fire 90% of all teachers in CPS and make things worse? not everyone has the money to go to private and catholic schools (if your christian) and some dont like charter schools.
 
bzking23
so fire 90% of all teachers in CPS and make things worse? not everyone has the money to go to private and catholic schools (if your christian) and some dont like charter schools.
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"Nobody has the money" because nobody can compete with the kind of cash that's dumped into a failed system. CPS isn't unique.
 
bzking23
so fire 90% of all teachers in CPS and make things worse? not everyone has the money to go to private and catholic schools (if your christian) and some dont like charter schools.
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Not all private schools are religious, fyi.

Teachers' unions are about the worst thing to happen to education in the history of education. It makes it virtually impossible to fire under performing teachers unless they are sexually abusing students, and even then. Though I guess No Child Left Behind is also pretty crap in regards to education.

And look what it is causing here - they are demanding more pay, despite the fact CPS is considered to under perform in comparison to the national average. More so when criticism has been brought against CPS for manipulating figures to improve its apparent performance.
 
They also don't even work for half a year.
 
Omnis
They also don't even work for half a year.
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Over the summer, they are suppose to prepare a curriculum and learn new methods, but they rarely do. At least a lot of the public school teachers that have come to view their job as super secure because of the unionization.

It is just depressing.
 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago_Public_Schools

Chicago has a history of high dropout rates, with around half of students failing to graduate for the past 30 years. Criticism is directed at the CPS for inflating its performance figures. Through such techniques as counting students who swap schools before dropping out as transfers but not dropouts, it publishes graduation claims as high as 71%. Nonetheless, throughout the 1990s actual rates seem to have improved slightly, as true graduation estimates rose from 48% in 1991 to 54% in 2004.
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50% dropout rate for 30 years and they expect a 30% salary increase for that performance.
 
Omnis
"Nobody has the money"
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Azuremen
they are demanding more pay, despite the fact CPS is considered to under perform in comparison to the national average.
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Omnis
They also don't even work for half a year.
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Azuremen
Over the summer, they are suppose to prepare a curriculum and learn new methods, but they rarely do.
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Apparently the average salary for CPS teachers is $76,000*. That's average, and you know with a school system that large there will be regular retirements and fresh hires. It's not like the system was started 30 years ago and all the teachers have been there for decades.

*According to a CPS spokesperson. Only $71,000 according to the union, which places CPS in either 1st or 2nd place, with New York averaging ~$73,000.

I think public employees in general often get compensated unfairly. We should not be encouraging public employment for anybody. The more people we have working for the government the closer we are to some sort of communist regime where everybody literally does work for the government.
 
on a funny side note, i must add that the teachers probably mad and want to strike because the kids here are so stupid, i cant count how many kids should be demoted in my class
 
Chicago politics in general are a glorious sham. Everything bad that could happen in politics has happened in Chicago. The wildest stories were all the rage back when Obama was going for President, all the crazy people he was friends with and all the criminal things they've done. Basically their goal was to keep all the poor people in Chicago dumb and dependent so they had to go to those same people for help. At that point you forget who put you in that ditch and instead hail them as saviors. Then vote to keep them in power.
 
Keef
Chicago politics in general are a glorious sham. Everything bad that could happen in politics has happened in Chicago. The wildest stories were all the rage back when Obama was going for President, all the crazy people he was friends with and all the criminal things they've done. Basically their goal was to keep all the poor people in Chicago dumb and dependent so they had to go to those same people for help. At that point you forget who put you in that ditch and instead hail them as saviors. Then vote to keep them in power.
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i have always hated the people who run chicago, just recently they added these bike lanes in between the parking zone and sidewalk, so there are cars parked in the middle of the road and nobody even rides their bikes that much in that area.
 
I actually kind of like Chicago politics. Cut throat, maybe some bribery here and some corruption there.

Works better than Congress.:sly:

And as for Keef: Most people get government jobs not for the pay itself, but because of the holidays and perks they get (health insurance being one of the biggest ones).

That, and I think they get a kick out of saying "I work for the government".
 
I get a kick out of hearing them say they work for the government. It makes me feel like a hard worker for not taking the easy way out.
 
Keef
Apparently the average salary for CPS teachers is $76,000*.
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That's obscene. I mean, how is anyone supposed to live on that? They went to college for 2 full years AND had to get a certificate to become grade-school teachers! How are they supposed to put scraps on the table making only $76,000 per year? And does that come with any benefits? Well, probably a pension (retirement account of some sort surely), health care, a 3rd of the year off, all possible holidays and then some (spring break?)... maybe others... but other than that? Nothing!

I'm totally with them now, they should abandon the children they're supposed to be teaching and hold those kids' educations hostage to increase that ridiculously tiny salary. They need at least $150,000 a year I think before they should even set foot in a classroom to teach kids about fractions and how to make a ceramic ash tray. The people of chicago will be sorry that they took the high quality education they were getting from their teachers for granted. They'll be begging to get exactly the same level of education for a significant cost increase. Begging I tell you.
 
I'm with you, but $150k is so menial these days, I think the salaries should be closer to $300k. :sly:
 
When I was in school, I mostly had teachers that cared about whether or not I was getting an education. The sad part is that the union also protects the bad teachers instead of letting them get fired and replaced with competent ones.
 

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