(Mint Press) — As tens of thousands of teachers take to the Chicago Streets in a sea of red, shutting down schools and causing interruptions within the city, the message they are attempting to send, not only to the Chicago Public School system, but to the nation seems to be getting lost in translation.
Is it about dreams of a six-figure salary and more time to spend lounging in the sun? Not exactly, according to the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU), a body that represents 26,000 public school teachers.
In a press release announcing the intent to strike, the CTU indicated its members were frustrated with the implementation of longer school days, along with the potential closure of schools that serve the district’s most disenfranchised youth.
Teachers have also expressed concern for a lack of commitment to arts in the curriculum, and cuts to physical education and foreign language studies.
Another grievance among teachers is a pay-for-performance pay scale model — one that would rely heavily on mandated testing and not take into account those teachers who work in areas where students’ home life greatly impacts their performance in the classroom.
The Chicago Public School system, on the other hand, is claiming the teachers are denying reasonable deals that include scaling pay increases, but leave out some of the larger picture demands relating to the education system.
While support for the strike was favorable in the first couple of days, parents’ frustration and residents’ viewpoint toward teachers could fade away in a game of resistance that’s pitted the school system and its educators against one another in a tag of popular opinion tug-of-war.
It’s about education and its future
The teachers have been criticized heavily for leaving 350,000 students without a school to attend. An Associated Press story released Thursday focused specifically on the issue, with remarks from parents upset with the situation children were placed in.
Yet despite the temporary inconvenience for students and parents, teachers claim they’re acting with students’ and parents’ long-term interests in mind. Some of those students out of school made their way to the streets in solidarity with their teachers.
“We have chronic underfunding and misplaced priorities in the system,” high school teacher Jen Johnson said in the press release.
Johnson went on to claim the message the CTU has been trying to get out is that if teachers and faculty remained on the current track, schools would close and the resources in the classroom would continue to dwindle.
“CPS would rather shut down schools rather than give them the resources they need. Thousands of students have been displaced by CPS’ school actions,” she said. “Teachers are losing their jobs and parents have no choice but to keep their child in an under-resourced neighborhood school or ship them off to a poor-performing charter operation.”
In keeping with state law, the CTU gave the Illinois Education Labor Relations Board 10 days notice of the strike — time in which union members negotiations could have taken place, leading to a compromise that didn’t involve protests in the streets.
While teachers hold signs signifying snippets of their cause, the Chicago Board of Education has been vocal in its efforts to send its own message, too. In a press release issued Sept. 13, the board claims that the offer on the table is a “reasonable proposal to achieve a contract and end the strike.”
The numbers thrown around in the media have included claims of a 16 percent increase in salary. While this is true, it would be generated over a four-year period, with a 2 percent increase each year for four years, and a method that would reward teacher experience, according to the Board of Education.
Yet, for those on strike, pay isn’t the only issue. It doesn’t address other needs within the classroom, and the closure of schools that teachers see as detrimental to the school system as a whole.
Backland and media coverage
A Reuters story published Sept. 13 led with a description of union president Karen Lewis, whom they described as both fiery and “frumpy,” an arguably derogatory term. This depiction in a hard news story highlights the flavor added to the labor dispute, with loud voices opposing the action that has shut down the schools.
Lewis has become a vocal figure in the strike, referring to Mayor Rahm Emanuel as a liar and bully, after he referred to the strikes as unnecessary. While she’s highly unpopular among opponents, she’s admired among supporters.
Lewis aside, the residents of Chicago remain divided over support for the strike, although it seems most side with teachers. According to a McKeon and Associates poll, 47 percent of registered Chicago voters support the strike, while 39 percent oppose it. Fourteen percent questioned didn’t have a response either way.
Labor in America
After the failed attempt to recall Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker this year, following his rollback to the labor sector, it looked as if labor unions and their influence in America was on the decline. While thousands showed up to protest the governor’s move, collecting enough signatures to have his recall sent to a vote, they were ultimately defeated in the end game.
Now, as Chicago teachers buck the criticism generated throughout the nation, the everyday workers from various backgrounds and age groups are using their power in numbers to have their voices heard.
Whether or not their voices are echoed clearly throughout the nation, any contract deal, at this point, will mean progress for teachers. While they’ll likely never live down the blame for keeping students out of school, at this point, their voices can’t entirely be ignored.
Negotiations were expected to be successful by Friday afternoon, pending Union member voting approval.