CHICAGO TEACHERS UNION: AN EXAMPLE OF SOCIALISM IN ACTION

Perhaps I might feel different if the Chicago teachers actually educated instead of indoctrinating students, graduating functional illiterates year-after-year while demanding compensation not be linked to teacher competency or subject-matter knowledge.

Nearly half of Chicago schools failed to meet the state’s threshold for performance on its new accountability system, making some of them possible targets for state intervention. <Source>

And, this result is after the results have been gimmicked and manipulated by the state, the schools, and the teachers’ unions.

Now we can see the full impact of what their socialist/communist union wants in this Associated Press report… 

Affordable housing among striking Chicago teachers’ demands Striking Chicago teachers who are seeking smaller class sizes and higher pay also are demanding that the nation’s third-largest city do more to lower housing costs and put more resources into helping homeless students. The demand for affordable housing citywide — for students and their financially-strapped families as well as for school employees — stands as a dramatic example of organized labor’s effort to expand bargaining beyond bread-and-butter issues. [OCS: It’s always “for the children,” but always winds up being about the union first, the pension funds second, the membership third – and if anything is left over, the special interests and the children.] The pursuit is part of the union’s “social justice” agenda and is a unique departure from standard negotiating tactics. Despite early rejection by city officials, teachers argue that the issue belongs on the bargaining table. [OCS: With today’s legal protections in the workplace, unions are outmoded and downright dangerous as they decouple performance and productivity from wages and benefits and politically interfere in the bargaining process so that the taxpayer is denied a seat at the bargaining table.] After months of negotiating , the Chicago Teachers Union’s 25,000 members began striking Thursday along with thousands of support staff. [OCS: Let them strike – but do not grant retroactive pay or allow students to miss classes. Allow more parents to perform “union only” tasks like answering telephones or serve as teacher’s assistants.] Talks that continued through the weekend and into Monday made some progress but didn’t resolve key disagreements, including teachers’ demands for stricter class size limits and more support staff in schools, and classes remained canceled for more than 300,000 students. The union on Monday also flatly rejected Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s request to return to classrooms while contract talks continue. [OCS: No work – no salary, insurance coverage, or contributions to the benefit funds. Plus, no credit toward seniority.] <Source>

Bottom line…

Time for real school reforms.

• No tenure.
• Teaching competency tests.
• Subject-matter knowledge tests.
• No seniority protections. Competency over complacency.
• Responsibility for classroom discipline.
• Screened Parents and Volunteers to assist teachers.

Year-after-year we hear about STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) and preparing students for global competition when the truth is that the majority of the students cannot compete within their own city. And, even worse, need digital assistance to function at an adult level far below the level of previous generations.

Enough is enough, especially with these corrupt and avaricious unions and their bought-and-paid-for politicians.

We are so screwed.

-- steve