Chicago teachers refuse “best we can do” excuses

Concessions now only mean more concessions later, says CTU.

September 2, 2012: Teachers in Chicago face their own challenges now that the schooldays have grown longer. Reductions in raises mean that longer hours are not covered. Seniority, experience and education are not recognised as impacting wages. Health insurance costs have risen. Lee Sustar explains how this happened in The Bullet.

“Can the scrappy band of outsiders that now heads the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) lead the kind of high-stakes fight that most labour unions have ducked? That question looms large – not just for the city's teachers, students and their parents, but for the entire labour movement. Because while both private- and public-sector unions are taking a pounding across the U.S. with layoffs, pay cuts and pension rollbacks, the CTU is gearing up for a showdown with America's most politically connected mayor, Rahm Emanuel – and it will come to a head in September.

At a time when most union officials are shamefacedly selling concessions as ‘the best we can do,’ Chicago teachers are defiant…”

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