четверг, 20 сентября 2012 г.

Union has teachers bracing for strike: Leaders already talk of `ultimate job action'. - Chicago Tribune (Chicago, IL)

Byline: Tracy Dell'Angela

Dec. 25--After two decades of labor peace in the Chicago Public Schools system, the drumbeat for a teachers strike is sounding earlier and louder than ever before. For months, Chicago Teachers Union leaders have been warning their nearly 32,000 members to save their money for the 'ultimate job action.' It's still unclear whether this tough talk reflects a growing dissatisfaction among rank-and file teachers or pure politicking by a union president who is seeking re-election this spring. What is clear is that this early strike talk is making district officials and teachers nervous as they head into contract negotiations early next year. The current four-year contract will expire on June 30, about a month after teachers and assistants elect a slate of union officers. 'There's a lot of unhappy teachers out there,' said Tom Stonis, a social studies teacher at Fenger High School on the Far South Side. 'And there's a little buzz going on that if we don't get what we want, we're going to go on strike. But I'm not going to be around next year ... because of the strike possibilities. It's not worth it to me to go out on strike in this district.' Union President Marilyn Stewart said she merely is trying to prepare members for the possibility of a strike, given that more than 80 percent of them were hired after 1987, the year of the last and longest strike staged by the union, a walkout that lasted 19 days. The union represents more than 23,000 teachers and 8,000 classroom aides, nurses and other school employees. Classroom veterans remember a far more tumultuous time in the two decades leading up to 1987, when there were seven strikes in 17 years. 'When I started teaching in 1976, that's what you did, you went out on strike every contract,' Stewart said. 'Now, I get these new teachers asking me, 'Um, where do I get my check when I'm on strike?'' Stewart said she is not 'fanning the flames' for a strike vote. She said union members are unhappy with the contract, which bumped up teachers' salaries 16 percent over four years but cut some health benefits. She said they also are demoralized by job cuts and the fallout from Mayor Richard Daley's Renaissance 2010 plan, which has closed 12 under-performing schools in three years and turned over operations to private organizations and charter groups. 'There's a proliferation of teacher bashing, and the mayor's plan looks like union busting,' Stewart said. 'Not that a strike is a solution, but it is in your arsenal.' Stewart struck an even more militant tone in November 2005, when she first talked about contract negotiations at a union House of Delegates meeting. 'They're not going to give you squat. Everything we got in our contract, we had to walk for,' Stewart told delegates, reported a 2005 article in Substance, an advocacy newspaper about Chicago Public Schools published by a former union leader. Mayor could suffer Daley often touts labor peace among the top improvements he has made in his 11 years overseeing the school system. A strike could prove damaging both politically and educationally.

'It's enormously premature to talk about any job actions,' said James Franczek, chief labor negotiator for the school system since 1995. 'Our goal is to negotiate a fair agreement on behalf of the teachers and the children and the parents.' George Schmidt, the retired teacher who publishes Substance, said he believes the early strike talk is unprecedented and driven by union politics. As a Chicago teacher, Schmidt walked the picket line six times during his four-decade career. But as the parent of two Chicago students, Schmidt is grateful his sons have started every school year on time and without the disruption of a walkout. 'This is the first time we've seen this in-your-face strike talk,' said Schmidt, whose newspaper often is critical of Stewart's leadership. 'And I'm worried they are going to talk themselves into a corner they can't get out of. If [Stewart] builds a really militant momentum through the election and she wins, she's going to have to deliver. ... The city could explode.' The union formally launched contract negotiations in August, when it presented 100 proposals to the school system. Stewart would not discuss the specifics of the proposals. But an article in the union's newspaper, Chicago Union Teacher, outlined the key issues: lower health-insurance costs, more say over class size, and better job security for non-tenured teachers. Salary demands and the length of the contract were not mentioned. Strike talk called premature Debbie Lynch, the former union president who was narrowly defeated by Stewart in 2003 and who is expected to run again, called the strike talk premature. Lynch negotiated the last contract, which was narrowly approved after the delegates approved a strike vote, 543-98. Stewart was one of the delegates who opposed the strike vote, but she later said it was because she had no faith in Lynch's negotiating.

'It appears to be saber-rattling without substance,' Lynch said. 'Perhaps this is an attempt to distract members' attention from the fact ... that we're bleeding CTU jobs.' Lynch said union membership has dropped below 32,000 from a high of more than 36,000 in 2004.

Barbara Eason-Watkins has seen firsthand how damaging a walkout can be--for staff and students. The chief education officer for the Chicago Public Schools, she has been through six strikes on both sides of the aisle--four as a teacher and two as a principal. 'From my perspective, nobody wins,' Eason-Watkins said. 'It's a different feeling coming in fresh versus coming in after a strike. The momentum you lose in a walkout, you just never catch up.' tdell'angela@tribune.com

Copyright (c) 2006, Chicago Tribune

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