Chicago Teachers Union plans illegal one-day strike against insolvent CPS

Nathanael Greene School,
SW Side

Like the Iran-Iraq War this is a battle that I hope both sides lose. The children, parents, and taxpayers of Chicago have already lost.

In 2012 about 80 percent of eighth grade Chicago Public Schools students were not proficient in math and reading.

From the Chicago Sun-Times:

The Chicago Teachers Union voted Wednesday evening to approve a one-day "showdown" strike on April 1 — which will include a massive downtown rally — to bring attention to ongoing contract negotiations and the state’s education funding crisis.

"I think it'll be a clear message. Based on the current organizing, we'll shut this city down," Tammie Vinson, a special education teacher at Oscar DePriest Elementary School said after the vote at the International Operating Engineers Hall.

But the vote — 486 in favor, 124 opposed — was hardly unanimous, and some teachers expressed doubts about the amorphous action after seeing the motive change over the past few weeks.

Still, CTU President Karen Lewis said the numbers show teachers are ready to fight.

As for the planned Loop rally which a teacher hopes will "shut this city down," I certainly hope that if these leftists block city streets they'll be arrested. Teachers are hired to educate kids--not to shut the city down.

The one-day strike is illegal, by the way.

CPS is essentially insolvent. But the retired teachers collect a generous pension.