The.Chicago Teachers Union has taken a strike vote and one is looming on the horizon. Oct. 11th is the walkout day. The school year just started, kids are pretty excited and the teachers are back in the classroom and now a strike.
There's all kinds of talk that money is available through TIF (tax increment financing) to settle the deal. As Jesse Sharkey, the CTU Vice President said, "Rahm Emanuel has it within his power to solve this problem." That's part of the problem in this country...one person doesn't and shouldn't have all the power to deal with such a complex issue!!
To me, there's a bigger issues here. There is distrust between the two sides, harm has been done in the past (closure of 50 plus schools), a real budget problem, state funding of schools issues, pensions and more. Parents and kids, over these past few years, have to be at wits end and that is a more substantial concern.
Okay, the teachers could fight on and get a raise only to see the above problems exacerbate to an even more critical level. Sometimes, just sometimes, you have to be the bigger person and do what is best for the larger group not just yourself.
Dick
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