which is why i said: some have even taken without a masters...

But those arent upper case letters, so he's not shouting!

And all I did was state that they didn't do that here. I'm not shouting either as I'm not arguing....just making a statement.

This is exactly what our governor has been trying to address, and he's gotten a lot of heat for it. But he took on the NJEA (New Jersey Education Association), perhaps the most powerful union in the state, and won concessions. I can't remember anyone else ever attempting that. He even had the temerity to cap superintendent salaries at a level equal to the governor's salary, $175,000 per annum. Consequently, a number of superintendents have left the state, to the greener pastures of NY and CT.

Thanks a lot

Hey, if you guys wouldn't pay them, they wouldn't have gone there. I have to admit: I was a bit stunned to see how much some of them were able to get in salary.

Some one needs to be the 1%rs

Are they still out on strike?

wow, your spelling is bad.... it's ARE not OUR. shesh..

Yeah, you should of known that!

Can't take education for granite.

It's for the stoodents!

I thought that spelling and grammar were no longer important?

Yes. Hopefully, an agreement will be made today and the kids can get back to school Monday. That's what my friend, who is a reluctantly striking teacher is being told.

yes, because crossing the picket line to honor your contractual obligations can lead to worse problems...such as flat tires, beatings, and alienation by your peers...

I wish I could find a part-time job that paid $70k and could strike to get more!

They aren't striking over pay. I think they are stuck on another issue.

pay is a portion of the issue, but just to show it was not the main issue, they agreed to a 3% increase per year for 4 years versus a 4% increase per year...in a school system that is currently running a deficit of over $1b dollars

There's no option to cross the picket lines. Most schools are closed and locked completely; the schools that are being kept open for students to have somewhere to go other than the streets are being staffed by non-union employees, and no sane parent with any other choice would send their kids there. It's not just a simple matter of "choosing" not to strike. If you're a union teacher in Chicago, you do what your extremely powerful union tells you you're doing.

As teachers are government workers and Unions were set up to protect the union workers from abusive bosses why do they need a union again?

Yes, they will agree to the raise but eliminate any performance related metrics, eliminate merit pay increases and eliminate perfomance reviews altogther. Then they will hold hands and say how this was all for the kids' sake.

The mayor's office has a lot of power and control but Chicago will need to become California before that will happen.

Forward!

Many years ago my school district had a strike in my senior year. I crossed the picket line as a 16-17 year old. With the teachers yelling and name calling. The strike was declared illegal by the courts but they continued. In the end the teachers got what they were looking for (a salary more than double the parent salary). They should have instead fired them all for holding an illegal strike. It gave me a good perspective of who my "esteemed" teachers and politicians (with no backbone)were. Fast forward to today nothing has changed.