After an 11 day strike, the Chicago Teachers Union has made a new deal with Chicago Public Schools. During this period, 350,000 students were out of school and their activities. This district is the third-largest school district in the nation. Teachers in Chicago thought that they were underpaid and thought that schools were underfunded. The union also felt that all schools needed nurses and social workers. With the signing of the new contract, teachers are now guaranteed to get a raise of 16% of the course of 5 years. The contract also states that it will spend 35 Million dollars to help lower class sizes. Another promise in the contract is that all schools will have a nurse and social workers by 2023.
After the strike, many members of the Chicago Teachers Union are happy with the progress even though it did not cover everything on their agenda. Overall this new deal is estimated to be worth over 500 Million dollars. The union is also upset because of the economic disparity in Chicago. There are extremely rich parts and very poor parts. They feel like they should tax more of the large and rich corporations to pay for schools and other programs.
Many of the areas in the school district are in very impoverished areas. These communities need a better school system to bring up the community. But now that the strike is over teachers are making more money and over 25,000 educators will be returning to work.
This is not the first time the Chicago Teachers Union has been upset. There have been strikes in the Union since 1968. This Union has one of the most powerful teachers' unions in the United States.
This is an example of unions being beneficial for workers' rights. Unions are very important because teachers alone are not powerful and have no bargaining power. But when workers go on strike employers and in this case schools take notice and have to find a resolution.
Sources:
Campbell, Alexia Fernández. “The 11-Day Teachers Strike in Chicago Paid Off.” Vox, Vox, 1 Nov. 2019, www.vox.com/identities/2019/11/1/20943464/chicago-teachers-strike-deal.
Hauck, Grace. “Chicago Teachers Approve 'Historic' Contract That Ended 11-Day Strike.” USA Today, Gannett Satellite Information Network, 16 Nov. 2019, www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/11/16/chicago-teachers-union-approves-contract-deal-evades-another-strike/4213054002/.
Smith, Mitch, and Monica Davey. “Chicago Teachers' Strike, Longest in Decades, Ends.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 31 Oct. 2019, www.nytimes.com/2019/10/31/us/chicago-cps-teachers-strike.html.
I find this to be very interesting, as growing up, my parents have made it very clear to me how teachers often can be underpaid. Furthermore, of all fields of workers, teachers going on strike have a lot of negotiating power, as if they refuse to work, then children will not be educated, causing detriments to society. A related topic to this is the recent GM workers strike, in which workers actually were successful. Here is a link to an article about that: https://www.vox.com/identities/2019/10/25/20930350/gm-workers-vote-end-strike
ReplyDeleteI'm surprised that this wasn't covered more in the media. Education is the most expensive cost in the nation yet pays the least. I've often heard stories about my own teachers paying for their supplies, which should in-fact be provided by the government. I am glad that these teachers decided to take a stand for their rights and the education and services provided to children. Considering the average starting salary for a teacher is between 30-50k (even in California), I hope this will influence more teachers to demand higher pay and also for school districts to fight for more government funding.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.nea.org/home/2017-2018-average-starting-teacher-salary.html
Teachers think that they‘re underpaid has become a common phenomenon, and teachers in many countries have expressed the hope that the government should give more money to schools. I think this is completely understandable. As an important place to cultivate talents, the school's fund often represents that students can get a better education or learning environment. Saving money on the school is totally unacceptable, so I agree with the Chicago teacher's decision.
ReplyDelete