(Rahm Emanuel) Chicago’s Mayor Challenges Teachers Union

[alp227]

Source: The New York Times

CHICAGO — One by one, teachers at public elementary schools here have been voting to buck their own union and take Mayor Rahm Emanuel up on an unusual offer: to accept bonus pay in exchange for waiving union contract provisions and keeping children at some schools longer each day.

By Friday, nine schools were on board, and City Hall said more might be on the way, even as union leaders objected to the tactic and furiously pledged to take Mr. Emanuel and his school system before a labor relations board.

For Mr. Emanuel, who has portrayed himself as a calmer, more reserved leader in his year of transformation from White House chief of staff to mayor, the uncompromising and blunt approach is both a keeping of a campaign promise and a reminder, as one political analyst here put it, that “Rahm is still Rahm.”

Mr. Emanuel and his top aides say that when it comes to hours of class instruction, Chicago’s 482 public elementary schools compare unfavorably with schools in other cities, including Houston, Los Angeles and New York. They say they merely want children to spend more time learning at school — a notion supported by plenty of parents.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/18/us/politics/rahm-emanuel-angers-teachers-union-over-longer-school-day.html?pagewanted=all

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And this guy used to be Obama's chief of staff!

[bluestateguy]

1. These things tend to start out as voluntary

Then they are "strongly encouraged".

Then they are voluntary in name only, as in your life is made more inconvenient and cumbersome if you don't "volunteer".

Then it's not even voluntary in name only anymore; then it's "we're not asking anymore, this is the new policy".

[msanthrope]

2. There's no reason Chicago Public Schools hould be open less than 6 hours a day.

Its shameful that a majority of schools close by 200 to 245pm or before--they should all vote to go to an open-model campus and stay open longer.

http://www.npr.org/2011/09/04/140178668/fight-looms-over-chicago-school-day?ft=1&f=1013

[No Elephants]

6. Depends on the age of the kids. At some point, you're warehousing tired kids, not educating them.

[DrunkenBoat]

17. I don't think kids should be in school anymore than 4 or 5 hours unless "school"

includes full recesses, sports, art, crafts, music, & self-directed projects.

Certainly not where "school" = test prep crap.

Especially for little ones -- that's torture, not "school".

I remember how I got through: dreaming, drawing, making up stories, & marking off the minutes until the bell rang in my notebook. The half-minutes, sometimes.

[tblue]

3. Makes me sad.

Raise the freaking taxes! Educate the kids! It's not brain surgery! Poor Chicago. Stuck with him for how many years?

[exboyfil]

5. Actually the state just passed a big

income tax increase. 2008-2009 Chicago spent nearly $13K/student. State average is $11K/student.

Average teacher salary in Chicago is $72K. Starting salary with no extras is $51K/yr (38.6 wks at 6.25 hrs/day).

Not saying that the mayor should be involved in this decision (he should not in my opinion). I think it would be best to bust up the Chicago school system into a number of different schools with local school boards for each of these smaller districts. At a certain point you lose any sort of economies of scale, and I think you are far past that point now.

[No Elephants]

7. In my state, public schools are supported with local property taxes, period.

So an increase in state taxes would have nothing to do with schools.

Teachers' pay seems much more complicated than you suggest as well. It depends upon number of weeks worked and which degrees the teachers have, bachelor's master's or Ph.d. And the salary figure seems to include the employer's contribution to pension, which is not usually cited as part of salary.

http://www.cps-humanresources.org/careers/salary.htm

http://www.cps-humanresources.org/Employee/salschedules.htm

For someone with at least a bachelor's degree, working in a potentially dangerous setting, a starting salary of about 50K, which includes the employer's contribution to pension plan, is not lavish.

What we spend time and money on reflects our priorities; and priorities in every corner of this country are messed up.

[fasttense]

9. Where are you getting those numbers from? Do you have a link?

Do you have a link? I know several school teachers in Chicago and they aren't making anywhere near the amounts you claim.

They are new teachers and would be happy to be making $30,000, let alone the $51,000 a year, you are claiming as starting pay.

[exboyfil]

14. CPS's own website

They have the starting salaries as well as the statement about the average per teacher (which I think is a bogus statistic).

http://www.cps-humanresources.org/careers/salary.htm
http://www.cps-humanresources.org/Employee/Forms/SalAdm/FTTeachers38.6.pdf

I am not sure what the pension pick up is. I thought it was the contribution ot their pension. If they are like our teachers newly minted ones start at Step 3 no matter what their prior background. This is an old salary shedule.

Anyone making more than about $45K/yr in the private sector is subsidizing Social Security so teachers are getting an effective 6.2% increase in their salary by not participating in it (probably I would argue closer to 4-5% given that you did get some benefit from the higher contribution).

If they are not making what I said, then take it up with CPS. Their own resources are lying.

[NWLib]

10. Your math is way off...................

My mom was a school teacher and trust me the hours are WAY longer than when the kids are there. I get so tired of that crap. I won't even get into how much money moms spent of her own in the class room. Whoopsie.

[mucifer]

13. He is raising the taxes for education.

Emanuel defends tax hike for schools
Mayor says CPS officials have 'made the tough choices' in cost-cutting

the article
http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2011-08-10/news/ct-met-emanuel-cps-property-tax-20110810_1_mayor-rahm-emanuel-tax-hike-magnet-school-positions

The city has no money.

[Bluesbreaker]

4. Sounds fishy

I seriously doubt that the teachers union would not work longer hours, if the teachers were fairly compensated. You can bet that the so-called "bonus pay" will be less than if the union had bargained more pay for more work in a collective bargaining agreement. Emanuel is a crypto-corporatist and always will be. Sucks to be a student, parent or teacher in Chicago public schools.

[hobbit709]

8. The ulterior motive is to break the unions.

Get enough people to drop out of the union and then you can break the contract. Once you have no union, there's no bargaining power among the teachers. At which point the "bonuses" and other benefits will start evaporating along with any worker's rights.
The new feudal system is coming.

[TBF]

15. +1 nt

[bobthedrummer]

19. THERE IT IS! k, n/t

[AngryAmish]

20. Union is broken. They just don'y know it yet.

New state law was passed requiring 75% of total teachers to vote for a strike. Considering they can only get something like 50-60% to even vote, a strike would never happen.

Next year the longer school time is mandated by law, teacher raises are not.

It's done.

[madrchsod]

12. smells like the lake front when the alwives wash up dead...

[madrchsod]

11. obama,duncan,and rahm want to get rid of the public school teachers unions.

it`s called bribery and that is nothing new in chicago. i hope this goes to the labor board because this will be used across america to bust any union.

[AngryAmish]

21. The labor board is appointed by the machine

Thnk they are going to bite the hand that feeds?

[unkachuck]

16. "...take Mr. Emanuel and his school system before a labor relations board."

....again, the iron fist in the velvet glove of an anti-Union, pro-corporate-Dem, Union-buster....rahmbone

[SugarShack]

18. Rahm is going after ALL unions in Chicago. dems should protest

surprise, surprise...
Rahm is now privatizing city services to break Chicago unions.
Edited on Tue Jul-19-11 12:11 AM

Mayor Rahm Emanuel is sending layoff notices to about 625 city of Chicago employees — and delaying 61 blocks of curb and gutter improvements and 76 blocks of sidewalk repairs — after union leaders didn’t agree to work-rule changes the mayor wants or offer alternate ways to cut costs by a deadline Friday.

The layoffs — which Emanuel said will save roughly $12 million — target 75 percent cut of the Chicago Department of Transportation’s “seasonal” workforce, as well as custodians at O’Hare Airport, Midway Airports and the city’s public libraries; and workers who run the city’s water-bill call center and manage city benefits. The transportation department layoffs will be begin immediately. As a result, city curb and gutter repairs are being put off until next year. Custodial services, benefits management and the water-bill call center will be privatized after 30- and 45-day layoff notices go out.
...

(Chicago Federation of Labor President Jorge) Ramirez insisted there have been “no negotiations over work-rule changes — period” with local unions whose members would be impacted by those salary-shaving changes.
....

Henry Bayer, executive director of AFSCME Council 31, agreed that neither the mayor nor his representatives have made any attempt to meet with his union to negotiate specific changes.

“If the mayor were serious ... he would have taken the appropriate measures to engage in such discussions. The fact that he has never done so is clear evidence that this attempt to blame union work rules for the city’s massive deficit is public relations gimmickry,” Bayer said a statement. He added, “We are surprised and disappointed at Mayor Emanuel’s scattershot approach to the city’s budget shortfall. We are particularly disappointed that most of his bullets are aimed at frontline employees who do the real work of city government.”

http://www.suntimes.com/news/politics/6525711-418/emanu...