BREAKING: WBEZ: Strike Could End Friday, Classes Resume Monday

PROGRESS ILLINOIS: CTU STRIKE RESOLUTION VIEWED - WBEZ: CLASSES COULD RESUME MONDAY

Progress Illinois, September 13, 2012, 3:52 PM
CTU: No School Friday

It looks like 350,000 Chicago Public Schools students will get a full week off. The Chicago Teachers Union said in a press release this afternoon that there will be no classes Friday as the CTU House of Delegates will meet at 2 p.m. tomorrow. Presumably, the meeting could result in the House of Delegates approving a new contract and calling off the strike.

However, CTU would only say that "the Bargaining Team will update leadership on new developments."

Karen Lewis says in a statement that, "We've made progress in some areas, but still we have a way to go."

Also, CTU announced in the release that they are holding a rally noon Saturday at Union Park.

Continue to check back with PI for more on the CTU strike.

From WBEZ Chicago public radio 91.5 FM, from Thursday morning's statements by Karen Lewis:

Talks make real progess
Union, school board cite progress on issues like how to evaluate teachers.
September 13, 2012
City Room
WBEZ web report:
The Chicago Teachers Union president says a deal to end the city's first teachers' strike in 25 years is close.

Teachers Union President Karen Lewis told reporters on Thursday that Chicago Public School students could be back in the classroom as soon as Monday.

"Oh I’m praying, praying, praying I’m on my knees for that please," Lewis said. "Yes, I’m hoping for Monday that would be good for us, that would be very good for our kids."

Lewis said there were still lots of details to wade through, but the atmosphere around the negotiations had changed, and she says she's optimistic.

"We want to make sure this is done right. I mean, doing something fast is not the way to go. You know, haste makes waste," she said.

As for getting students back into the classroom, Lewis says it's unlikely students will be back Friday even if a deal is reached Thursday. The house of delegates still has to vote on the final contract proposal.

"We still have some major stuff we have to look at, from the pace in which these things go I doubt very seriously I can get a house of delegates meeting together tonight."

Union and district officials have been meeting almost around the clock to try and get a deal done. School officials say they're also confident a deal could be reached soon.

Transcript of WBEZ broadcast report:

Chicago public school children will miss their fourth day of school today (Thursday) since the start of a teachers strike Monday.

But the heads of the teachers’ union and Chicago school board say progress is being made.

Teacher union president Karen Lewis said Wednesday’s long day of negotiating ended with some real progress especially dealing with the thorny issue of teacher evaluation.

She says the school district’s negotiating team is starting to hear its concerns.

But Lewis isn’t ready to declare victory.

LEWIS: No, no, no. Progress. Significant progress. It has not been checked off yet plus you all have to remember we have a larger bargaining team that we have to talk to. We would like to get this done. Let’s hope for Friday.

School board president David Vitale also acknowledge progress on evaluations and recall of laid off teachers.

The union says it’s also concerned about the closure of a hundred schools.

Vitale says there’s no plans right now to close schools but the district has to deal with having some 130-thousand more seats than it needs.

The two sides will resume talks this morning.

MP. WBEZ.



However, EdNotes Online September 13, 11:15 PM, has a September 15 Chicago rally flyer posted

Stand Strong with
Chicago Teachers
Saturday
12:00 noon
September 15
Union Park
Lake & Ashland in Chicago

The 30,000 teachers, school social workers, clerks, vision and hearing testers, school nurses, teaching assistants, counselors, and other school professionals of the Chicago Teachers Union are standing strong to defend public education from test pushers, privatizers, and a national onslaught of big money interest groups trying to push education back to the days before teachers had unions. Around the country and even the world, our fight is recognized as the front line of resistance to the corporate education agenda. Educators and our supporters have pledged to travel to Chicago in solidarity to rally. Click here to say you'll be there! NOTE: The union is not on strike over matters governed exclusively by IELRA Section 4.5 and 12(b).

Bennington VT teachers strike, first in SW Vt. in Decades

The teachers' strike in Bennington, Vermont is continuing.
Talks have suspended for the weekend:

From Neal R. Goswami, "Strike talks break for weekend," yesterday in the Bennington Banner:

BENNINGTON -- Teachers will continue their strike for a fourth school day on Monday, after union and board negotiators mutually agreed to break for the weekend Friday afternoon without a settlement.

Both sides said progress was made Friday and a framework appears to be in place to move closer to a settlement on Monday. There is "nothing imminent" to be signed, though, according to Darren Allen, spokesman for the Vermont chapter of the National Education Association.

The school boards -- Bennington, North Bennington, Shaftsbury, Pownal and Mount Anthony in the SVSU, and the Southwest Vermont Regional Technical School District -- presented a contract offer to the union around 10 p.m. Thursday. The union reviewed it overnight and met face-to-face with board negotiators Friday for the first time since the strike began on Wednesday.

Allen said negotiators for the Southwest Vermont Education Association, which represents about 270 teachers, were comfortable with Friday’s progress and agreed to break for the weekend.

"Sometimes when you’re at the table for that long it really is productive to take a break," Allen said.
. . . .
Teachers are now in their second year without a negotiated contract and working under conditions set by the boards in June -- one day after the previous school year ended. The union is seeking a successor agreement to replace the imposed conditions.

The union voted overwhelmingly on Oct. 12 -- 209 to 12 -- to authorize a strike if a deal with the boards was not reached by earlier this week.

Steven Stitzel, an attorney representing the boards, said he plans to meet with a union representative Monday to develop a "very clear list" of issues that must still be addressed.

Meanwhile, all of the boards will meet together Monday afternoon to discuss progress. Much of the meeting is likely to take place in executive session, according to officials.

Teachers are continuing to walk picket lines at their respective schools. On Friday, teachers also picketed in front of the SVSU central office where negotiations were taking place.

Union members are "really staying organized and together," according to one teacher. But there is growing "frustration" that union officials have not shared more specific details of proposals.

"They don’t understand the details of the proposals," the teacher said. "They’re staying organized but they wish they really knew what was going on with the proposals."

Despite increasing optimism that a deal will be reached next week, both sides acknowledged Friday that a significant amount of work remains.

The two sides have disagreed on three main issues -- the amount of health care premiums the districts will pay, how much of the school day is under the control of administrators, and salaries.

Those issues remain a central part of negotiations, according to both sides.
. . . .

Read the full article at the Bennington Banner.

Does Thompson Think that the UFT is the Wimpiest Municipal Union of Them All?

A very interesting nugget appeared on the inner page continuation of an article in the September 2, 2011 edition of the Chief-Leader."

Former New York City Comptroller and 2009 sacrificial lamb Democratic Party nominee against Mayor Michael Bloomberg, William Thompson appeared at a public panel on the state of New York City public education, along with a variety of figures in New York City education. Representing the United Federation of Teachers (UFT) was Vice-President Leo Casey.

On the topic of a new contract between the UFT and the New York City Department of Education, Thompson was more pessimistic about the prospects of a contract under Bloomberg than was Casey.
Casey:

Let's sit down, let's work out issues before us . . . there's no reason why we can't [talk in the course of negotiating a contract].

Thompson:

There is not going to be a contract under the Bloomberg administration.

He added:

The attitudes of other municipal unions are, we'll wait for the next [Mayor].

From this exchange, one can easily suspect that the other municipal unions are reading the city's behavior viz. a viz. municipal unions. And they are being savvy and refraining from negotiations that would include colossal givebacks, let alone making conciliatory comments toward the mayor. (And wasn't it a mistake for the UFT to avoid endorsing Thompson inn 2009?)