Chicago Public School Teachers Go on Strike for a 35-percent Pay Raise

The Chicago Teachers Union went on strike, for the first time in 25 years, on Monday, leaving almost 400,000 students without a classroom. One of the 49 articles of the contract under question asks for a 35-percent pay raise for Chicago teachers, who normally make between $69,000 and $76,000 a year. Chicago Public Schools has offered the teachers a 16-percent pay raise over the course of the next 4 years, but the teachers' strike continues.

According to the Chicago school board, more than 20 offers were made to the Chicago Teachers Union prior to the start of the strike. Because the union refused to accept the offers, the teachers went on strike, hitting the streets in red t-shirts and carrying signs in picket lines.

Mayor Rahm Emmanuel, who has recently pushed for measures that would improve Chicago's schools, called the strike unnecessary and asked that Chicago Public Schools and the Chicago Teacher's union come to an agreement for the sake of the city's children.

Besides the requested pay increase, teachers are also at odds over the school system's power to let school principals choose which teachers to hire and its policy that evaluates teachers based in large part on the test scores of their students. The striking union, which is made up of 26,000 teachers, would also like to include an article in their contract that guarantees that a teacher who is laid off will be re-hired.

By the second day of the strike, many had hoped the city and the union would reach a deal, sending children and teens back to school. However, the Chicago Teachers Union announced that it would not give up its fight for changes to issues it deems as key problems in the teachers' contracts.

There has been some rumor that Mayor Emmanuel may impose a court injunction to put an end to the strike. However, the Teachers Union insists that the mayor does not have the legal standing to do that, since the union followed all the rules for legally walking off the job.

The Chicago school district is the third largest in the Untied States. The teacher's strike has affected hundreds of thousands of students, from almost 700 schools, and their parents.

When students are not able to attend school, their education suffers and parents must stay home from work or arrange for day care for their children. The Chicago school district is opening 144 locations called "Children First" centers that will be open for half days during the strike, so parents may return to work. However, some are concerned that the city's youth will find themselves unattended and add to the already high crime rate in Chicago.

Charter schools in Chicago, which educate about 45,00 students, are still open and operating as usual, and their teachers are not on strike.

Rachel Cool writes for UniversitiesOnline.net, a website dedicated to helping students explore the possibilities of earning an online degree. Students looking for all kinds of degrees, from medical to online accounting degree programs can find more information here.