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Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Day 7 Strike suspended. Big victory for teachers

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Day 7 Strike suspended. Big victory for teachers:


Day 7 Strike suspended. Big victory for teachers

CTU's House of Delegates voted to "suspend" the strike and ask teachers to return to class tomorrow.

“Everybody is going back to school,” said Jay Rehak, a delegate from Whitney Young High School. Delegate Mike Bochner said “an overwhelming majority” of delegates voted to suspend the strike. “I’m really excited, I’m really relieved,” said Bochner, a teacher at Cesar Chavez elementary.
Hoots, hollers, applause and what sounded like a cowbell erupted multiple times from inside the closed-door meeting. At the meeting, delegates were given a summary of the contract’s key issues. An introduction to that summary declared victory on several issues. 
“Our brothers and sisters throughout the country have been told that corporate ‘school reform’ was unstoppable, that merit pay had to be accepted and that the public would never support us if we decided to fight. Cities everywhere have been forced to accept performance pay,” the statement said.