Win, Lose, or Draw? Chicago Teachers Reach Agreement
by gues twriter Emma Irving
Does the agreement between the Chicago Teacher’s Union and the city represent a win for the labor movement? After over a week of striking and a year of contract negotiations, Chicago teacher’s have voted to return to the classroom, accepting a contract agreement that represents partial negotiations on both sides. Mayor Rahm Emanuel, who has been pushing for a longer school day and a longer school year, has added an hour and 15 minutes of instruction per day in elementary schools and 30 minutes in high schools. The school year has also been lengthened by two weeks. Current teachers will not be working longer hours as originally proposed by Emanuel; instead, teachers that were laid off during the last two years will have the opportunity to be rehired to fill the extra instruction time. Art, music, and physical eduction teachers, as well as social workers and psychiatrists will be hired to create a higher quality school day, not simply a longer one.
While the Chicago Teacher’s Union president, Karen Lewis, has said that though teacher’s are not getting as
