It’s All About the Teachers, Not the Kids

The Chicago Teachers Union says it’s ‘striking for better schools’ as it puts almost 400,000 students out of the classroom and sends parents scrambling to find somewhere safe for their children to stay while they work.  But what are the teachers really striking for?  More goodies!  What else!  After all, that’s the only purpose left for unions in the 21^st century.  And how do they get those goodies?  By sending union dues to the Democrats and promising to vote for them.  Even though Obama’s own City of Chicago has a staggering budget deficit, Mayor Rahm Emanuel, not wanting to bite the hand that feeds him, offered to settle with the teachers by giving them a 16% pay raise.  But, no, that wasn’t nearly enough for the teachers who are already the second highest paid in the nation with an average median salary greater than $76,000.  Instead, they are insisting on a 30% pay raise, no change in benefits, no teacher evaluations based on student test scores and no lengthening of school days to match most other schools in the nation.  Gosh, with a graduation rate of only 55% maybe the city should take advantage of this opportunity to just let them all go.

Union Members Forfeit Status as Professionals

There once was a time when teachers were considered professionals like ‘doctors and lawyers and such’ or nurses and engineers, all highly trained individuals who provide a specialized service and are required to put the interests of the client above their own interests.  It goes without saying, then, that union members of any kind cannot be considered professionals, because in order to live up to the high standards implied by the term ‘professional’ a nurse could not walk out on her patients and a teacher could not walk out on his students.  All this notwithstanding, the Chicago Teachers Strike could not have come at a better time for the Republicans.  Just two months before the most important election of our lifetime, the union bosses have put their greed and thuggery back in the national spotlight, reminding voters of the sickening, symbiotic relationship between the Democrat Party and the unions.