Last week bargaining teams from the Chicago Public Schools and Chicago Teachers Union reached an agreement on broad terms of a contract that could end the strike.  The agreement hit a snag over the weekend when the union’s Board of Delegates voted to extend the strike until at least Wednesday, in order to give themselves...

From the Chicago Teachers Union blog: “Some 800 delegates of the Chicago Teachers Union duly elected from each school and workplace convened Sunday afternoon to discuss the framework established during negotiations between the Chicago Teachers Union and the Chicago Board of Education. Officers presented a 23-page document (see below) outlining the most important points of...

This post originally appeared at CNN.com Shortly after President Obama took his historic oath of office, a small group of people back in his home state of Illinois gathered to negotiate a key issue of school reform. Before substantive discussions even began, a representative from the Chicago Teachers Union interjected: “For us,” she said, “this is...

t is becoming more and more apparent that the big items of contention between the Chicago Public Schools and the Chicago Teachers Union were the rehiring of laid-off teachers and teacher evaluations. While claiming that other issues remained unresolved, union officials had said numerous times that they would not agree to a contract without getting...

Striking Chicago teachers have at times echoed the themes of the Occupy Wall Street movement. Hostility toward big corporations that benefit from tax breaks and other giveaways (real and imagined) has been a recurring theme.  Yesterday CTU President Karen Lewis told a rally “I’m not afraid to say that we care about our children and we...

by Lawrence J. McQuillan, PhD  Chief Economist The Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) is on strike to get, among other things, more pay. They originally asked for a 30 percent pay raise. The current offer on the table is a 16 percent pay hike over four years. They don’t deserve a penny increase. In fact, they deserve a...

Now that Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis has announced that CTU will strike Monday morning, it is very clear: Children are not the top priority for teachers who belong to the Chicago Teachers Union. The two things that matter most to these teachers are money and avoiding accountability for poor performance. Lewis and the...

Believe it or not, late Friday afternoon the scuttlebutt was that the Chicago Public Schools and Chicago Teachers Union were close to agreeing on a contract.  Progress was the word of the day well into Sunday.  And we all know how all that turned out. Rumors, about how close the sides are to reaching an...