They strike every year?! Seriously??? That's outrageous. What reason? I just searched for current info and found nothing. You need a whole new system -- and different set of teachers!

It's been my experience that teachers (and nurses) only strike when a school (or hospital) isn't negotiating in good faith on their contracts. There's no 'good time' for these *key people* to strike.

The only way a union can justify its existence (for the fees/dues it receives from members) is to make unreasonable pay and benefit demands. Otherwise, they serve no useful purpose. After they've tried and failed, no matter what damage is caused by a strike, they portray themselves as heroes to members for attempting the impossible.

It doesn't matter whether the demands are reasonable or not, whether what's requested is affordable by the employer or not, that's what happens. Good faith/bad faith doesn't enter into it.

As to teachers' changing requirements and responsibilities, added stresses - so what? That's the life of an employed person, there's nothing unusual that happens with a school job that others in other occupations don't also experience.

I've never understood why some government employees are allowed to form unions. In some contexts, it's not permitted. Teachers' unions consistently obstruct efforts for change and progress aimed at trying to improve student outcomes. I'm no fan.

I stand corrected. It was a couple of years ago that they were on strike last time. There were the custodians, etc that were on strike last year so my memory was faulty. College/university professors were also on strike.

It does seem that they strike often, and the kids pay for it. The teachers are very well paid, the class sizes are smaller than when I went to school.

I would love to see the teachers being locked until until the end of the calendar year, if they won't settle by the first of June. Then hire replacement teachers for the 3 months from Sept-Dec. And longer, if needed.
Advise them they will be locked out on June 30th, until Dec 31st.
Use the summer to hire replacement teachers on a three month contract

When I was in fifth grade, we had a grade wide math program where we changed teachers. One taught fractions, one taught decimals, etc. Two days into Decimals, the teacher who taught it went on strike along with our regular teacher. I think it lasted a month. Just long enough to totally miss that module. Every time I needed to do more than very basic math using decimals, for the ensuing five years, my father would show me and it would stick for the few weeks I needed it, and then I'd forget. I finally mastered it in the tenth grade. I had a full grasp of set mapping before I could reliably calculate with decimals. Having to derive our own logarithms and cube roots finally fixed it in my memory.

I think it's very hard to be an institutional skilled worker like a schoolteacher or hospital nurse. They need a lot of education, and continuing ed., for a working to middle class wage (as in that famous S.F. example from when street sweepers made more than teachers). They hold a tremendous responsibility for the public good and individual wellbeing, have to keep up with every more intrusive and exhaustive demands while trying to get on with what they were really trained to do and see well to their charges, but because they're part of a huge workforce being paid out of a structurally limited pot, it's very hard to fight for and keep a decent compensation.

I am pro teacher all the way. I've stated before I have several family members that are teachers, my mother was also a teacher for 30 years. Most people have absolutely no idea what teachers have to deal with. I blame most of the problem on the government. They make everything about money. If enough kids don't pass, you get your funding cut, which results in ALL kids passing, even if they can't write a damn sentence correctly. If you want funding, you have to teach Common Core. Good lord, the dumbing down of our children.

Where my sister teaches, they haven't had a raise in 8 years. And it's against the law to strike there. They have had several contracts, and it's published in the newspaper that the teachers, once again, demanded and got a 4% raise over the next 3 years. Problem is, they don't give it to them. They just do NOT get the raise. They are told sorry we don't have the money. In the meantime, their cost of healthcare goes up, after losing some coverages. Their deductibles and co-pays go, etc.

Kids are totally undisciplined and have horrible home lives and teachers are supposed to fix it all. They are not allowed to correct kids, can't lay a hand on them, can't raise their voice, and you better darn well have every kid in your class pass or you're a bad teacher.

There are teachers that aren't worth two cents, just like any other profession. But there are two sides to every story. How many people here would just take it lying down without saying anything if your employer broke your contract, repeatedly?

I suggest that anyone who thinks teachers earn a deserving wage should volunteer in a public school classroom for a few hours once a week. Spread it around to see what a teacher is up against in affluent neighborhoods and poor ones. I can almost guarantee school is not what you remember from your student days.

My DH volunteers at two local (affluent) high schools.

Our DIL began her career with the Chicago Public Schools in Englewood's desperate, gang-infested neighborhood, where only a rare few parents cared about their kids. She now teaches on the NW side, which is mostly better. (She could have been hired anywhere, but she's one of those silly do-gooders, raised to 'make a difference'.)

A long-time friend taught in Kenilworth, an affluent suburb on Chicago's north shore. Parents there would go over her head to get 'Johnny' a better grade -- and succeed!

Each of these areas has different demands on its' teachers. Nobody's making executive salaries, and no teacher can negotiate his or her salary as an independent worker because that's not the way school boards -- or the *necessary* unions -- work.

Right now CPS is the target of the mayor and the governor, both of whom are invested in leaving 'the poor' to their own devises while making (public) money on cherry-picking 'charter' schools that rapidly run through cheap, newly minted teachers. The CPS board president is under federal and local investigation over directing a twenty million dollar three year contract to a pseudo in-service 'provider'. This would be a bigger story if it was not so *typical* of public funds thrown at public education.

It's never out of season to blame 'the teacher'. Look farther.

Feel lucky if your teachers do not work in our state's large city. That city has developed a policy that is unfair. Come near the end of the school year, they dismiss more teachers than necessary with the excuse that the administration does not know how many teachers they will need next fall, or do not know how many they can afford since their budgets have not been assured by the taxing bodies.

Later that year, they hire more teachers in August for the start of the new school year. Many of these hires are the same ones they let go last spring, but the kicker is these experienced teachers are being hired at "new hires" salary. Not only that, they have lost a year of seniority since they are considered a new hire (by policy).

jemdandy, that's a common approach. Usually teachers' unions require some number of months of notice before termination for district size reductions. When the next year's funding and pupil populations are unknown as that deadline approaches, that's what's done.

I'm going to waive a magic wand and make you superintendent of the school district. You get to handle this uncertainty this year.

What will you do differently?


(Many will wait for the chance of being rehired. For them, employment as teachers may be their best or only employment choice. For a variety of reasons, pay being one of them, schools don't always attract our best and brightest to apply. Many talented, ambitious and employable individuals would move on and welcome the opportunity to get better jobs when faced with such job uncertainties. That so many hang around to see if they'll be rehired tells a clear story to me. )

There seems to be a stream of thinking that teachers should only teach. I say that's bull hockey--not true at all--they are parents. Temporary or not, they are. For some of us, the only parenting we ever really got. They teach far beyond the boundaries of books. And should be paid as such. They shouldn't have to strike, but if they can't get paid well enough to compensate for all they do, maybe that's what they're left with.

What is the consensus for being well paid? What does everyone think a fair wage is? What do teachers get paid? Does anyone know, or have an idea?

We hear all the time "it's all about the kids". This is their mantra as they go out on strike. If it's for the kids, why hinder their education?

Jemdandy, what you said about teachers getting let go and then re-hired, as a new hire, that is blatantly unfair. Teachers get paid on a scale, so some don't reach the highest pay level, in that scenario.

The most gifted teacher I know--someone who can teach anything to anyone even when she barely understands it herself, and who teaches brilliantly that which she has full command of--moved abroad to where teachers get a lot more respect in society and a reasonable wage. The administration and directives from on high are as riduculous as ever, but she's treated by all as the highly educated, skilled professional that she is.

We like to claim that KIDS ARE ONE OF OUR HIGHEST PRIORITIES ... but early childhood educators get very low pay.

Teachers, especially in difficult areas, have a multitude of issues with which to cope.

Hardly surprising that many burn out after a few years of it.

And our kids don't know spelling, grammar, etc. ... or history ... or geography.

Oh, yeah - they can get any of that stuff that they need on Google ... but how many have any incentive to go looking?

In a recent international evaluation of students capabilities ... Chinese kids came first ... and (my memory's getting pretty bad) ... I think that U.S. kids came in 27th (of I don't know how many) ... and there was no mention that I heard on that Canadian source of where the Canadian kids stood.

I think that many kids raised in our milieu have been feeling entitled ... but it's an increasingly competitive world out there, and the global playing field is being levelled: our kids will be required to compete in a global market ... or get slaughtered.

ole joyful

Our teachers have gone on strike twice in the past 4 years. They were on strike when my neighbour's girl was in Grade 9 (the first year of high school) and now that she's in her last year, in grade 12.

By striking, (and there are different areas striking at different times......ours are scheduled for next Monday), if they strike less than 2 weeks, the school year will be extended. If the strikes lasts for 1 day more than 2 weeks, school and all the activities are completely cancelled. This means final exams (imperative to get the credits needed for college and university) any class trips, and the Prom. And the teachers say, "it's all about the kids".

If it were about the kids, they would strike in the summer.

Whether or not you agree with the concept of striking teachers is up, of course, to you; but I think you are missing the point of a strike if you suggest it be done in the summer.

Of course, it's to disrupt or stop an employer's operations to exert pressure for negotiating purposes.

I get that. So every time something doesn't go their exact way, they throw a tantrum and go on strike, instead of sucking it up. These are public servants, along with police officers and firefighters. Since our tax dollars go toward their very handsome wage, I think they should do the job for which they are being paid.

You certainly have a gift for calmly seeing both sides of an issue.

We need to put an end to collective bargaining in the public sector. Unlike collective bargaining in the private sector public employees do not have the incentive of competition. There is no built in system of checks and balances.

One of my peeves is when people scream about "a teacher makes less than a______". and other apples/turnips comparison. They usually fail to mention that a teacher, whether you want to admit it or not is a part time job, not a full time job. so the "______" to whom you compare works 12 months a year (less vacation/holidays) where a teacher does not.

I worked for school districts for many years. I taught and worked in other areas. People seem to forget that most teachers have the summer off. They have "convention" days off, 10-12 holidays, prep hours during the day (which street sweepers don't get) and then vacation on top of it. Calculate out the number of days, hours, months and you may be surprised how little they actually work. Of course that will vary from situation to situation but when I did a calculation when employed in the schools, teachers "worked" about 7 months a year. So when you compare salaries, compare them fairly, not emotionally. You may be surprised at what the numbers actually show.

In our area, it seems like teachers are not only fighting for increased salaries, but for LESS TIME WITH STUDENTS.. They seem to want more "inservice" time, more "planning periods" and more freedom from some of the tasks that used to go with the job....no "dismissal duty"...no "recess supervision" (that's probably why recess doesn't really happen anymore) and shorter required hours.. In a way, it seems odd that the rewards of being a good classroom teacher is that you are "kicked upstairs" (away from the stidents) to a higher salary as a principal. As a result, the really good teachers arent actually TEACHING our children. Maybe we have things backwards?

If you took what day care workers make, per child and paid teachers that they would more than double their salary. Does that sound like "fair" pay?
Before ANYONE judges I would challenge you to spend one week in a classroom, in charge of said room AND accomplish something in that classroom. Every fall retailers sympathize with paretns adn have "back to school" deals..poor mom and dad spent THREE MONTHS in charge of THEIR OWN children. Funny no one does the same for teachers at the end of 9 months each summer. Walk a mile people!!!

Why are there even unions with regards to teaching??? Unions came into force when wages were low and working conditions were intolerable. That is hardly the case these days!! Anytime they want more money, easy, just tax the tax-payers. They get every holiday off, spring break, a number of Fridays off throughout the year, and the obvious 3 months vacay. It's the highest paid part-time job there is.

I am a school secretary, I pass out paychecks, they are most certainly not compensated for what they do & the amount of money they spend on the things needed in their classromms that the budget won't cover.

The teachers here often work a good part of their vacations. They also stay quite late at night after students are released. Additionally, parent conferences, IEP meetings, Lieracy Meetings, Collaboration Meetings, Math Committee Meetings, school activities (open house, Spring Fling, concerts, plays, etc) are all held in the evenings. They also shop for supplies needed on their own time. I think many of you would be very surprised to know how many hours per week a teacher actually works.

It's not a part time job. That's insulting to teachers. Good teachers work very hard. They don't arrive and leave at the same time as their students. There are papers to grade, lessons to plan. I know several teachers and they spend their days off taking classes and working on things for their students. I am sure there are some teachers who don't but you will find lazy employees in every single career.

The school system has changed a lot. Having worked in one in the past doesn't indicate knowledge of the current situation.

I think teachers are underpaid and undervalued. Society whines that our children aren't being educated as they should yet we don't want to see teachers make a decent wage that they can live off of. No teacher I know is wealthy (not sure where this idea that teachers are well paid comes from) and they struggle just like the rest of us. In other countries that are severely outpacing us in education, teachers are highly valued. Here it sometimes seems they are treated as babysitters and paid accordingly.