Waukegan teachers strike puts union first
Here’s what Waukegan High School student Kyra Lyons had to say to CBS Chicago on the subject of the Waukegan public-school teacher strike: “Neither of them are doing anything to help the students. It’s just about money and what they want.” Kyra is a perceptive young woman. The Lake County Federation of Teachers, which has...
Here’s what Waukegan High School student Kyra Lyons had to say to CBS Chicago on the subject of the Waukegan public-school teacher strike:
“Neither of them are doing anything to help the students. It’s just about money and what they want.”
Kyra is a perceptive young woman. The Lake County Federation of Teachers, which has shut down public schools in Waukegan, Illinois, by calling a strike on Oct. 2, certainly isn’t the advocate for children that it often claims to be. Looking over the union’s official “final offer” – which it is required to turn over to the state when negotiations reach an impasse – we see a number of demands that the union has made that are clearly not in the best interest of the children they serve:
- A shorter school year – three fewer working days, and two fewer school days
- Teachers would no longer supervise children as they arrive at school, nor watch them as they leave on school buses
- If a school social worker is involved in a crisis situation (such as a student threatening suicide or being caught up in a family problem) that extends more than an hour after regular working hours, the social worker is to be relieved by an administrator
- Stricter limits on the number and length of parent-teacher events
The union is clearly looking out for itself, as the offer also calls for a dramatic increase in the amount of time that teachers can be paid for doing union work during school hours. Currently, the union president can work on union business for 40 hours a month. The union wants to have its president working full-time on union business, along with several other teachers working part time on union business – all paid for by Waukegan taxpayers.
To be clear, the “final offer” is not a take-it-or-leave-it list of demands. The union might drop one or more of these stipulations to make a final deal. But at the very least, the union is willing to use students – even those who are most vulnerable – as bargaining chips; and that’s something parents and students might want to keep in mind as they cope with the sudden shutdown of their schools.