Why Teachers Strike

It ain't for the money.

I'm going to beg Erik Loomis' forgiveness for copying his entire post, because it's short and that good.

Shorter a lot of “progressives” today: “I usually support unions, but these Chicago teachers [insert Republican talking point about unions.]”

People are complaining–these teachers are highly paid, how dare they strike! First of all, I love that even self-identified “progressives” buy into the tear other people down argument. “If they make more than me, they should have no right to strike!” As opposed to, say, “The CTU really shows all the good a union can do and I want a union in my workplace so that I too can be compensated fairly for my labor.”

The other ridiculous thing about these complaints is that pay is only a small part of the issue the CTU has with Rahm Emanuel. You can download either a 1 page list of demands or a full 46 page report here outlining CTU demands. Most of the demands have to do with staffing schools, equitable distribution of resources between schools, small class sizes, and other issues that again show that no group is more pro-child than teachers’ unions. Yes, the teachers also want to be paid appropriately, but that is far from the only issue here.