By Steve Gunn
EAGnews.org

CHICAGO – For years it was tabboo in the Democratic Party to question the teachers unions.

But Democrats have children, too, and more and more of them are beginning to recognize the damage that Big Labor can do to public school districts.

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And they’re no longer afraid to air their grievances in public.

That was apparent in a recent Chicago Sun-Times guest editorial, written by Rebeca Nieves Huffman, director of the Illinois chapter of Democrats for Education Reform.

Huffman accused the Chicago Teachers Union, and its blustery leader Karen Lewis, of planning for months to “hold our city – and our schoolchildren – hostage by calling for a strike.”

The union has given preliminary indication that a strike could begin about the time classes are scheduled to start in the fall, unless a new collective bargaining agreement is negotiated by then. Chances of that seem remote, with the union asking the nearly bankrupt school district for an absurd 30 percent wage increase.

“This does not sound like a union that has any respect for the principles of collective bargaining, where both sides work in good faith at the bargaining table,” Huffman wrote. “Rather, union bosses like Karen Lewis seem intent on thuggery and intimidation to get their way outside of the process.

“Mayor Rahm Emanuel has shown he’s able to be reasonable at the bargaining table, offering a compromise on the length of the school day. Many advocates felt he gave too much, but negotiations are never perfect. At least he didn’t take his marbles and go home, which is what the CTU is essentially threatening to do.

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“CTU’s political brinksmanship is bad for kids. While the rest of the city has been focused on how to improve math and reading results for kids, the union has been busy demanding a 30 percent raise.  Teachers need and deserve to be rewarded for the crucial work they do, but only if they view themselves as partners in our kids’ education. The ‘mock vote’ to strike held at some schools made clear what the union thinks about that partnership.

“Despite all the threatening strike rhetoric from the union bosses, we have to believe there are teachers all over the city who are more interested in helping their students prepare for their futures than holding Chicago hostage to create some dubious leverage over the public school system.

“It is time for those teachers to stand with parents and declare that enough is enough. Chicago will be watching to see who is really putting our students first.”

We couldn’t have written it better ourselves.