Port Strike in California Ends After Eight Days

Laura Lezza/Getty Images (file photo)(LOS ANGELES) -- The stalemate between union workers and shipping companies that crippled two ports in California for more than a week is over.

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa announced late Tuesday night that an agreement was reached after accompanying federal mediators to the talks.

"I think its appropriate to say mission accomplished," Villaraigosa said.

The eight-day strike shut down 10 of the 14 terminals in the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, through which nearly half of the nation's cargo moves.  The walkout left billions of dollars worth of goods sitting in the water, unable to be delivered to stores and other businesses across the U.S.

The National Retail Federation had called on President Obama to intervene in the strike, saying most of its members have been affected.

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Calif. Walmart Employees Strike to Protest Treatment, Working Conditions

Justin Sullivan/Getty Images(PICO RIVERA, Calif.) -- Evelin Cruz used to be terrified to speak  up at work. A department manager at Walmart in Pico Rivera, Calif., for the past eight and a half years, Cruz, 41, feared she would lose her job if she spoke up against perceived injustices.

“People were really tired that any time they would speak out against the pay, hours, how much they would work, that management would cut their hours or not give them a schedule,” said Cruz, who is one of thousands of members of Our Walmart, a labor organization backed by the United Food and Commercial Workers that defends Walmart workers’ rights, told ABC News. “The retaliation was just enough.”

On Thursday, about 30 employees from the Pico Rivera store, including Cruz, wielded signs that read “Stand Up, Live Better, Stop Retaliation” and “Stop Trying to Silence Us” and marched outside the store. At the same time, workers at eight other Walmart stores in California also protested working conditions and treatment.

It was the first-ever employee walk-out in the company’s 50 year history, said Dawn Le, a spokeswoman  for Making Change at Walmart, a coalition whose mission is to change the way Walmart conducts business.

“Everyone else has a union,” said Le. “Workers in every other country -- Japan, the U.K., Nicaragua, South Africa, Brazil, Argentina -- have been able to form a union, except the U.S. and Canada. We just don’t understand the double standard Walmart has. How come those in other countries get to have a voice, yet not in the U.S., its home country?”

Walmart spokesman Dan Fogleman disputed Le’s charges, claiming that most employees have “repeatedly rejected unionization. “They seem to recognize that Walmart has some of the best jobs in the retail industry -- good pay, affordable benefits and the chance for advancement,” he said in a telephone interview with ABC News.

Walmart and its practices have made the news a lot lately. In mid-September, warehouse workers in Southern California were on a 15-day strike that included a six-day, 50-mile pilgrimage for safe jobs. Around the same time, hundreds of people marched in Dallas and San Diego, demanding better work conditions.

On Monday, Chicago police dressed in riot gear arrested 17 peaceful protesters blocking the entrance to a warehouse operated by an outside contractor that supplies Walmart stores, in Elwood, Ill. The protestors were there to show support for workers who had been on strike since Sept. 15, the Chicago Sun Times reported.  What’s more, the company faces yet another sex discrimination lawsuit, filed  on behalf of 100,000 women in California and Tennessee.

According to Dan Schlademan, director of Making Change at Walmart, Walmart employees across the U.S. have recently filed more than 20 charges of unfair labor practices with the National Labor Relations Board. "Workers find how Walmart has tried to retaliate by cutting their hours and not scheduling them for certain shifts when they tried to speak out, and they’re tired of it,” he said.

But the $16 billion dollar company sees it differently, arguing that the California rally was simply a “publicity stunt by the UFCW to seek media attention in order to further their political agenda and financial objectives,” said Fogleman.

Cruz, who makes $13.20 an hour -- up from $7.40 when she started -- begs to differ. “We just wanted to be treated like humans, not robots. We do have health insurance, but in most cases, you’re not even making enough to live on, let alone take anyone to the hospital.”

And though she worries about losing her job, she didn’t see another option but to voice  her anger. “We are still worried that they might retaliate,” said Cruz. “We know exactly how they operate. They wait until you feel confident, or put down your guard, and then they come after you one way or another. But that’s how tired we are of what’s going on in the stores.”

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Chicago Teachers Vote to End Strike

Scott Olson/Getty Images(CHICAGO) -- Chicago's first teachers strike in 25 years will come to an end after a week and a half when the teachers union's delegates Tuesday decided to return to school Wednesday.

Public school teachers emerged from a delegates meeting Tuesday evening and revealed that a huge majority had elected to suspend a walk-out that had dragged on for seven school days and featured bitter disagreements between teachers and the city of Chicago.

It had appeared that the strike was nearing an end Sunday, after both sides said Friday that they had settled on the framework for a new labor agreement. But to the surprise of many, the teachers decided to stay on strike Sunday, claiming that they needed more time to assess the deal.

The move infuriated Mayor Rahm Emanuel, who filed an injunction Monday to end the strike. However, Emanuel's move was not successful and it took until the delegates' meeting Tuesday for the union to call off the walk-out on their own terms.

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The strike, the city's first in more than two decades, had kept some 29,000 public school teachers and 350,000 students out of the classroom. For the last week and a half, students had gone to "safe haven" sites during the school day.

The two main sticking points in the talks had been the city's new proposed teacher evaluation system and the process for re-hiring laid-off teachers.

The teachers' union had argued that the proposed evaluation system would emphasize students' standardized test scores too heavily and unfairly penalize teachers, while the district countered that the system already includes input from teachers and can be adjusted to change the weighting of the test scores.

In the end that is just what the district did, reducing the emphasis on student testing and making the evaluation system more forgiving for teachers.

The negotiations featured a bitter back-and-forth battle between Emanuel, whom the teachers portrayed as a bully, and union president Karen Lewis, whom the city denounced for overseeing what they felt was an unnecessary strike.

After the teachers elected to return to school, Lewis told reporters that "we feel very positive about moving forward" and "grateful that we have a united union." Lewis said "98 percent" of the delegates at the meeting Tuesday wanted to return to school.

Lewis said that while the strike is suspended, teachers have not officially signed off on the new deal. It could take up to two weeks for the union's members to do so, she said, but the decision to end the strike was a clear-cut one.

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Chicago Teachers' Strike Nearing an End as 'Tentative' Agreement Reached

Scott Olson/Getty Images(CHICAGO) -- Chicago’s first teachers’ strike in a quarter of a century is coming to an end after a five-day lock-out full of heated negotiations, which resulted in both sides reaching a “tentative agreement” that could put some 29,000 public school teachers and 350,000 students back in the classroom Monday.
 
Representatives from both the teachers’ union and the city announced Friday that they have agreed on the framework of a deal and they hope to finalize it by Sunday, at which time the union’s members would vote on it.
 
Robert Bloch, the attorney for the teacher’s union, said negotiators have reached “the outlines of an agreement on the major issues.”
 
“We are hopeful that we will have a complete agreement done by Sunday,” he said.
 
That sentiment was echoed by David Vitale, the president of the Chicago Board of Education, who noted that "the framework" of a deal is now in place.
 
Vitale’s message to parents was blunt: "They should be prepared to have their kids in school on Monday."

A source close to the negotiations told ABC News that the “important thing” about the “tentative agreement” is that “kids will be back in school on Monday.”
 
“[The agreement] gives them the time in school and all the things we believe necessary for a good education,” the source said.
 
Negotiators had worked into the early hours of Friday morning before breaking for the night; they then returned to the bargaining table Friday at 9:00 AM. Signs of a potential resolution had first emerged Thursday morning when the tone of top negotiators turned from angry bitterness to cautious optimism.
 
“We had what we think is pretty good movement, but of course the board always has to do a little bit of backsliding,” Karen Lewis, the president of the Chicago Teachers Union, told reporters Thursday outside the Hilton on Michigan Ave., the site of the negotiations.
 
After a marathon bargaining session Thursday, Barbara Byrd-Bennett, the chief education officer for Chicago Public Schools, told reporters Friday morning that it had been a “beneficial night” that had brought the two sides “closer.”
 
“We are so close that I do believe on this sun-shiny day that it is very possible that we will have an agreement,” Byrd-Bennett said Friday.
 
The two main sticking points in the talks had been the city’s new proposed teacher evaluation system and the process for re-hiring laid off teachers. The teachers’ union has argued that the proposed evaluation system would emphasize students’ standardized test scores too heavily and unfairly penalize teachers, while the district countered that the system already includes input from teachers and can be adjusted to change the weighting of the test scores. In the past day that is just what the district did, reducing the emphasis on student testing and making the evaluation system more forgiving for teachers.
 
While a final agreement has yet to be reached, both sides now emphasize that a tentative one is in place, a final one appears imminent, and teachers and students will likely be able to return to the classroom on Monday.
 
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Chicago Teachers Union Says It’s Been Given an Ultimatum

Scott Olson/Getty Images(CHICAGO) -- The Chicago teachers’ strike will stretch into a third day Wednesday after negotiators failed to reach a deal yet again Tuesday evening.

After another long day of talks, David Vitale, the president of the Chicago Board of Education, told reporters that his side had presented the teachers’ union with an updated proposal Tuesday night and he would not return to the negotiating table until the teachers responded with a written proposal of their own.

“It is time for us to get serious,” Vitale said.

While Vitale said the two sides had reached agreements on various issues, a key sticking point remained a new system for teacher evaluations.

“I would not say that we came to an agreement on the fundamentals of all that,” Vitale said.

Minutes later, Jesse Sharkey, the vice president of the Chicago Teachers Union, came to the cameras to explain that, in his view, his side had essentially been given an ultimatum.

“We do feel like it’s sort of an attempt to throw down the gauntlet, and that’s an unwelcome development,” Sharkey said. "At the end of the day, they basically dug in their heels.”

Sharkey said the main topic of discussion Tuesday was the evaluations. He expressed frustration that the latest offer from the city would, according to him, leave 28 percent of Chicago teachers in jeopardy of losing their jobs within the next two years.

“The idea that 28 percent of our teachers could be fired due to poor performance is really an insult to the profession,” he said.

Despite the back-and-forth between Vitale and Sharkey Tuesday night, staffers from both sides are scheduled to meet again Wednesday at 11 a.m. CT. In the meantime, the Windy City’s first teachers’ strike in more than two decades will now extend into a third day.

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Chicago Teachers Strike 'Wrong... For Our Children,' Mayor Says

Scott Olson/Getty Images(CHICAGO) -- As Chicago teachers and administrators walked on picket lines Monday, Mayor Rahm Emanuel said it was "wrong ... for our children" and urged negotiators to "stay at the table."

The strike is the first teachers strike for the city in 25 years.

"This is a strike of choice and it's the wrong choice for our children and it's not necessary," Emanuel said at a news conference Monday. "Totally avoidable. ... We need to just finish the job ... given all the work that's gone on ... to make sure that our kids get the education they need."

The strike started Monday after this weekend's last-ditch negotiations between the Chicago Teachers Union and Chicago Public Schools failed to produce a new labor agreement.

The union represents more than 29,000 teachers in the third-largest school district in the U.S.

Negotiations between the two sides were reportedly stuck on two issues: teacher evaluations that focus heavily on standardized test scores and a benefits package for union members.

The teachers union argued that the evaluation system emphasized students' standardized test scores too heavily and unfairly penalized instructors. Emanuel said that he believed the tests would reflect better on the teachers' performances than the teachers thought.

Jesse Sharkey, the union's vice president, said Monday that teachers were trying to reach a contract with the city.

"I do think it happens to be that the issues we're facing in Chicago are the same issues that people are facing across the country," Sharkey said. "Public education has become an issue that's about people's rights and people's access to a high-quality future and so we think we're fighting for good public schools here and that's something worth fighting for."

Sharkey said that an atmosphere in which the school system took credit for successes and placed blame and failures on educators had created a "sense of resentment and frustration among our members."

With teachers out of the classrooms, 144 schools opened from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. to provide breakfast, lunch and care for students.

In a city where shootings have been the story of the summer, keeping nearly 400,000 students safe during the strike immediately has become a top concern.

The teachers' labor agreement ended in June and months of negotiations failed to hatch a new deal.

Karen Lewis, the union's president, said Sunday that the strike was a difficult decision that the group had tried to avoid.

"Throughout these negotiations have I remained hopeful but determined," she said. "We must do things differently in this city if we are to provide our students with the education they so rightfully deserve."

Emanuel Monday said that the latest offer presented to the teachers union was a fair one.

"This offer is respectful of our teachers," he said. "It does right by our students and it is fair to our taxpayers. It is a 16-percent pay increase over four years."

Emanuel said that the two sides had made so much progress in the negotiations that the walk-out should have and could have been avoided.

The mayor said that his team was ready to resume negotiations immediately.

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Emanuel on Chicago's Teachers Strike: Get It Done 'For Our Children'

Scott Olson/Getty Images(CHICAGO) -- Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel today had a blunt message for negotiators involved in the ongoing teachers strike, the city’s first in a quarter of a century: “Stay at the table. Finish it for our children.”

"This is a strike of choice and it's the wrong choice for our children and it’s not necessary. Totally avoidable,” Emanuel said at a press conference following his visit this morning to Maranatha Church, one of around 60 faith-based organizations serving as safe haven sites for children to use during the strike.

“We need to just finish the job – given all the work that’s gone on – to make sure that our kids get the education they need,” he urged.

Emanuel said the two sides had reached an agreement on every issue except two: teacher evaluations and control over hiring decisions.

“Everything here is down to two final issues. It's not air conditioning, okay? It’s 71 degrees outside. It’s not air conditioning. We don’t go on strike for air conditioning. Two issues, fundamental: an evaluation system designed by teachers, for teachers, revised by teachers [and] a system in which the local principal picks the most qualified teacher to teach or downtown does it. And I am against downtown. I want the local principal, your neighborhood school principal, picking the best qualified teacher.”

While the teachers union has argued that the evaluation system emphasizes students’ standardized test scores too heavily and unfairly penalizes teachers, Emanuel said he believes the tests would reflect better on the teachers’ performances than the teachers themselves seem to think.

"I have a bigger confidence in the quality of our teachers than they do, which I think is a little strange,” he noted.

The mayor claimed the latest offer presented to the teachers union was a fair one.

“This offer is respectful of our teachers, it does right by our students, and it is fair to our taxpayers. It is a 16 percent pay increase over four years. But what we can't do is roll back what is essential to improving the quality of our education,” he said.

“I'm not going to allow another generation to go on the shortest school day in the shortest school year. I’m not going to allow another generation to go that doesn’t make sure that we make improvements in our most rigorous curriculum,” he added.

Before concluding, Emanuel denounced Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney’s statement today on the teachers strike as nothing more than “lip service.”

“I don’t really give two hoots about national comments scoring political points or trying to embarrass, or whatever, the president.”

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