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.

Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio

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.
 
Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio

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.

Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio

Violence Mars Union Rally with Wall Street Protesters

Mario Tama/Getty Images(NEW YORK) -- Unions on Wednesday helped the group Occupy Wall Street occupy lower Manhattan.

But what began as a peaceful rally turned ugly as the night wore on. A small group of protesters tried to rush a police barricade, leading to 20 and 30 arrests. Some people were hit with batons and pepper-sprayed.

The incident marred an otherwise significant day for Occupy Wall Street, a movement that began three weeks ago with just a few dozen people camping out in a small area to protest corporate greed and high unemployment.

Their protests garnered the attention of various unions who share some of the same beliefs, namely, that the banks and the wealthy have gotten all the breaks and remained powerful during the long economic downturn while practically everyone else has been hurt.

What really caught the eye of more organized movements was the march on the Brooklyn Bridge on Saturday that led to more than 700 arrests.

Members of the Transit Workers Union, the Chinatown Tenants Union, MoveOn.org and others marched Wednesday to Zuccotti Park where Occupy Wall Street has been camping out to show their solidarity. There were several thousand people at the rally.

Copyright 2011 ABC News Radio