The Chicago teacher’s strike

There is no question that in their early years unions were a potent force for worker’s rights and reasonable pay.  Nor is there any question that by now many have become one of the biggest obstacles to progress. The Chicago teacher’s strike is a case in point.

   

The Chicago schools have some of the highest dropout rates in the nation (nearly 40% in 2011), and in 2011 only 44.6% of Chicago school students met the Illinois state learning standards. 11th Graders College Readiness Benchmarks for Chicago school students are 21% in Reading, 19% in Math, 11% in Science, 38% in English

Clearly something is failing in the school system. It is true that some 80% of the students are “poor” by official American government standards (which, by the way, is pretty well off by the standards of much of the world), and so that will certainly account for some of the difficulties.

To make things even worse, the Chicago school system faces a $667 million ANNUAL deficit this year, projected to pass $1 billion ANNUALLY by 2014 when the school system resumes making full pension payments. Chicago spends, as of 2011, $21,024 per student per year. The US average is about $7,742

Chicago politics have always been a bit “murky”, to put it mildly. The teacher’s unions have cut sweetheart deals with politicians for decades, in return for faithfully supporting them in elections.  As a result the average teacher in Chicago makes $71,236 a year for a nine-month working year, although with pension and benefits added in, it is closer to $150,000 per year for nine months work, and about $200,000 per year for 12-month assignments.  And it is almost impossible to fire a teacher even if they are incompetent. A Chicago teacher who retired in 2011 after 30 or more years of service time could expect an annual pension of $77,496 per year. By contrast the average Social Security benefit—which requires a much higher employee contribution into the system—would be about $25,000 to $30,000 per year for a worker with a similar salary history.

Now frankly I think a GOOD teacher ought to be paid that kind of money, or even more. It would attract our best and brightest back into the teaching field and immeasurably improve our educational system. But that level of pay for the average teacher in a failing school system, which is also financially bankrupt, clearly doesn’t make sense.

So the union was asked to accept JUST a 16% pay increase over the next four years, accept some teacher evaluation based in improvements in student test scores, and give principles a little more control over what teachers they hire – not unreasonable given the huge deficit and poor performance.  But that was unacceptable, so the union went on strike.

We will see shortly what settlement they finally reach, but it is clear, despite all the union rhetoric about the importance of students, that the Chicago teacher’s union is really all about maintaining their member’s extraordinary pay and benefits irrespective of how well they are teaching the children. That is why unions like this are now an obstacle to progress. I can't conceive of any private enterprise that could survive a month in the marketplace with such a dysfunctional employment policy..