Because
with the way the two sides are showing that it will take a political miracle
for them to agree on a deal, I wonder if that could have been enough of a
factor get get Garcia’s mayoral aspirations the additional votes to close what
was a 56-44 percent gap in the electoral turnout.
NOT
THAT I think any of the people who wound up voting for Rahm Emanuel’s
re-election could have been swayed into backing Garcia’s mayoral campaign. But
could it have motivated more of the roughly three-fifths of registered voters
who didn’t bother to vote to take some sort of action?
Could
we now be dealing with “Mayor-elect Jesus Garcia” if the contract talks had
become more of an issue prior to April 7?
That
thought popped into my mind this week when I learned that the Chicago Teachers
Union filed an unfair labor practices complaint with the Illinois Educational
Labor Relations Board.
It
seems the Chicago Public Schools has asked the teachers to take a pay cut,
supposedly to avoid the possibility of layoffs. The union has called that pay
cut proposal an insult.
THE
PAY CUT is allegedly necessary to come up with the money the district needs to
cover a larger share of the cost of covering pension payments for teacher
retirement programs – supposedly a 7 percent cut in the amount of paychecks the
teachers currently receive.
It’s
coming across that the Chicago Public Schools wants help from its labor in
terms of addressing the financial problems that now face District 299 (a.k.a.,
the city’s public schools system).
The
current contract expires June 30, but I don’t think there’s anybody out there
who expects the two sides to suddenly come to terms and meet that deadline.
We’re
likely to see continued talks throughout the summer months, then the
possibility of wondering if the schools will open on time (and stay open) for
the 2015-16 academic year.
BECAUSE
THE TWO sides have had several sessions dating back to November, yet there
doesn’t seem to be anything in the way of progress. The Emanuel mayoral
administration is likely go to into the local history books as the one that
continually provokes strikes from its teachers.
Unlike
the Richard M. Daley administration that managed to go for decades without
labor disputes.
Now
I can already hear the rants of certain types of people (the ones who think the
City Council was disrespectful to Gov. Bruce Rauner by immediately passing
their anti-turnaround measure after the governor urged them to support it) who
are going to claim that the unions ARE the problem and that we’d all be better
off if we’d realize that employers should be able to give us what they think is
proper.
But
this desire to advance oneself and look out for our interests IS the “American
Way,” so to speak.
I
CAN’T REALLY fault the teachers union officials who are following the lead of
union President Karen Lewis, who this week said she believed the public schools’
negotiating tactics are “reactionary and retaliatory” for past grievances.
Even
though I’m sure some people would argue they are merely examples of Rahm being
Rahm. And I mean the overly-profane Emanuel; not the nice, soft, fuzzy Rahm who
tried creeping up in the campaign commercials while talking about how
incompetent a person Garcia is.
Well,
Election Day is past. We have the officials we have. Those people who care
about Garcia’s future are likely to focus on the talk that he will run for
something (most likely a Congressional seat) come the 2016 election cycle.
Although
I do wonder if he could wind up getting a boost in such a campaign if the
teacher contract talks do wind up resulting in picket lines for a second time
in four years. Sort of a “Who’s not qualified now?” type of vote for Chuy
against whomever he winds up challenging!
-30-
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