A, I disagree with many of your points but I will focus on one fact that you have incorrectly stated. All bets are NOT off with tenure anymore. A recent law eliminates tenure as the sole reason a teacher keeps his or her position. Job performance evaluations are now the key factor. They have made it easier to get rid of bad and apathetic teachers.

If teachers were really just in this for the money, I am pretty sure they could go elsewhere and get paid a whole lot more to do a whole lot less. If you haven't been in a classroom, don;t talk about what you don;t know.

What pension reform for Police and Fire? There is none, The reform covers the Teachers and State workers. Not Police, Fire, Judges or Legislators. All of these groups pensions are way more lucritive than teachers. As for the statement, go find another job, the fact that Police and Fire always through up we risk our lives, we deserve more pay us seems to work for them. If Police and Fire are such dangerous jobs in Oswego then you would think there would be some line of duty injuroies or deaths. Can't recall any. How many police died in columbine, oh that's right they didn't even go in until an hour after it was over. Also help me figure out the statement of parents don't know what to do with their kids in chicago since the strike began. My answer is the same thing you did when they were on summer break.

My benefits are getting cut at work too, and I have no recourse. I just have to be thankful that I still have a job when so many don't. With so many desperately unemployed people out there, I get really angry that these teachers selfishly put everything on hold so they can go throw a tantrum while parents and students suffer. It's not right. Like you say, they got into this field of work knowing that there are enormous challenges inherent in it, and then they constantly complain and act like martyrs. There are some fabulous teachers out there that really care about the kids and the job they do, and there are plenty of teachers who just don't care, and don't contribute - they shouldn't be on a level playing field. When everyone is lumped together, the bad teachers slip through the cracks and there is nothing to be done about it. We'd be much better off without the unions. I agree that they know they are finally getting attention to their cause, so they are going to milk this for all it's worth. Trying to resolve every one of their issues all at once is not reasonable. If they weren't demanding so much at one time, they would have settled long ago. They are just being stubborn. That Karen Lewis is a joke, too; the Drew Peterson of the CTU.

The air traffic controllers weren't supposed to strike, and they did. Teachers aren't considered a public employee group vital to public safety, unlike police and fire. So, they are allowed to strike.

Mary Van..."I hope the mail service goes away". For just 44 cents the postal service will come to your home or business, pick up a letter or card, and deliver it to a front door any where in the country. There are hundreds of thousands of people who use the Postal Service everyday, and profitable deliveries or not, the USPS delivers to every home in the US. You want to know what I see everyday Mary Van. UPS and Fed EX, as well as other delivery services dropping packages off at the post office for the postal service to deliver daily. I won't even start about how congress has made the Postal Service over fund their pensions, which has cut into profits. By the way, postal workers are federal employees, that's why they cannot strike. Teachers are state employees and have the rigt to strike. President Regan fired the air traffic controllers because they were federal employees who went on strike. Have a clue before you just throw a very poor and uninformed opinion out.

You are an idiot. Not everything can or should be done online. Think about it...for less than fifty cents, someone picks up something from your house and it gets delivered anywhere in the country! Take a letter down to your local fedex/ups and ask them to deliver it...see how much that costs you jackass.

Cost of living, fair evaluations, and bringing back laid off teachers is all their asking for....doesn't sound greedy to me.

And let's remember......never did Mayor Daley have a strike

This is a battle between who controls the teachers; Union Leadership or the folks at CPS administration.

All CPS teachers in charter schools are not unionized, so you can see why this is huge.

Pay is not an issue since CPS teachers are on the top end. Why the union turned down 16% over 4 years says a lot in what union leadership is aiming for,

The evaluation system is a point to some degree since teachers will be held accountable for kids who have no parenting at home and such. Trying to control and teach kids who really don't want to be there is something I do understand.

Chicago is usually a leader when it comes to teachers contracts, so both sides better be careful what they agree too, since it will filter down and across the nation and have far reaching implications locally.

I'm not anti-union and if it somehow could help the kids I would be all for paying the teachers more, but CPS is a mess and it instead of just making it a better place for the teachers to work, its time we make it better for the kids. The huge success of the charter schools are really making CPS look terrible. Teachers need to be evaluated and then fired or rewarded with a raise if the principle thinks that is necessary. Its wrong for the teachers halt all meaningful progress just for the fear of being wrongly evaluated. Yes, these kids are tough, but they took the job , and they need to stop making excuses about how hard the kids are and start teaching, otherwise CPS will be slowly replaced by Charter Schools. It says something when you have a school system where no one really wants to send their kids. I fully support Rahm.

"evaluation system Rahm Emanuel is trying to strong-arm into place."??? Really?
Oh how unreasonable to have to undergo an annual evaluation! I'll notify my employer at once.

I have always been an advocate for vouchers. If the teachers are buying school supplies shame on them that goes back long ago that enable parents to be irresponsible. Getting meals to these students is another dependency.
i know of 5 great teachers in 308. I would have embraced a voucher. Maybe the communication would have improved.

Look at Wisconsin.

Comparing teachers to private sector jobs is apples to oranges. Teachers can not "fire" their students if they don't perform like people in private sector jobs can.

A better analogy would be a dentist or doctor. They "teach" their patients how to brush, floss, eat healthy, not smoke... but if their students choose not to learn what they are taught, should the dentist or doctor loose their job or have a reduction in their salary?

Ken, the way you're talking is apples to oranges too. Students are not "employees" of the teachers; they are the sole reason the teachers have a job. I can't fire my customers when they aren't performing or doing something right with my products. Why? Because they are the sole reason I have a job.
And to think that one of the sticking points in negotiations is that teachers don't want principals to be able to fire them if they are doing a bad job. Ridiculous. Can you imagine being a "boss" and not being able to fire poor employees?
Let's look at your dentist and doctor analogy here. Should they lose their job if a patient smokes and has gross teeth or a heart attack? Good question. But where the "apples to oranges" situation comes in is that the patient can choose whether they want to go to that dentist. The students can't.
Finally, to all you people with the 98-degree, non air-conditioned schools. Um, we never had air-conditioning when I was in school. Cops and firemen don't have air-conditioning when they're out in the field. Construction workers, same. Uncomfortable, no doubt. But when you went to school for teaching, was air-conditioning a guarantee? No.

Kelly,
Name one private sector job where an employee is evaluated based on the performance of someone else that doesn't have a vested interest in doing well.

Ken - Nursing. In many cases, nurses are given raises strictly on the basis of patient satisfaction surveys. The patient has no vested interest in whether that nurse gets a raise or not.

Kelly,
That's interesting. My child has been in 4 different hospitals (2 of which were in Chicago and 2 in the suburbs) in the last year. Not once did I get a survey. If I did get one and returned it back blank or filled in the boxes to make a design, would the nurses be fired? Believe it or not, that happens quite often with student tests. They may fill in their name only and leave the rest of the test blank or they may make a pattern when they fill out the bubbles.

How will SpEd, HI, VI, O&M, SLP, PE, Music, Art...teachers be evaluated?

Will the IEP goals of SpEd students be "dummied down" so that everyone listed in the IEP gets a raise?

It's not as simple as giving raises based on test scores.

This is a brand new evaluation process for CPS teachers beginning this year. All principals were required to take classes and tests proving that they know the ins and outs of this evaluation process. MANY principals failed their tests. Why should CPS teachers have a high-stakes evaluation process by a principal that does not fully understand how the process works? The union is asking for a pilot year in the new evaluation process. They are NOT asking for teachers to not be evaluated based on performance. Also, having tenure in CPS does not mean that you cannot be fired or laid off. You also ask why the other "issues" are not being stated to the public and that all you hear about is the money. CTU members are not allowed to strike over work conditions anymore. A law was passed recently taking away their right to strike about pretty much anything but money. So if union leaders mention anything about other issues, everyone could all be fired. Poor work conditions for teachers means poor learning environments for students. AND when it comes to the standardized test scores being used towards teachers raises or lay offs: the seventh and eighth graders in CPS have already begun taking standardized tests during their first week of school. Those students have already found so many typos in the tests! I fully agree that there should be an evaluation process dealing with pay raises, but the system needs to be 100% accurate first.

You've never gotten a patient satisfaction survey? Interesting. I've been to several hospitals in the area - Edwards, Delnor, and most recently, Rush-Copley - and gotten one from all of them. And I have several friends and family members who are nurses and the results of those surveys are, in fact, figured into reviews and raises.
That said, I don't believe raises should be based solely on test scores, so on this, we absolutely agree. But I do think it should be part of the evaluation process. Perhaps a three-year average. And there has to be some professor out there who can calculate a formula that averages how many "pattern" or "blank" tests are in the bunch. There has to be an answer out there somewhere.
I'm not trying to rail against the teachers. I think a few bad apples don't account for all of them. I had some wonderful teachers, but I also had some horrible ones who didn't care to teach. It's sad.

Kelly,
Not in the last few years. My child was at Hinsdale, Edward, U of Chicago and Loyola. Not one of them sent us a survey. While in patient, they all gave us a business card for the patient rep but that's about it.

I'm not against evals either. I'd like to know how they plan on doing them with SpEd, HI, VI, O&M, SLP, PE, Music, Art...and what these evals will me to children with an IEP.

Will the IEP goals of SpEd students be "dummied down" so that everyone listed in the IEP gets a raise?

Ken, do not even speak to IEP that is a total state joke. The facts are if a student has an IEP it does not help them improve their skills by state standards. Lets just say if a child has low reading....

and their math has a reading problem....oh check the obligation is accommodated.
I had a student in 308 that also had my students 5th grade records...and shazam that should have been caught 5-6 years ago....the records show that but oh no the 308 folks did not disclose any of "their" law that they work from. I had to corner them in a conversation....No one ties any of this stuff together..all loose ends...

now I am so irritated...

Jerri,
The IEP program in 308 was overhauled 4-5 years ago. 8-9 years ago it was a joke...now its good. I know...I have 2 kids in it right now, one of which started school 9 years ago and we had nothing but problems.

Kelly, construction workers work in the heat yes, Cops and Firemen spend 99% of their time in air conditioning. So don't use them as an example. 98 degree class rooms are tough on the teachers, but even more on the students. Do you think these kids are paying attention while sweating in a 98 degree class room. But my point is, the schools that don't have air conditioning in class rooms have it in the office for the sec. and principals. And the administration building is air cooled. Are we there for the kids or the management.

My child has had an IEP for the last 17 years and I have another child that is a Special Ed teacher as well so I'm pretty familiar with both sides of the story. I have seen IEP goals dummied down so far so that my child's test score on the AA test showed that they were meeting or exceeding standards in Science but what it didn't show was that the reason they scored so well was because the goal was something along the lines of the student will place a bean seed in a pot of dirt.

I've also heard many times from my child that is a Special Ed teacher how she is not given the resources listed in her students IEP.

Lastly something that most people don't know is that standardized test scores revert back to the child's "base school". So in other words, you have a child that attends a school other than their base school whether it be for SpEd or Gifted Ed. The test scores for those children is not reflected in the data for the school that is actually teaching them but it's reflected in the data of the school that the child would have attended if they were not out-placed.

I'd still love to know how the specialized teachers like SpEd, HI, VI, O&M, Reading Specialist... are going to be evaluated and scored with making IEP goals less challenging.

Oswegosmarts - Again, my point is that we went to school in non-airconditioned facilties and we did just fine. And you have no idea how long a cop or firefighter is out in the field, so way to throw 99% out there.

You might wanna double check your facts...

http://www.cps.edu/News/Announcements/Pages/09_09_2012_A1.aspx

The facts are hard to double check from a google search in Plainfield. Are you reading an article with phrasing like, "Teachers dig in heels and refuse to consider a 16% pay raise," or are you reading an article that touches on the back and forth negotiations, including the revocation of an earlier agreed-on pay raise, and makes clear that teacher evaluations and hiring/re-hiring are the major points of contention?

We don't know what's going on behind closed doors and what exactly is going on as both sides offer, counter-offer, refuse, and go back to the table. I personally feel certain that teacher greed isn't the reason we're seeing a Chicago teachers strike for the first time in 25 years.

amen mary van......I have fought off my fellow community people because of poor home values....and what a battle it is .....still going on...nobody is responsible anymore....everyone has a bad attitude of wanting to be taken care of...

Is the $48,000 figure=with college degree-for those working in the city of Chicago?
Interestingly enough, success for some students is getting them to school. For many kids, school is the least of their life concerns. Once there, they have to be convinced that you are there for THEM. School districts like to present clips from Stand and Deliver as motivation for the start of school years. Have you seen it? The man goes to kids houses to get them to come to class, spends the school day and most of the rest of the day worrying about his students and then has a heart attack. There are Bad teachers. Think of this...a teacher could be fired for sneezing during a meeting during their four year probationary period. Not 30,60 or 90 days. So, if bad teachers make tenure, it is the result of poor management. If you ran a business, wouldn't you be able to identify a poor employee before 4 years are up.

1. You are the teacher of the Gifted students. Test scores...Great
2. You are the teacher of the Gen population...Test scores Great, Good and Poor
3. You are the teacher of the At risk students...Test scores Poor

What do the test scores say? The teacher 3 should be fired and Teacher 2 should be on probation.

What they do not say? Both of these teachers could be teaching the kids HOW to learn, HOW to get along, HOW to be different, etc. Some students will not use these skills until adulthood, but they are there.

Tenure=ability to fight for kids without job risk.

Chicago city teachers have an incredibly difficult job, suburban teachers don't.

Concerned,
Chicago teachers have a different set of conditions, but the suburbs are not easy. Shadow a teacher. Wow.

http://www.familytaxpayers.org

Included in teacher pay: extra duties outside of school day like coaching, substitute teaching during their conference and plan period, working games (high school), etc.

These are not listed. Many have their masters not just the BS or BA. I worked with several that had PhD in their subject area (high school).

FYI

Where are the parents with solving their children's problems? All this has to tie together....

A very unimpressive "leader" indeed. Seems like she's enjoying the spotlight, not knowing (or caring) that she looks like an idiot. How does someone like this get elected anyway?

She is simply a leader with a loud attitude...

I don't know about Chicago but suburban schoolteachers are evaluated by dept. heads and principals.
What about all the special ed students that are severly handicapped,at a mentally low age that can never make progress. Is it fair to judge those students the same way.The teachers would constantly be fired for their students not advancing. Husband is a teacher in that kind of classroom and the school can't even come up with a curriculum that fits the students,because there is not one available.

I believe they are in agreement with salary and school districts should be audited. Too many generals who have forgotten how to be soldiers.
The sticking points are not financial.

Illinois is not broke because of hard working teachers or other workers for that matter. Teachers lose in negotiations too. My new contract was far worse than the old. Including items that will make it harder on students, but we were weak and didn't strike because so much of our workforce was non tenured and afraid to stand up for the students...4 year probation...can be fired for anything as long as they can find some way to word your evaluation poorly.

New evaluation procedures will make it easier to get rid of bad teachers, but also good experienced and educated teachers because the $ too much.

I'm trying not to read articles, I'm trying to go directly from the sources; The CPS and the CTU and it appears the CTU is failing on getting out information that would make the average lay person understand what is going on.

So until the union leadership starts selling what they want harder, they're losing the PR and public opinion battle.

mr. Paul Lark,
The unions do so on purpose....media likes unions and disgruntlement....just wait lets see who wants to be the hero....then you know to stay away from that person....blowing smoke

You need to apply to charter schools. That, right there, changes the game. In some families, in the suburbs, the kid is the only one with satisfactory english or education for that matter. Leading to the fact that, though available, some families may not know the process of getting the application 'in'.

The fact that they apply also suggests greater parental/family investment in education. That is huge.

If it's a calling they should never go on strike. Mothers don't go on strike because they have difficult kids or because they get blamed by the errors their kids make.
It's a job, they are on strike for all the wrong reasons and that is enough reason to question how much they actually care about the kids.

A: First of all, if there is a teacher out there who is doing it for the money instead of for the students....I'd like to meet them. Teachers on average, at least the elementary and middle school teachers I've met, and let me tell you, I have been in the Plainfield Schools community for quite a few years, do not make that much money nowadays and what little they make, they have to use to buy supplies and whatnot for their classrooms/students. They are not given an expense account like so many corporate employees. As for a legitimate grievance or gripe, I think that what they are fighting for IS legitimate. Let's see.....the kind of evaluations that are being used to judge their performances as well as other details like pensions, health care, etc. These are quite legitimate. As for the "poor teachers"....YES! They are the poor teachers. They work long into the taking home work and poring over homework assignments, tests, quizzes, and term papers, and spend their free time thinking of ways to help their students maximize their potential. Can you say the same for your job??? I am in the real world. I've raised three children, on my own, since my youngest was 3. My oldest is now a senior at Northwestern University, a four-time Deans List, cheerleader for the Wildcats and holds two jobs while on campus. My youngest is a junior at PNHS and is in Marching Band and the Tennis team. So, I repeat....I am in the real world and quite aware of the value of teachers in our society.

"Next, monitor results and those teachers and their administrators who are not bring their students along on a predetermined path to graduation...fire them! "

I'm interested to hear how you purpose doing that for Special Education, Hearing Itinerant, Vision Itinerant, O&M Itinerants, Speech/Language Pathologists, PE, Music, Art...teachers.

Kota, really?
How many teachers are in the news for the Wonderful things they do for kids?
Doesn't get ratings.
But thanks for throwing that in as if it is the norm.
Explain the teenagers and unwed monthers and etc. Are you blaming teachers or is there more to that that you did not state?

Well said.

Teachers do not have to join a union...there is lots of pressure though to join....Jewel employees have to because of closed shop like the one on route 30. those kids pay around 8.00 a week each....I say they need to vote the union to be an "open store" and work on merits.

Not true, and yes kelly I have a little insite on what Police and Fire do my wife is a cop and my brother in law is a Fireman. Family events are fun because they try to outdo each other as to how much sleeping and doing nothing and making $125,000 a year. And paid days off etc. Also my wifes pension is way more lucrative than our teacher friends. She makes tens of thousands more and can retire with less time. You see while everyone keeps banging on teachers, both my wife and brother in law hope you don't look their way. In fact I don't either, she is retiring in two years and in her first year her pension will be $97,500 . Not bad for 53 years old.

I agree with many statements here Kota.
In addition, why do we pay for drivers ed? Reading Writing Math Science Arts, but Driving?

Unfortunately, that is the way a tax system works. SS is not guarenteed for me, but I pay...Sucks, my taxes went up and home value down, but that is where I choose to live.

Charge each parent $5 (cheap rate) or so an hour for each student.????

If only all the complainers could walk in a teacher's shoes for a week or even a day.
I have seen the Watch Dog program in action and seen a lot of dads looking very overwhelmed at what goes on. Very enlightening.

BPC9 I was on your side if you had read it correctly. Please re-read my post and you should catch on to my comment.

I think he was being sarcastic as was I.

Hey bpc9, 150 kids per day in my high school. I think it is amazing that parents think we will be so overwhelmingly more successful with them than they are at home. 'I cannot get ___to do homework' oh, explains test scores.

It is amazing that some of you allow kids to go to school with such little respect for educators.

In other competitive countries, kids and families respect educators. That is one form of payment we do not get here in USA. In fact, I would say that that is one reason we are falling behind other countries that do not 'make' kids go to school and who believe it truely is a privilege to be educated. We educate all students no matter their ability and believe all students can improve. Yet, not all can be doctors and engineers because it is beyond their ability. However, they can all be successful.

JK, Never did I say the strike was about money. In fact I didn't say what the strike was about. I said I would give teachers anything they want if I had a magic wand. Glad you're such a rockstar in reading for comprehension. And thanks, I do plan to stay at home.

How rude.

bpc9 no apology needed, I understand your frustration! It's unbelievable that we can give CEO's of companies( that we as taxpayers had to bailout) bonuses yet we have a problem paying teachers a fair salary. No wonder this country lags behind in education. A lot of these kids don't learn and that's a parent problem. How many of these parents are actively involved in their children's life, not many from what I've seen. When you decide to bring another human being into this world you make a choice that for the next 18yrs it's your responsibility to make sure that person is housed, clothed and educated by either you or a teacher. Parenting doesn't stop when they walk out that door. Time some of them get rid of the game systems and t.v's. I'm a single parent, we have no t.v. or game system and my girls are all honor students. By the way I work 1 full time and 2 part time jobs so this can be done.

thanks Kota
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fuBmSbiVXo0&feature=share

Share this...This is how I and many of my teacher FRIENDS feel. It isn't the money.

"Someone previosly made a comment about apples and oranges relating teachers to private sector jobs...If you supervise 100 people and you cannot motivate them to perform....you lose your job.....its all apples."

That would be me. The reason that I see if differently is that the 100 people that you supervise have a vested interest in doing well, a job and a paycheck.

Teachers on the other hand are expected to get results out of students that have no vested interest in the process.

Teachers can't fire their students for not doing a good job like a manager can fire his/her employees. That's were it becomes apples and oranges.

parents have to apply/sign up for charter...means they are invested. That is a HUGE difference that is not being taken into account.

I read, but check me on it, that the teachers could only strike for $. So whether or not it was about $ they need it to be in order to strike. Please check that as I cannot locate my original citing.

Your numbers just don't add up. You say your husband is working 12-18 hours a day. Last time I checked, there were 24 hours in a day. That means that he has 6 hours left that include his commute to/from work, teaching at 2 different universities, preparing his instruction for these classes, grading papers from these students,running the business that you own, eating, sleeping,..

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Law enforcement is one of the top ten most dangerous jobs in the United States. It is rank the highest of any profession where a worker faces being murdered on the job (48% of all police fatalities). The facts to support this statement are clear; in 2010, 134 police and sheriff's patrol officers lost their lives on the job. In 2011, 124 law enforcement officers lost their lives. Police officers have the second-highest nonfatal injury rate of any job.

Police Pension facts: Most Illinois local police officers do not receive medical benefits when they retire. Local police officers have to contribute 10% of their earning into the Down State pension plan and can not spike there salary the last few years with overtime. Granted, local police officers can “retire” and draw their pension at age 50 or now 55 (new law in 2012) with a minimum of 20 years and they would collect 50% of their salary. If they work 30 years on the job they max out and collect 75% of their actual salary (no spikes). The Illinois State Police are in a different pension plan than local police. The State is struggling with State police pension because a State policeman can retire with 26 years on and collect 80% salary (including spiking the last three years with overtime). The State can not keep paying full lifetime medical benefits or keep dipping and borrowing from the pension plans.

My point: Do not think that all local/State pension benefits are the same.

Lee,
police officer is #10, out of 10. And it is not 48% murdered, it is 48 total being murdered.
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/the-10-most-dangerous-jobs.html

Stuntman, Truck Driver, Garbage Man, Roofers, Miners, Farmers, Airplane Pilots, Lumber workers, and FISHERMEN (in order from lowest to highest) are all more dangerous jobs.

The death rate in fishing is almost TEN TIMES higher than police man, but fishermen will be lucky to make half the salary of a police officer.

You can worship police officers all you want, but you need to face the reality that there are plenty more dangerous jobs, that pay much less than police officer. Out of all those jobs, police officer is also the only one paid for with tax dollars.

You also left out that almost half the fatalities of police officers were in highway traffic accidents. I imagine if we took into traffic accidents into consideration, even an accountant has a more dangerous job than a police officer.

Think I'm joking?
An accountant driving to work;
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_traffic-related_death_rate
12.3 deaths per 100,000 from car accidents in the US

A police officer;
18.3 per 100,000 when accidents are included

In other words, a police officer faces just about the same background death rate as the general population.

Tim,
Try making that argument to the family of the Ship, Michigan police officer who was killed 2 days ago. He was gunned down on duty.

That's all well and good, but those numbers are still much lower than the regular accidental death rate for the general population.

In other words, being a police officer is LESS DANGEROUS overall than the everyday life of a regular citizen.

And exactly how many are forced to take the job?

Right.

The 'dangers' of having a lower incidence of accidental death than the general population?

There is no more danger to police work as a whole, than there is to you. In fact, you face more danger than they do. Stop idolizing police work based on nonsensical myths.

Somehow I don't think "accidental death" is what most cops and their families are concerned with, Tim.

Ask the family of the murdered Michigan police officer (3 days ago).

Playing with numbers cannot trump reality. Being a cop is dangerous. Body armor is not an affectation.

It's not that easy Tony. People tend to forget that teachers teach the future of this country. You sit in a room with 30 kids all day everyday, and inspire them to do amazing things. The reason you know how to read and write in this blog is thanks to your teachers. People forget that, and the media is portraying them as greedy. In other countries, being a teacher is the highest honor. What's happening here is a shame if you ask me.

Oh and I worked at a school district not as a teacher but as an administrator so I should know.

"All of the negative comments are obviously from people who went to school and now have kids in school so therefore they are qualified to evaluate teachers. (sarcasm)"

Brilliantly put (no sarcasm). I've been struggling to figure out how so many ignorant people can feel comfortable being so vocal about something they know nothing about, but you've nailed it. These experts you've described join forces with the, "If I don't get baseline level quasi-fair treatment in the workplace no one should...If others demand it they're greedy" or "My husband and I chose to work multiple jobs and never have any free time ever (literally....ever), so no one should expect free time...If they ask for semi-decent compensation they're greedy." You're so right. In addition to those thought processes there's, "I had cruddy teachers in the seventies, so the Chicago teachers of 2012 should let unions nationwide bend over and take it from Rahm and others determined to privatize and profit from education, setting the teachers up for unfair and imminent termination based on illogical evaluations." Or "My cherubic son/daughter had a bad (fill in the grade) teacher, so this strike must be about those evil unions and the greedy teachers throwing a tantrum and demanding more money."

You've filled in the missing piece, Tom. I sincerely thank you.

Kota- what's the main sticking point in the negotiations?