Chicago teacher strike is not for the children

The motives of teachers unions are always pure and can never be questioned. Unlike other “workers,” teachers are professionals who are never out for themselves. Everything they do is for the children.

Thanks to the Chicago teachers strike, this myth may finally be busted. It’s all too clear that for the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU), students and their families are about as important as widgets on an assembly line. Here’s how you can tell:

Teachers asked for a 30 percent increase to reflect CPS’ desire to extend the elementary school day from 5 hours and 45 minutes, one of the shortest school days in the nation, to a more average 7 hours, and to add 10 school days per year. This would bring CPS’ school year closer to the national average of 180 days.

Even though CPS offered as much as 16 percent in pay increases over four years (who in America is getting that?) and agreed to hire additional staff and classroom aides to handle the increased workload, the union rejected the contract. For the children.

Stranding roughly 350,000 kids at the start of the school year because you don’t want to be evaluated based on how well they do while under your tutelage, and essentially extorting the power of a school executive to make hiring decisions? Obviously, for the children.

CORE’s agenda for change in the Chicago school system is leftist radicalism, but of course, it’s for the children.

Chicago teachers are recruiting their students to join the picket lines. Using children to swell the appearance of your rallies and make a cheap political statement rather than go to work in good faith while your union and school officials hammer out a contract? Totes for the children.