Chicago's Teachers End Strike

The Chicago Teachers Union voted yesterday to end their week-old strike.

Karen Lewis, the union president, described the voice vote as 98 percent to 2 percent in favor and a sign that the deal was seen as good, though hardly perfect. “We said that it was time — that we couldn’t solve all the problems of the world with one contract, and that it was time to suspend the strike,” she said. The contract still requires ratification by the union’s 26,000 members. That process was expected to take several weeks, though Ms. Lewis said passage was expected. The terms, which appeared to provide some victories for both sides, would give annual raises to teachers, lengthen the school day and allow teachers to be evaluated, in part, with student test scores. The school system would also aim to guide laid-off teachers with strong ratings into at least half of any new job openings in the schools.

Wingnut sites spent the last week denouncing the teachers as greedy thugs that do nothing but pump out illiterate criminals.