Out in the Cold

The thermometer in the school window stood at 1DEG above zero, and bitter winds howled in off Lake Michigan. Bundled up in parkas and woolen face masks, a platoon of teachers stood shoulder to shoulder on the sidewalk and honked bicycle horns at anyone who pushed through their picket lines. "Scab! Scab!" and "Shame!" they shouted. "Don't go in! There aren't any children in there!" The few teachers who did venture in found the building virtually empty--and chilling; custodians honored picket lines by refusing to provide more than 55DEG of heat. The teachers sat at children's low tables, huddling in their overcoats, idling away the day in games of ticktacktoe.

So, for the third time in four years, a strike by the Chicago Teachers Union shut down the Chicago public school system, the third largest in the U.S.--650 schools, 558,000 students and 25,970 teachers. The two previous strikes had lasted a total of only six days, both ending soon after Mayor Richard Daley intervened. The agreements made the teachers among the nation's highest-paid, with a salary range of $9,570 to $17,000. Many Chicagoans thought that Daley might do it again. Complained Metro High School Junior Jeff Willard: "We're political footballs, waiting for the mayor to come in, beat his chest and solve everything."

This time, though, the situation appeared to be different. Like many other school systems, Chicago is running a deficit--about $74 million--and the school board declared that it could give the teachers no more. In fact, the board had tried to retrench. Last year it cut a scheduled pay increase from 8% to 5.5%, and this year it planned to lay off all employees for 17 days, eliminate 1,200 teaching jobs and reduce classroom supplies. In the face of public opposition, the board abandoned those plans. Then negotiations began on a new contract. By normal standards, the teachers' demands were modest enough--a 2.5% pay raise (the amount that had been trimmed away the previous year), a reduction in class size (now about 35 pupils), better job security and a voice in decisions on curriculum. The teachers also insisted that the schools provide more paper, pencils and other materials now in short supply.

Several board members agreed that the union's demands were justifiable but would cost $53 million per year and, as Board Member Mrs. Louis Malis bluntly put it, "there is no money." The board offered only to renew the present contract for six months. After 20 fruitless negotiating sessions, the teachers struck. Efforts soon followed to set up emergency schools. The teachers union itself helped organize 38 of them in churches, storefronts and library branches, enough to handle about 4,000 pupils.

But could anyone work out a settlement? Newly elected Governor Daniel Walker had promised during his campaign to increase the state share of school costs from the present 35% to 50%; last week he predicted that it would take more than a year to push his plan through the legislature. Outside in the frozen parks, Chicago's schoolchildren went skating.

In Philadelphia too the schools are running a deficit--$34 million. Last September the school board rejected teachers' demands that their salaries ($8,900 to $12,690) be raised by 6.7%, and the teachers struck for three weeks. They returned to work pending mediation by the state, but negotiations broke down two weeks ago and the teachers struck again; some 285,000 children were kept out of school. Mayor Frank Rizzo, an ex-police commissioner who has sworn not to raise taxes, pronounced himself opposed to pay raises for teachers, though he favored more money for policemen and firemen, who also are negotiating new contracts. Said Rizzo: "They put their lives on the line. The teachers don't."

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.