The Chicago Teachers’ Union figures that striking against Obama’s best bud, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, in a presidential election year will force a quick and generous settlement. Possibly, the union also felt that Rahm was gang-tackling them, handling them an offer they wouldn’t want to refuse, for fear of embarrassing the President in a close election year. After all, Republicans have never ever been so anti-public employees union as they are now. Do the Chicago teachers not want a friend in the White House?
I’m figuring that, right now, they don’t have one. Democrats are happy to stand up for public employees in the abstract, but the average Chicago public school teacher makes about $71,000 to $76,000, depending on whether you believe the union or the city, for working nine months a year. And that’s without benefits. Maybe I’m projecting, but I’m thinking that union leaders are living in a dream world if they think that the public is going to rally behind them. And if they think that it won’t make a difference whether Barack Obama or Mitt Romney is in the White House, well, they may find out the hard way. This is the Chicago teachers’ first strike in 25 years, and it may be their last.
