Teachers Are Being Pushed Back Inside Despite Slow Vaccine Rollout truthout.org - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from truthout.org Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Sharkey said the offer from CPS would pause in-person learning if there are COVID-19 outbreaks in 50% of buildings at the same time, which he said amounts to more than 200 schools. He also noted that the proposal denies remote work accommodations to 75 percent of educators with household members at high-risk for COVID-19 and will not make any improvement in remote learning, despite four out of five students remaining remote.
In a news conference Thursday, Lightfoot said discussions between the district and the union had moved backward as she blasted the union, saying the city was out of runway to get a deal done.
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The union said it interpreted that move as a hopeful sign of good-faith negotiating after threats of a lockout by the district.
“We don’t want a lock-out, Sharkey said. We want to keep working remotely as we bargain an agreement to return to our classrooms safely. And we’re one step closer to that goal today, because management has agreed to stay at the table rather than escalating conflict or locking out educators.
Teachers and more than 60,000 students were expected to return to in-person instruction on Monday as part of the city s phased reopening plan, but union officials have refused to go back to in-person learning, citing ongoing public health concerns.
Labour unions are back in the spotlight in the US and for all the right reasons. There are implications for organised workers’ movements everywhere, as well as for the call to rebalance the deepening divide between labour and capital.
The resurgence goes beyond the obvious signals from America’s new administration. President Joe Biden has conspicuously placed a bust of the Latino labour activist Cesar Chavez in his office. This week, Marty Walsh, the former construction union leader he nominated for labour secretary, faces US Senate questioning on his suitability for office. And Janet Yellen, Mr Biden’s Treasury Secretary, has already told the Senate at her confirmation hearing that she wants to help American workers. Meanwhile, Mr Biden is pushing plans to raise the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour, something that last happened in America in 2009. (It went from a measly $6.55 an hour to an unspectacular $7.25.)