NEWSMAX: Mayor Rahm Emanuel is pushing back against the city’s powerful teacher’s union as Chicago’s budget crisis deepens — something that most Democratic mayors have avoided as to not upset their labor supporters.
After facing off against a historic teachers’ strike last August, Emanuel and the city’s appointed board of education in May made the biggest teacher cuts in school district history, laying off some 3,000 school workers — about 7 percent of the total teacher workforce — and closing 50 mostly elementary schools, about 10 percent of the citywide total…
The reason for the bold cutbacks is the $1 billion deficit facing Chicago Public Schools, with about 40 percent of the total shortfall in pension obligations… (more)
EDITOR: We can anticipate many of our cities and school districts at some future point seeking the protection of the bankruptcy court in order to limit their obligations to pay overly generous and unsustainable pension plans. The fault lies with those school board members and city officials that approved unaffordable pensions and the union officials that demanded them.
