Unhappy Ending

Teachers' strikes ended on uncertain notes in two of the nation's largest public school systems last week. In New York, 55,000 teachers returned to their classes with a settlement that left almost everyone unhappy. In Chicago, 27,000 teachers went back to school after the board of education agreed to give them millions of dollars more than it had in its budget.

Not even the negotiators were pleased with the contract that ended the New York strike. "Neither side will sing victory songs about this," predicted School Board Vice President Robert Christen. Albert Shanker, president of the 81,000-member United Federation of Teachers called it a settlement that "nobody likes." Certainly few educators did. As Shanker outlined the proposed contract to the union's delegate assembly (which had voted overwhelmingly to strike the week before), he was interrupted with jeers and catcalls of "Sellout." Outside Madison Square Garden, rank-and-file teachers chanted: "Vote no, vote no." The roiled, resentful membership finally ratified the contract by an unenthusiastic vote of 10,651 to 6,695.

Short Day. The settlement made many teachers wonder if the five-day strike was worthwhile. It preserves the official class size at 32 in elementary school, 33 in junior high and 34 in senior high, but it reduces the class day--at six hours and 20 minutes already one of the shortest in any large city--by two 45-minute periods a week. In return for the abbreviated schedule, teachers give up two preparation periods. The board agreed to use the money it "saved" during the strike (by not paying teachers' salaries and by fining them two days' pay for each day they walked out) to rehire as many as 2,400 of the 4,500 teachers it had laid off. It also promised teachers a $300 cost-of-living increase plus a "longevity" raise up to $1,500. New York teachers already have a salary range of $9,700 to $20,350, but whether they would ever receive the new increases was moot; the state has frozen all municipal wages.

Catherine B. Cass, president of the city school boards association, reported that New York's 32 local school boards were "furious" at the central board's concession to the teachers in cutting the school day. "Parents don't like the shorter days either," she added. Stephen Desposito, principal of Intermediate School 59 in Queens, said simply that the board seemed to be working with "funny money" that it might not have. That was a mild way of saying that the union had extracted a dangerous settlement from a city on the verge of bankruptcy.

A subdued Shanker predicted that "there will be a mess for a period of time." The man who had done more than his share to create that mess may pay heavily for violating a state law prohibiting strikes by public employees. Shanker served two 15-day jail terms after leading the 1967 and 1968 teacher strikes.

While it was uncertain who won the New York strike, it was clear that the city's 1.1 million public-school pupils were the losers. David E. Wiley, an associate professor of education at the University of Chicago, and his colleague Annegret Harnischfeger have been studying the relationship between the amount of time pupils spend in school and how much they learn. Their conclusion: the reduced New York school day will cause at least an average 10% drop in pupils' reading and math ability.

In Chicago, the eleven-day strike ended after Mayor Richard J. Daley put pressure on both sides, and the settlement was a clear victory for the teachers. In fact, they won a 7% raise (from a current scale of $10,400 to $20,996), smaller class size and a promise from the board not to eliminate 1,525 teaching jobs--all adding up to a $79.6 million package. Unfortunately, that was $52.9 million more than the board had to spend. Said School Superintendent Joseph P. Hannon, "We're going to need massive amounts of dollars from the state."

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