New York Times: Push nearing shove
At a contentious meeting on Tuesday, New York City teachers and their union president, Randi Weingarten, gave Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg a deadline of early October to offer them a fair new contract. If he fails to do so, they threatened, they may strike, endorse his Democratic rival, Fernando Ferrer, or maybe both.
A walkout is considered unlikely. It is illegal for teachers to strike, and they would face jail, the loss of two days’ pay for each day out of work and the likelihood of public sentiment turning against them. But behind the threatening exchange is a complex, bitter and increasingly unpredictable labor dispute.
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