Workplace Blog

Chicago Sun-Times: State may limit teachers’ ability to strike

Chicago is one of just a handful of large urban school districts that allows its teachers to strike, and a movement is afoot to change that.

Teachers and school officials are in talks now; the contract expired June 30. Both sides say little progress has been made, fueling fears about a strike as the new school year approaches.

A proposal is making the rounds in Springfield to make it harder for Chicago teachers to vote to strike. Now, a deadlocked Chicago Teachers Union could strike after it has tried mediation and given school officials a 10-day notice.

FijiLive.com: Cabinet attempts to avert strike

Fiji’s interim Cabinet will meet in the next hour in a last-minute attempt to avert the looming strike by members of the Fiji Islands Council of Trade Unions (FICTU).

FICTU, which comprises the Fijian Teachers Association, Public Employees Union and the Viti National Union of Taukei Workers, plan to stage a nationwide strike on Thursday.

FijiVillage.com: Cabinet meets today to try and avert FICTU strike

The interim cabinet will meet from 11:30 this morning to make the final attempt to avert the looming strike by the Fijian Teachers Association, Public Employees Union and Viti National Union of Taukei Workers.

The unions are maintaining that they want the 5 percent paycut to be fully restored in August, retirement age to remain at 60 years and the COLA increments in the Partnership Agreement to be retained.

However Interim Prime Minister, Commodore Frank Bainimarama has made it clear that cabinet agrees that the interim administration just cannot afford to give into the civil service unions’ demands.

AllAfrica.com: South Africa: Learners Face the Strike’s Aftermath

THAT the month-long public service strike, in which large numbers of teachers took part, could have an effect on this year’s matric marks is evidence of weaknesses in the South African school system, said experts.

Many of the 12-million pupils who attend state schools lost up to three weeks of schooling, had mid-year exams postponed and were bullied , or saw working teachers bullied, allegedly by teachers who had downed tools during the strike. The strike was the largest and longest in SA’s history since democracy.

International Herald Tribune: Peru public school teachers agree to end 15-day strike

Peru’s public school teachers on Thursday ended a 15-day strike against a new law requiring them to take competency tests after government officials agreed to immediate talks on their demand for better training.

IPSnews.net: Strike Ends as Teachers and Gov’t Sit Down to Talks

Peru’s teachers’ union, which has been giving the Alan García administration its worst headache, decided to suspend its protests after 15 days of violence that resulted in three deaths and dozens of wounded across the country. But its battle with the government has barely begun.

“We will have ongoing and uninterrupted dialogue from today,” Education Minister José Antonio Chang said on Friday, after launching negotiations with the public school teachers who went on strike Jul. 5. They are protesting a new law on teacher education, which they regard as a move to “privatise” the sector.

“The strike is temporarily suspended until our claims are met in these talks,” Luis Muñoz , general secretary of the Unified Trade Union of Education Workers of Peru (SUTEP), told IPS, after meeting Thursday evening with the prime minister and president of the ministerial council, Jorge del Castillo.

News10.net: CSU Faculty Warns of Strike Over Budget

Budget talks at the state capitol have prompted threats of a strike at California State University.

The California Faculty Association which represents CSU faculty members says it’s learned that state lawmakers are considering cutting the state budget by 1 percent. CSU Chancellor Charles Reed said it would mean a $28 million loss for the general fund for the university system.