PHIL CANTOR: Were striking for a lot of reasons. If you just see whats in the mainstream media, all they talk about is that teachers want more money. But thats really far from the truth. Were fighting for reasonable class sizes. Were fighting for wraparound services for our students. I teach in a school with a thousand students; we dont even have one social worker in that building for most of those kids. So were fighting for the education our students deserve in Chicago. Were fighting against reforms that we see, from the classroom level, are not going to work.
AMY GOODMAN: Explain why the emphasis on salary then. Is that the legal issue of what allows you to strike?
PHIL CANTOR: Thats absolutely right. You know, Rahm Emanuel has pushed through laws in Illinois, basically designed for his political gain, in my opinion. Were not allowed legally to strike over anything but compensation. But teachers are not most interested in compensation; were most interested in being able to do our jobs for the students we serve. So, you know, I think were trying to tie other issues that we feel are very important to compensation, so theyre part of the bargaining table agreement.
RHODA RAE GUTIERREZ: Well, so last night we watched Rahm Emanuel on hisMayor Emanuel on theat his press conference, and I was incredibly disappointed. I was disappointed because he said that one of the things that hes going to measure teachers on is essentially test scores. And what I know as a parent is that when teachers are measured in terms of their performance because of test scores, what happens is that teachers are forced to teach to the test, and they have to narrow the curriculum on veryon very, like, minor skills that are taughtthat are tested on these standardized tests. And so, he calls for a rich curriculum, and yet he calls for, what he says, merit pay, but what it is is test-based pay. And that is not a rich curriculum. It is narrowing the curriculum. And it was incredibly disappointing to me when he said that at the press conference yesterday.
http://www.democracynow.org/2012/9/10/striking_teachers_parents_join_forces_to#transcript