Teachers picket outside Gary Elementary School in West Chicago, on the first day of a strike for Elementary School District 33. (Credit: Nancy Harty/WBBM)
Reporting Bob Roberts
WEST CHICAGO (CBS) – Negotiators were meeting again Tuesday in the strike by teachers in West Chicago Elementary School District 33.
The negotiations resumed at about 4:30 p.m.
The teachers’ chief negotiator, Mary Catherine Kosmach, said that about 125 teachers and sympathetic parents greeted the negotiating teams as they arrived at the West Chicago Middle School, at 238 E. Hazel St. in West Chicago.
The board tendered a revised contract offer to the teachers at 7:15 p.m., Kosmach said. She did not immediately have details of the offer, or a reaction from the union.
Discussions broke off Sunday between the two sides, after more than 16 months at the table, triggering Monday morning’s walkout by 284 teachers.
The strike has idled 4,100 students who attend six elementary schools, one junior high and a preschool program that meets at two locations.
The issues on which they remain divided include salary, health insurance, class sizes, retirement benefits, and methods for teacher appraisals.
