Chicago is a mafia fiefdom and the teachers are just one faction wanting their share upped. Their support is important to the machine but not as important as the police, transit and sanitation factions. The argument centers around how much more blood can be bled from their host, the city's few remaining taxpayers, without running a serious threat of killing it. The police can barely keep things under control now and don't want to risk it. The teachers are real pirates, they don't give a shit. They just want theirs. Hey, good luck to them. They have our future in their hands.