Chicago Board, Teachers Break Off Negotiations

Negotiators for striking Chicago teachers and the school board returned to the bargaining table Saturday but later broke off their talks, with a board spokesman reporting progress and the union sharply disagreeing.

Teachers also returned to the bargaining table in Detroit, after a circuit judge ordered a negotiating session to begin Saturday.

The 10-hour negotiating session Saturday in Chicago was the first between the school board and the Chicago Teachers Union since the strike began Tuesday, keeping the district’s 430,000 students out of classes that had been scheduled to begin Wednesday. It is the school system’s ninth strike in 18 years.

After mediator Wesley Jennings recessed the talks, board spokesman Bob Saigh said some movement was made on non-monetary issues, although the board had not changed its position that there is no money for pay increases.

Negotiations Called Charade

Union spokesman Chuck Burdeen called the negotiations a charade. “They seem to be following the route of prolonging the strike and hoarding the money it saves,” he said.

No further talks were immediately scheduled, both sides said.

‘Intense Negotiations’

In Michigan, Wayne County Circuit Judge Maureen Reilly ordered “intense negotiations” throughout the weekend to end the Detroit strike, which has kept 193,000 students out of school since it began Aug. 31.

Bargaining continued late Saturday, said Lucille Streety, a secretary with the Michigan Employment Relations Commission, which sent a mediator to coordinate the talks between the board and the Detroit Federation of Teachers.

Nationwide, strikes in seven states--Illinois, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Washington--have affected more than 47,000 teachers and more than three-quarters of a million students.