Steven Greenhut on How the Chicago Strike Shows How Unions Stifle Reform

Chicago's public-school teachers went on strike over a modest plan to extend their work day and subject them to the type of standardized performance testing they typically administer to students. As Steven Greenhut observes, it was the latest reminder that teachers' unions exist to expand the pay and protections of teachers, not to help "the children." Unions protect their worst-performing members, which is why Mayor Rahm Emanuel's testing plan caused so much angst.