By Ben Velderman
EAGnews.org

HIGHLAND PARK, Ill. – For Illinois families, the 2012-13 school year is turning out to be the Year of the Teachers Strike.

At 12:15 a.m. Tuesday, the North Shore Education Association officially announced that its members were going on strike over unfulfilled salary demands, reports WGN Radio.

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The NSEA became the fifth Illinois teachers union to walk out on students so far this school year, which is barely two months old. We suppose the Chicago Teachers Union strike got everyone fired up, and many other local unions want to demonstrate their commitment to “the cause.”

In a prepared statement, the NSEA said it was striking because the North Shore school board has been unwilling “to come through with a contract that would continue to attract and retain the best teachers for the children of the Highland Park School District.”

Notice the carefully chosen words “for the children.” Those have become magical buzzwords for the unions. They think that clichéd phrase allows them to repackage the most galling examples of union greed into sterling examples of the union standing up for the best interests of children.

The NSEA is essentially telling families, “We have to disrupt your child’s learning process in order to help him or her learn.”

That’s an absurd defense, and its unlikely many Illinois taxpayers really buy that argument.

Unfortunately, the unions have so much power in Illinois that they don’t even need to attempt to justify their behavior with the public.

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They offer their feeble defense only because it’s expected of them, its part of the show. (It’s sort of like going to a concert and hearing somebody shout out a request for “Free Bird.” Nobody finds that joke funny anymore, yet the concert experience just wouldn’t be the same without it.)

What this fifth teachers strike proves is that Illinois is every bit as much “The Land of Big Labor” as it is “The Land of Lincoln.” Many state lawmakers have deep financial connections to the state’s teachers union, which means they have no incentive to see Illinois join the 37 states that have banned teacher strikes.

We’re curious to see how far the strike mania spreads in Illinois, and how much citizens are willing to tolerate before they start to demand change.