Chicago Teachers Union votes to authorize a potential strike

CTU leaders said late Thursday that more than 94% of active members voted in favor of a strike.

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Supporters cheer at a CTU rally in union headquarters Tuesday. More than 94% of active members’ ballots that were counted by late Thursday had voted in favor of a strike. | Ashlee Rezin Garcia/Sun-Times

Ashlee Rezin Garcia/Sun-Times

Chicago’s teachers have decided their contract demands are worth striking over, voting overwhelmingly to authorize a potential walkout and setting up a contentious showdown with city and school officials the next two weeks.

Chicago Teachers Union leaders said late Thursday that more than 94% of ballots counted by that point had “yes” votes in favor of a strike. More votes would be tallied Friday, but the union had enough members in favor to pass the 75% threshold needed to authorize a strike and raise the stakes on bargaining.

“We want what’s good for teachers. Teachers want what’s good for the children,” CTU President Jesse Sharkey told reporters at the union’s Near West Side headquarters.

Though an actual walkout isn’t guaranteed, the union’s House of Delegates is expected to set a strike date at its meeting next Wednesday, putting the CTU one step closer to a work stoppage that would be the first at Chicago schools since a one-day labor action in 2016 and a historic seven-day strike in 2012. More than 90% of members voted in favor of a strike ahead of the 2012 walkout.

The earliest the union’s 25,000 teachers could strike is Oct. 7, though indications from the CTU are that a walkout would come closer to mid-October.

Chicago Teachers Union news conference.

CTU President Jesse Sharkey (at podium) announces late Thursday that teachers have authorized a potential strike.

Nader Issa/Sun-Times

Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Chicago Public Schools CEO Janice Jackson said in a joint statement that they “are committed to doing everything we can to finalize a deal that is sustainable for all Chicagoans and for our city’s future, that respects our teachers, and continues our students’ record-breaking success for years to come.”

With the vote, the CTU joins more than 7,000 members of SEIU Local 73 who already voted in favor of a strike. SEIU represents school support staff workers at CPS who include special education classroom assistants, bus aides, security guards and custodians. Park District workers have also authorized a strike, possibly putting a dent in the city’s usual plan during a teachers’ strike of sending the about 300,000 students at district-run schools to Park District buildings.

“It is a shame that we have to be in a position to put together a 94% vote to demand things that should be a given in our school community,” said CTU Vice President Stacy Davis Gates.

“When we say that we don’t have nurses on the South Side or the West Side, or librarians and libraries on the South Side or the West Side, that is not a talking point,” Davis Gates said. “This is the reality for far too many of our students of Chicago Public Schools.”

Mayor Lori Lightfoot turned up the heat on the union earlier Thursday, saying that a potential walkout would be “catastrophic” for the city’s students.

“We’ve had a very successful launch of the start of school,” the mayor told reporters at a South Side event. “Our kids are involved and engaged in their extra-curricular activities. They’re bonding with their teachers. Having a strike would be catastrophic for the learning environment for our kids. We can’t lose sight of that.

“We’ve got to focus on our kids and keeping them in school,” the mayor added. “We know that kids who stay in school are much less likely to be victims of crime and much less likely to be perpetrators of crime. So, putting ... kids on the street when a deal is right here at our fingertips — how does that make sense? It doesn’t.”

Lightfoot has offered teachers a 16% pay raise over five years, a deal she has repeatedly called “generous.”

But teachers have argued that the contract fight is about more than money. The mayor has refused to write into the contract the CTU’s demands on smaller class sizes and the hiring of more nurses, librarians and social workers in schools. The city has also worked to cut down on existing paid teacher preparation time.

“They’ve asked for additional librarians, counselors, nurses,” Lightfoot said. “We said, ‘We agree with you.’ We’ve put that into the budget for this year. We’ll continue to honor that commitment. So, what are we talking about? ... We should be at the bargaining table 24-hours-a-day, seven-days-a week, whatever it takes to get a deal done.”

The two sides have been bargaining three days a week all month and could start meeting more often next week.

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