Chicago Teachers Back Strike if Needed

Norman Parish | As of Wednesday, December 16, 2015


In what could be another major crisis for Mayor Rahm Emanuel, the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) last week overwhelmingly gave its leaders power to call a strike; the development coming right as community leaders and residents call for Emanuel’s resignation.

The union voted over a three-day period last week. The teachers union released the results Monday.

“Late last week teachers. . . members of the CTU – voted overwhelmingly to authorize a strike,” said CTU Vice President Jesse Sharkey. “The actual result was just over 96 percent voting yes with a 92 percent turnout. Rahm…listen to what teachers and educators are trying to tell you: do not cut the schools anymore, do not make the layoffs that you have threatened; instead, respect educators and give us the tools we need to do our jobs. . .”

“Chicago Teachers Union members do not want a strike, but we do demand that you listen to us. Do not cut our schools, do not lay off educators or balance the budget on our backs,” Sharkey continued.

If teachers eventually strike, it would be the second one in three years. In the 2012 strike, teachers picketed and halted classes for more than a week after stalemates on teacher evaluations and compensation.

In the current dispute, the union and school officials are battling over teacher evaluations, salaries and testing. Cuts to public education were a strong motivating factor in the teachers vote, Sharkey said in a news conference.

The strike vote comes as city officials haggle over spiraling pension costs.

“Making sure that our children are learning remains our highest priority,” said Chicago Public Schools (CPS) CEO Forrest Claypool. “We have the highest respect for our teachers’ work and while we understand their frustrations, a strike that threatens to set back our students’ progress is simply not the answer to our challenges. Instead, the solution to our $1.1 billion problem must begin with Springfield. CPS students receive only 15 percent of the state’s education funding from Springfield for Chicago’s children. We continue to negotiate in good faith with the CTU leadership to reach a fair, multi-year agreement that protects teachers, their jobs and ensures our students’ success.”

The teachers’ contract ended in June.

A strike apparently can’t happen for several weeks. A fact finding process must occur and then there is a 105-day waiting period before a strike, city public school officials said.

On Dec. 7, the union filed a grievance with the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board. It asked the board to immediately have CPS start the fact-finding process.

There are about 400,000 students in city public schools, the third largest school system in the country. The union represents 27,000 teachers.

During the last year, CPS suffered a major blow: Barbara Byrd-Bennett, the former head of the school system, pleaded guilty to accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes and kickbacks. She was accused of steering $23 million in contracts to a former employer.

The strike vote also comes as the mayor is being rocked by a Chicago Police Department scandal.

Just two weeks ago, Police Supt. Garry McCarthy was ousted after a controversial dashcam video showed a white police officer shooting a black teen16 times.

Largescale protests were held in Chicago’s downtown shopping district because of the shooting and other controversial police conduct. Retailers have reported big sales losses on Black Friday because of the protests.

City Police Officer Jason Van Dyke has been charged with murdering Laquan McDonald, 17, in the October, 2014 shooting incident.

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