Chicago teachers vote to authorize strike amid contentious contract talks - The Washington Post

Chicago teachers vote to authorize strike amid contentious contract talks - The Washington Post

Chicago teachers vote to strike Oct. 17 if contentious contract talks are not settled

Chicago teachers have voted to strike Oct. 17 if contentious contract negotiations with city officials are not resolved, affecting some 300,000 public school students in the nation’s third-largest district.

School support staff and park district workers — who are represented by a different union — also set Oct. 17 as the day to strike if their contract talks are not resolved, meaning that unionized teachers could be striking at the classroom at the same time public parks could be closed. The city’s contract with the Chicago Teachers Union expired in June.

If Chicago teachers walk off the job, it would be the latest strike by educators in a string of job actions that began in early 2018 in states controlled by Republicans and Democrats. This year, teachers went on strike in Los Angeles, Denver, Oakland and Sacramento. Teachers have been seeking not only higher pay but more resources for cash-strapped schools.

Chicago teachers voted overwhelmingly Wednesday to strike in two weeks if their demands — which include higher pay and benefits, fully staffed schools, smaller class sizes — are not met by Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s administration. Some class sizes exceed 40 students, the union said, and many schools do not have sufficient staff, including nurses, social workers and librarians.

Other union demands involve social issues, including affordable housing for teachers, students and parents; an expansion of community schools that provide services for students and their families (including counseling, medical and dental care, food support); and an extension of the city’s moratorium on charter schools, which are publicly funded but privately operated.

Lightfoot and Chicago Public Schools Chief Executive Officer Janice K. Jackson said that even though they are doing “everything in our power to reach a fair deal” to avoid a strike, they are making preparations for one, and they pledged to keep schools open during school hours “to ensure students CONTINUE READING: Chicago teachers vote to authorize strike amid contentious contract talks - The Washington Post