Demanding 'Education Justice and Equality,' Striking Chicago Teachers Call on Mayor to Put Campaign Promises In Writing
"We mean business. It's got to be about shifting and transforming the infrastructure of inequity."
On Friday, the second day of the Chicago Teachers Union strike, union leaders said that contract negotiations have seen some progress but that teachers and Chicago Public Schools have more work to do before achieving "educational justice" for the city's 300,000 public school students—not just raises for teachers.
Before heading into negotiations Friday morning, CTU President Jesse Sharkey said the city offered $8 to $10 million to reduce class sizes—an improvement over the $1 million it initially offered.
But with lingering disagreements over staffing schools sufficiently and providing competitive pay to attract the highest quality teachers possible, Sharkey told the press the two sides are "not there yet."
The 25,000 CTU members and the 7,000 teachers' aides, custodians, and security guards who joined the strike—have won praise for focusing their demands on making structural changes to the city and school district, instead of just teacher raises.
"It's a short-term disruption for what we hope is a long-term commitment to educational justice in this city," Sharkey told reporters.
The teachers are calling for affordable housing for students and are treating their negotiations with the city as an opportunity to "bargain for the common good."
"We mean business," Stacey Davis Gates, vice president of the Chicago Teachers Union, told reporters. "It cannot be about politics and personalities. It's got to be about CONTINUE READING: Demanding 'Education Justice and Equality,' Striking Chicago Teachers Call on Mayor to Put Campaign Promises In Writing | Common Dreams News