Demanding ‘pay and benefits that give us dignity,’ 25,000 Chicago public school teachers go on strike
Our children deserve the best that this city has to offer. They do not deserve broken promises.”
Accusing Democratic Mayor Lori Lightfoot of rejecting contract proposals that would create better public school conditions for educators and students, the 25,000-member Chicago Teachers Union went on strike Thursday to push for “pay and benefits that give us dignity and respect.”
In addition to teachers, more than 7,000 teacher aides, security guards, and custodians—members of Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 73—will join CTU’s strike.
The goal of the walk-out in the nation’s third-largest school district is “to win—in writing, in an enforceable contract—learning and working conditions that respect educators and provide Chicago’s students with the schools they deserve,” the union said in a statement Wednesday night.
It's official. Rank and file strikers are telling the press why we're out on the picket lines tomorrow. #FairContractNow #CTUSEIUstrike #PutItInWriting pic.twitter.com/1ViBN6jAgm— ChicagoTeachersUnion (@CTULocal1) October 16, 2019
Classes for around 300,000 Chicago Public School students were canceled on Thursday in anticipation of the strike, which follows months of tense contract negotiations. Teachers and school workers CONTINUE READING: Demanding ‘pay and benefits that give us dignity,’ 25,000 Chicago public school teachers go on strike – Raw Story