As we enter week two of the Chicago teachers strike, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel is looking to the courts to put an end to the strike. Union and school leaders seemed poised to end the strike last week but were uncomfortable by the tentative contract offered. Click below to read more.
The union and school leaders seemed headed toward a resolution at the end of last week, saying they were optimistic students in the nation’s third-largest school district would be back in class by Monday. But teachers uncomfortable with a tentative contract offer decided Sunday to remain on strike, saying they needed more time to review a complicated proposal.
Emanuel fired back, saying he told city attorneys to seek a court order forcing Chicago Teachers Union members back into the classroom.
The strike is the first for the city’s teachers in 25 years and has kept 350,000 students out of class, leaving parents to make other plans.
Working mom Dequita Wade said that when the strike started, she sent her son 15 miles away to a cousin’s house so he wouldn’t be left unsupervised in a neighborhood known for violent crime and gangs. She was hoping the union and district would work things out quickly.
“You had a whole week. This is beginning to be ridiculous,” Wade said. “Are they going to keep prolonging things?”
Months of contract negotiations have come down to two main issues central to the debate over the future of education across the United States: teacher evaluations and job security.
Union delegates said they felt uncomfortable approving the contract because they had seen it only in bits. The union will meet again Tuesday, after the end of Rosh Hashana, the Jewish new year.
“There’s no trust for our members of the board,” Chicago Teachers Union president Karen Lewis told reporters Sunday night. “They’re not happy with the agreement. They’d like it to actually be a lot better.”
Emanuel said the strike was illegal because it endangers the health and safety of students and concerned issues — evaluations, layoffs and recall rights — that state law says cannot be grounds for a work stoppage.
“This was a strike of choice and is now a delay of choice that is wrong for our children,” Emanuel said in a written statement.
The strike has shined a spotlight on Emanuel’s leadership more than ever, and some experts have suggested the new contract — which features annual pay raises and other benefits — is a win for union.
