Union Opts to Continue Chicago Teachers Strike; Mayor Takes Fight to Court
The week-old teachers strike in Chicago’s public schools will continue into the new week, after a special committee of the Chicago Teachers Union decided not to suspend the strike days even though union leaders and school officials reached a tentative contract deal.
The move left Mayor Rahm Emanuel vowing to go to court to force teachers back to work, calling Sunday’s actions by the union “a delay of choice that is wrong for our children.”
The mayor announced in a statement that he’s asked city lawyers “to file an injunction in circuit court to immediately end this strike.” He contended the strike is illegal because “it is over issues that are deemed by state law to be non-strikable, and it endangers the health and safety of our children.”
“I will not stand by while the children of Chicago are played as pawns in an internal dispute within a union,” Emanuel said.
Representatives from the teachers’ bargaining team detailed the proposed contract to the committee, called the House of Delegates, in a meeting Sunday afternoon. But Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis said that, after extensive debate, the delegates said they wanted more time to discuss the contract with union members.