Frustrated by ongoing budget cuts, layoffs, and the Chicago school board’s support for privatization, the Chicago Teachers Union voted overwhelmingly to take a “Day of Action” on April 1. 

 

The union has been fighting for the needs of the students of Chicago public schools. The union is in a two-front battle for survival: Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Governor Bruce Rauner both prefer charter schools to public schools. Both are hostile to the CTU. Rauner, a hedge fund manager and political amateur, has been unable to get a budget passed by the legislature, and the schools face a growing deficit without adequate funding. Meanwhile, the Chicago Public Schools–led by a non-educator–is demanding ever more layoffs and budget cuts. Chicago doesn’t want to pay for public education. The constant attacks on the union and on teachers hurts children. It means increased class sizes and loss of the arts, librarians, and other services.

 

 

Teachers will be walking off the job April 1 for a “day of action” the Chicago Teachers Union said it hopes will help pressure the city and state to properly fund the school system.

 

After months of threatening the action, the union’s House of Delegates took the vote during a meeting Wednesday night at the International Operating Engineers Hall, 2260 S. Grove St. The union voted to authorize the strike with 486 votes, said union President Karen Lewis.

 

Another 124 members voted against the day of action, but only because they thought an official strike should be organized immediately, Lewis said.

 

“The labor conditions have gotten to a point where they are not tolerable,” Lewis said at a news conference after the vote.

Whereas the union has traditionally clashed with Mayor Rahm Emanuel over issues of funding and school closures, this time the teachers are putting Gov. Bruce Rauner within their crosshairs.

 

The action is needed because the budget impasse and political stalemate in the General Assembly have led to unfair working conditions for teachers in Chicago Public Schools.

 

The lack of a state budget has placed tremendous financial burden on the school system. Teachers already have been asked to take three furlough days so the district can save $30 million, with the first furlough day scheduled for Friday.

 

“We are dying the death by 1,000 cuts,” Lewis said. “We cannot go on like this … We need Gov. Rauner to get a budget passed.”