Chicago Teacher’s Strike Enters Day 6

Chicago teacher’s strike enters its 6th day as the city has yet to meet the teacher’s demands “on major issues“. The major issues causing the Chicago Teacher Union (CTU) to strike include: better pay and benefits, increased staff, smaller class sizes, and social justice for the community. While the Chicago Teachers Union and City of Chicago hash out the major issues, “there is progress on the smaller issues” as they “now have 80 tentative agreements with the Board over [smaller] issues”. Chicago Public Schools has made the CTU an offer for the major issues including “to raise their salaries by 16% [over] five years”, but the teachers have rejected this.

“During the strike, school buildings will be open for students who need a safe place to stay during the day.” Additionally, all “schools will serve breakfast and lunch to students,… [and] will also be offered a meal to take home.”

The City of Chicago currently has “an $838 million budget” deficit, but the CTU says the city “is not broke”, and could “redirect public dollars” to fund their demands.