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Chicago Teachers Union May Not Strike This Month After All, Report Says

By Joe Ward | May 2, 2016 8:56am
 Teachers working for Chicago Public Schools may be souring on the idea of a late-school year strike over inadequate funding and stalled contract negotiations, according to reports.
Teachers working for Chicago Public Schools may be souring on the idea of a late-school year strike over inadequate funding and stalled contract negotiations, according to reports.
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CHICAGO — Teachers working for Chicago Public Schools may be souring on the idea of a late-school year strike, which could have come later this month, according to a published report.

The Chicago Teachers Union has threatened that a late May strike could be coming, saying as recently as mid-April that the the strike "countdown" had started.

But teachers and union brass may be reconsidering their push for a strike this school year. Union Vice President Jesse Sharkey told the Chicago Sun-Times members are concerned about losing out on paychecks if they walk out towards the end of the school year. Classes end June 21.

Teachers do not get paid during the summer, and some are worried about the idea of losing out on one of their last checks if a strike were to happen towards the end of the school year, Sharkey told the Sun-Times. 

The union is also worried about how much public support they could garner for a May strike if parents have to scramble to find supervision for kids after already having to do so for the union's one-day strike April 1, according to the Sun-Times.

CPS and the union are still working towards a labor contract for teachers.

The talks have grown contentious and are one of the reasons why teachers have threatened a strike. School district officials have considered having teachers pick up an additional 7 percent of the pension payments, a move the union has called strike-worthy.

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