Chicago Teachers Vote to Strike if Needed

Teachers from Chicago are ready to strike if an agreement for a new contract with the Chicago Board of Education is not settled.

After three days of voting, the Chicago Teachers Union reported that 88 percent of the 96 percent who voted (24,752 members) voted in favor of the union authorizing a strike.

"Do not cut the schools anymore. Do not make the layoffs that you have threatened. Instead, respect educators and give us the tools we need to do our jobs," said the Vice President of the CTU, Jesse Sharkey, reported by the Chicago Tribune.

Per Reuters:

"The district, which serves about 400,000 students at more than 600 schools, faces a $1.1 billion structural deficit and thousands of possible teacher layoffs after Christmas. The teachers' union said that the school system has slashed classrooms and wants the union to give back $653 million worth of benefits. 

[Mayor Rahm] Emanuel has blamed state government, which gives Chicago schools only 15 percent of state education funding, though it accounts for 20 percent of the state's public school students."

Sharkey noted that since there are several measures that need to be in place prior to a strike, the earliest time that a real strike would occur is late March. The president of the union, Karen Lewis, has already advised teachers to start saving 25 percent of their paychecks in case of a long strike that would most likely start at the beginning of the 2016 school year.

The last time that teachers have walked out on schools was in 2012.

The recent vote for a strike puts extra pressure on Emanuel, who has been placed under the spotlight since the fatal police shooting of black teenager, Laquan McDonald. After a video of the 2014 shooting was released weeks ago, some of the city's residents have called for the major to resign. Emanuel, however, has not declare any plans of resignation and has been focused on earning the city's trust back.