“Fed up“ with being scapegoated, Chicago public school teachers in 150 schools have voted overwhelmingly in mock ballots to support a strike should ongoing contract negotiations fail, Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis revealed Thursday.
Chicago Public School officials and Mayor Rahm Emanuel have created such a “hostile” climate that teacher leaders in 150 schools polled CTU members about support for a strike, Lewis and other CTU officials said.
At each school, Lewis said, at least 75 percent of teachers favored a strike “should contract negotiations fail” and “CPS and the mayor do not reverse the hostile climate against us.”
Lewis says she has the votes to meet the new state law regarding schoolteachers striking. Rahm doesn't need a strike coming on the heels of what looks like a nutty NATO event and what shapes up to be the bloodiest summer in a decade.