The strike will affect about 300,000 students in the country's third-largest school district.
About 25,000 Chicago teachers are officially going on strike, the union announced Wednesday evening, after months of failed negotiations with the city and district.
This time, Chicago teachers are primarily pushing for lower class sizes and increases in the numbers of special education teachers, nurses and social workers. By Wednesday, the two sides had not been able to reach an agreement. On the issue of pay, the city has offered a 16% raise over five years. Union leaders said they want a raise over three years.
Teachers’ demands are simply too expensive, Lightfoot has said, especially for a city facing a budget shortfall. “It should be expected to have a social worker and nurse in a school community. [Lightfoot] mocked us when we talked about the 20,000 homeless students in the system,” CTU Vice President Stacy Davis Gates told HuffPost. “The CPS has a history of segregation, and it has a history of inequity.”
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