Chicago teachers end strike

After eleven days of teacher strikes, Chicago Public Schools returned to class on Friday, November 1. With CPS being the third-largest school district in the nation, over 400,000 children missed school along with school support staff who also joined the strike.

The Chicago Teachers Union voted to strike after negotiations with Mayor Lori Lightfoot fell through and their demands weren’t written into their contract. Along with salary increases, CTU was asking for the hiring of more support staff, such as librarians, social workers, and special education teachers as well as putting a limit on class size, which, according to USA Today, has risen into the 30s and 40s. Mayor Lightfoot agreed to give teachers a 16% raise over five years and stated she would make room for more support staff in the educational budget, but union members rejected this deal. Members of CTU wanted a firm commitment that their demands would be met and written into a new contract instead of receiving a verbal agreement.

After days and many hours of contentious negotiation, both sides came to an agreement to suspend the strike and return to school. In addition to the 16% salary increase, USA Today reports that $35 million is being set aside to reduce class size. Each school will also have a nurse and social worker by 2023 in an effort to meet the basic health needs of students. Support staff will also be hired, adding librarians, teacher aides, and more to public schools throughout the city.

While this strike is one of the largest to take place in recent years, it is certainly not an isolated incident. Teachers have been striking across the country in larger numbers over the past couple of years with similar demands of higher pay and more school resources. While deals have been made to end these strikes, many of these issues remain unresolved on a larger scale.

Abby Haslem - Copy Editor