The Chicago Teachers Unions House of Delegates decided this afternoon to end the citys first teacher strike in 25 years and return more than 350,000 students to the classroom Wednesday.
The voice vote was taken after some 800 delegates convened at a union meeting hall near Chinatown to discuss and debate a tentative contract. Union leaders had already signed off on the agreement with Chicago Public Schools.
"We said we couldn't solve all the problems. . .and it was time to suspend the strike," CTU President Karen Lewis said at a news conference after the vote.
The issue is, we cannot get a perfect contract. Theres no such thing as a contract that will make all of us happy, Lewis said.
But do we stay on strike forever until every little thing we want can be gotten? she said.
Im so thrilled that people are going back, all of our members are glad to be back with their kids. Its a hard decision to make to go out, and for some people it's hard to make the decision to go back in, Lewis said.
Delegates poured out of the union hall singing Solidarity Forever.
I'm very excited. I miss my students. I'm relieved because I think this contract was better than what they offered, said America Olmedo, who teaches fourth- and fifth-grade bilingual classes. They tried to take everything away.
Said Shay Porter, a teacher at the Henderson Academy elementary school: We ignited the labor movement in Chicago.
Parents shared their excitement.
Debi Lilly, a Lakeview resident, said she was thrilled her 3rd and 5th grader would be heading back to Hawthorne School Wednesday after missing seven days of classes.
Thank goodness, thank goodness, Lilly said enthusiastically. Now I believe theyre putting the children first.
While there still might be issues to work out between CTU and CPS, Lilly said shes happy the teachers agreed to do it while the children are in school.
Lilly said she told her children the news right away and the family will be treating Tuesday night like it should be a school night.
Well be up early making lunches, packing backpacks and walking to school tomorrow, Lilly said.
I think its great, said parent Jose Carlos as he ate dinner tonight. To be honest, I think its great.
His 5-year-old son attends Galileo Scholastic Academy of Math and Science, and Carlos has had to arrive to work late each day since the strike began so he can drop him off at a Children First site, which opens later than Galileo.
Earlier in the day, teachers on the picket line outside CPS headquarters were mostly optimistic that they would be back in school Wednesday morning.
"In our meetings yesterday, it's apparent we're optimistic that we will return," said Mary Mark, a CPS speech language pathologist, who fears that if the union is on strike much longer, support for the teachers will shift.
"We realize that by going out, we're diminishing our power, but on the other hand, we don't want to strike so long that we turn the tide of support. We all need to get back to work and the kids need to get back in school," Mark said.
At Manuel Perez Jr. Elementary School, parents worried about the strike's growing effect on their children, though they still voiced support for teachers.
"¡Rahm, escucha! ¡Estamos en la lucha!" several shouted in Spanish, meaning "Rahm, listen! We are in the fight!"
They also chanted, "¡Sí, se puede!" or "Yes, we can!"
The contract will now be submitted to a vote by the full membership of more than 25,000 teachers over the next few weeks.
The contract offer gives teachers, on average, a 17.6 percent pay raise over the next four years, as well as retaining other salary bumps for experience and pursuing a graduate degree.
The offer also includes tougher job evaluations where teachers are rated, in part, on how well their students performed on standardized tests and, for the first time, a re-hire pool for teachers whove been laid off because the district closed their schools.
The rocky road to a deal began before Mayor Rahm Emanuel took office on a reform agenda to transform the citys public school system.
Shortly after arriving at City Hall, Emanuel authorized stripping teachers of the 4 percent raises awarded them in their previous contract and began a controversial push to lengthen CPS school day despite strong union opposition.
As the two sides worked for months to hammer out the details of a substantially revised teachers contract, CPS officials, led by Emanuel, and union leaders, led by Karen Lewis, engaged in a public relations war to win support for their side.
Emanuel accused teachers of failing Chicagos students by choosing to strike over contract demands. Lewis labeled Emanuel a bully and a liar as he aggressively fought for reforms that, she said, undermined the unions power.
We have been belittled, bullied and betrayed by this administration. Our members feel demoralized, Lewis said at a packed news conference in August.
CPS and the union reached a breakthrough last Friday when both sides agreed on a tentative framework for a new deal.
Teacher compensation, job security and performance evaluations were the three most critical, and hotly contested, pieces of the new contract. And when Lewis emerged from talks last Friday she said she was very comfortable with the agreement that had been reached and appeared confident union delegates would vote to end the strike over the weekend.
Lewis and union leadership were tasked with selling delegates on this tentative agreement Sunday night, but the deal was a hard sell. In a surprise move, delegates chose not to end the teachers strike until they could discuss the contract offer with their members.
The decision extended the teachers strike into a second week and brought a new wave of criticism from Emanuel and from many parents unhappy their children would remain out of school.
It's very frustrating, parent Humberto Ramirez said Sunday. We all kind of put everything on hold in finding different ways to watch the kids and keep them entertained. It's been very, very frustrating, especially knowing that (last week) they were close, that they were simply going to be putting it to a vote.
Emanuel increased the pressure on the union by taking them to court. On Monday morning, city attorneys sought an injunction in Cook County to force an end to the strike. A hearing on the matter was set for Wednesday if schools did not reopen.
fired for what?
