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Rahm Emanuel
Quick Hit
by Brandon Campbell
5:06pm
Tue Sep 18, 2012

CTU Strike: Parents Show Support, Attempt To Hand Deliver Messages To CPS

As the Chicago Teachers Union House of Delegates prepares to vote on the deal that was presented to them Sunday, groups of parents from around the city staged rallies in support of the teachers' strike.

Some of those parents showed up at the Chicago Board of Education building at 125 S. Clark Street Tuesday morning to deliver about 1,000 signed postcards containing notes from public schoolchildren and parents.

A group of about 50 parents and strike supporters planned to hand deliver the postcards to Chicago Public Schools CEO Jean-Claude Brizard. They were stopped, however, by a security guard at the front desk who was instructed to take the cards.

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Quick Hit
by Matthew Blake
5:53pm
Mon Sep 17, 2012

Quinn Sits Out On Chicago Teachers' Strike

With the Chicago Teachers Union strike spilling into its second week, Gov. Pat Quinn skipped across state lines today for a meeting of the Midwest U.S.-Japan Association in Minneapolis. The meeting involved Japanese business leaders “strengthening economic ties to Illinois,” according to a press release.

Despite signing into law major education bills integral to the labor standoff, Quinn has been on the sidelines for the first Chicago teachers strike in 25 years. Asked last week what the governor thought of the dispute, Quinn spokeswoman Brooke Anderson e-mailed that, “We want the parties to negotiate in good faith and reach a resolution quickly that puts the students first.” Read more »

Quick Hit
by Matthew Blake
4:36pm
Mon Sep 17, 2012

In Chicago Teachers Strike, CPS Goes On The Offensive

The top of the Chicago Public Schools strike contingency plan Web site today reads, “Due to the Chicago Teachers Union Leadership’s choice to strike, Chicago Public Schools will have 147 Children First sites open on Monday, September 17.”

Such is the level of anger in the labor standoff that even a district informational site takes a shot at the so-called strike of choice. Past union criticisms from CPS and even Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel often were tempered with the claim that a deal was close. But the CTU House of Delegates' decision yesterday to give themselves two more days before voting on whether to end the strike has changed this. Read more »

PI Original
by Matthew Blake
1:51pm
Mon Sep 17, 2012
1 comment

Why Pat Quinn's Relationship With Labor Is On The Rocks

Labor

On August 10, Gov. Pat Quinn visited Caterpillar machinists on a picket line in Joliet, donating $10,000 to a union strike fund. But Quinn offered no position on the walkout, except bromides such as “believe in yourselves” to machinists who had been on strike for more than three months.

Quick Hit
by Brandon Campbell
1:25am
Sun Sep 16, 2012
1 comment

CTU Strike: Union Park Rally Draws Union Leaders and Supporters (VIDEO)

A rally at Union Park brought out thousands of teachers, parents, and union supporters from Chicago, Wisconsin, Indiana and abroad as the school board and Chicago Teachers Union representatives continued to work on contract negotiations Saturday afternoon.

Union President Karen Lewis drew loud applause and chants of “Karen for Mayor” from the crowd as she took the stage at about 2:30 p.m.

Lewis said union negotiators were given a written framework for a contract on Friday, with details and completed language to be discussed on Sunday. But she said that doesn’t mean the strike is about to end.

“We are still on strike. We only have a framework for an agreement, not an agreement,” Lewis said. “Until you hear it from the CTU, we are on strike.”

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Quick Hit
by Aricka Flowers
3:27pm
Fri Sep 14, 2012
1 comment

Skeleton of CTU Agreement In Place, Union Releases Telling Video On School Conditions (VIDEO)

The Chicago Teachers Union House of Delegates are being presented with the "outlines of an agreement" today, according to the Chicago Tribune, and could vote as soon as Sunday on whether or not it's time to end the strike.

"We have the outlines of an agreement on the major issues, but it's not for this (negotiating) committee to decide if we have a deal," CTU attorney Robert Bloch told the newspaper. "It's for the membership of the union to decide that, and it's for the House of Delegates to determine whether we'll suspend the strike."

While students and teachers could be back in school as soon as Monday, depending on how the House of Delegates votes, the union released a video today illustrating the state of Chicago public school conditions and the uneven allocation of resources and programs in a new video that acts as a response to negative TV ads about the strike by school reform groups.  

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