The Chicago Teachers Union will hold a massive "Wisconsin-style rally" today, saying it could be their "largest mobilization effort to date." Meanwhile, contract talks between the Chicago Public Schools and Chicago Teachers Union were set to resume this morning. Yesterday, the CTU House of Delegates was presented with a skeleton of a deal to consider as details continue to be negotiated today. If all goes well in today's talks, the House of Delegates could vote as soon as Sunday as to whether the strike should end.

CTU is going forward with plans to hold a massive rally in Union Park on what they are calling "Solidarity Saturday" to address the issues and concerns they have about the public education system in Chicago.

"The 30,000 teachers, school social workers, clerks, vision and hearing testers, school nurses, teaching assistants, counselors, and other school professionals of the Chicago Teachers Union are standing strong to defend public education from test pushers, privatizers, and a national onslaught of big money interest groups trying to push education back to the days before teachers had unions," explains the CTU web site. "Around the country and even the world, our fight is recognized as the front line of resistance to the corporate education agenda. Educators and our supporters have pledged to travel to Chicago in solidarity to rally."

Check back with Progress Illinois for coverage of the rally and ongoing news and analysis on the CTU strike.