The Chicago Teachers Union is gearing up for a potential strike in October if the union and school district are still without a contract agreement by that time.

The news was made in a CTU contract bulletin this week. 

"CTU's rank-and-file Big Bargaining Team has said that the Union's membership should consider going on strike if Rahm and his hand- picked Board do not provide the revenue and the contract that our members and our schools deserve by October," the bulletin reads. "This means that educators will spend the next several weeks in schools and communities building the power that may be needed to win a strike while officers and staff coordinate our efforts and press the Board and elected officials for a just solution."

The bulletin said CTU delegates will soon receive a strike "readiness packet" of information to "help prepare each school for the possibility of a strike."

"The CTU hopes to negotiate a fair contract without having to strike, but in order to bargain at our strongest, the Union must be ready, willing and able to mobilize its power," the bulletin adds.

At Wednesday's school board meeting, Chicago Public Schools CEO Forrest Claypool said the school district hopes to strike a contract deal comparable to the four-year contract offer presented to the CTU in January. CTU's Big Bargaining Team has already rejected the offer. 

"Our teachers work hard, which is why we are trying to give them the best raise that we can, and we will continue to operate within the framework we can afford," Claypool said. "We remain at the negotiating table in the hopes of signing an agreement similar to the one we reached last January that offered teachers a healthy raise over the life of the contract."