Chicago Teachers Call Off May 1 Walkout, But Send Warning To CPS
(CBS) – Teachers in the Chicago Public Schools system will not stage a one-day strike May 1, but the threat of an even longer walkout is not dead.
WBBM's Bob Roberts explains.
Delegates of the Chicago Teachers Union found little support in their schools for a strike on May Day.
Instead, the union is urging teachers, students and parents to take part in activities marking the international workers day.
But CTU President Karen Lewis drew a line in the sand. She said the union will not accept any additional furlough days, much less the 13 days in June threatened by CPS CEO Forrest Claypool. Claypool says the governor blew a hole in the school budget by vetoing a pension-funding measure.
"We passed a resolution today that if any additional furloughs were announced then we would immediately meet to decide as a body what to do at that time," Lewis said Wednesday.
Lewis concedes furlough days are allowed under the teachers' contract but says after a certain point furloughs end up altering the salary schedule.