Thousands of Teachers Strike in Chicago, Classes Disrupted

Thousands of Teachers Strike in Chicago, Classes Disrupted

Thousands of public school teachers formed picket lines in Chicago on Monday and parents scrambled for child care during their first strike in a quarter century over reforms sought by Mayor Rahm Emanuel and endorsed by President Barack Obama's administration.

Some 29,000 teachers and support staff in the nation's third-largest school system were involved, leaving parents of 350,000 students between kindergarten and high school age to find alternative supervision.

"There's no excuse for either side for not coming to an agreement," said Faith Griggs-York, mother of a first-grader at Agassiz Elementary School, as she dropped her daughter off at a community center a mile from the school.

"I think both sides, because of what they are doing to parents and because of what they are doing to kids, should be embarrassed," Griggs-York said.

Churches, community centers, some schools and other public facilities were ready on Monday to care for thousands of children under a $25 million strike contingency plan financed by the school district. The children will be supervised half a day and receive breakfast and lunch, allowing some parents to work.

"What are these families going to do? Are you going to stay home from work today because of this?" U.S. Senator Dick Durbin, an Illinois Democrat, said on CNN. "What is going to happen to your son or daughter?"

"Both sides need to get back to the table as quickly as possible and really stay there and negotiate through the night if necessary. Get it over with quickly so we can get these kids back in school," Durbin said.

Talks resumed on Monday morning in the months-long contract negotiations. Emanuel is among a number of big city U.S. mayors who have championed such school reforms and Obama's education secretary, Arne Duncan - a former head of Chicago public schools - has endorsed them.

The Chicago confrontation also threatens to sour relations between Obama's Democratic Party and labor unions before the presidential election on November 6.

While Obama is expected to win the vote in Chicago and his home state of Illinois, union anger could spill into neighboring Midwestern states such as Wisconsin, Michigan and Ohio, where the race with Republican challenger Mitt Romney is much closer.

Posted by James Fried on Tuesday September 11 2012, 2:34 AM EDT. All trademarks acknowledged. Filed under Featured News, World. Comments and Trackbacks closed. Follow responses: RSS 2.0