Deathbed Diapers Wearing Karen Lewis - Chicago Teachers Union puts heat on contract talks, sets Oct. 11 strike date

Further turning up the pressure during already tense negotiations, the Chicago Teachers Union’s House of Delegates on Wednesday set a strike date of Oct. 11.

“If we cannot reach the agreement by then, we will withhold our labor,” CTU President Karen Lewis said at a news conference Wednesday afternoon. “It’s time to move this along.”

But Lewis had this to say to parents concerned about a possible strike and the effects on their children.

“What I want (parents) to know is that come Oct. 11 hopefully they’re in school because that’s where we’d rather be,” she said, urging parents to put pressure on the mayor and the Chicago Board of Education.

“This is in the mayor’s power to solve,” CTU Vice President Jesse Sharkey said. “This is the mayor’s problem.”

Sharkey reiterated that Mayor Rahm Emanuel should tap surplus money from tax-increment financing districts to fund schools.

Teachers roared past a 75 percent threshold last week that’s required by the state to legally walk out and called an emergency meeting a week before the normal October gathering of the teachers’ union’s governing body. They could vote to give the Board of Education 10 days notice — which would make October 11 the earliest school day teachers could strike.

The strike vote results sparked board members on Wednesday to approve a $15 million contingency plan for students in case the teachers walk out.

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