Chicago Teachers Strike
About 32,000 Chicago Public School teachers and aides went on strike in the nation’s third-largest school district on Oct.17. Hiring more social workers, counselors, nurses, bilingual teacher and librarians is part of the union’s demand. The appeals of teachers also are that they want smaller class sizes, higher pay for all school employees and more teacher prep time during the school day.
Kaleb Autman, a supporter of the strike, leads teachers and SEIU supporters at Breakthrough, a non-profit for those affected by poverty. Photo: Rick Wood, USA TODAY Network
After rejecting the Chicago Teachers Union’s demands, mayor Lori Lightfoot announced classes would be canceled until the walkout ends. On the day of this report, the strike has lasted for 6 days. Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot threw a brick into bargaining on Monday, saying there is no more money to offer and calling on the union to continue to bargain but call off the strike.
On Oct.22 ChicagoPublicSchools tweeted that their offer will raise the average teacher’s salary to nearly 100,00 K, provides support staff with a 16% raise, and a nurse and social worker for every school. However, teachers are making plans to be on strike until at least Thursday, or perhaps longer.
Chicago Publish School twitter.
Tuesday morning, Democratic presidential hopefully Senator Elizabeth Warren showed up in the Windy City. “I’m here because the eyes of this nation are upon you. They have turned to Chicago for you to lead the way, for you to show how the power of standing together is the power of making real change in this country,” Warren said. “Everyone in America should support you in this strike. You fight for the children of this city and for the children of this country.”
“She has her right to come in, I would expect all Democratic candidates for the presidency to support workers, that’s what we are as a party, but at the end of the day what’s going to get it done is what happens at the bargaining table,” Mayor Lightfoot responded.
Chicago teachers’ first major strike since 2012 came after 10 months of negotiations pay and benefits, class size and teacher preparation time. The labor leaders say the city has failed to provide a fair contract for school staff. This time is the first CPS teacher strike since 2012. 26,000 CPS teachers and 8,000 support staff workers are on strike.
Post volume and influencers of the topic “Chicago Teachers Strike”. Photos from Adam Brown Social Media Command Center Social Media Studio.
According to the social studio social media analysis, Chicago teachers strike has drawn 12 k volume posts with 90% of posts from Twitter. A word could analysis shows that common words mentioned about this event include “teachers”, “ Chicago”, “strike”, “union”, “teamwarren”, and other words that could be expected. The top influencers of this topic are CNN, MarketWatch, and Reuters Top News.
Top words of this event. Photos from Adam Brown Social Media Command Center Social Media Studio.