Chicago International Charter School teachers voting on strike authorization Friday

Jessica D'Onofrio Image
Friday, November 2, 2018
Teachers at 4 Chicago charter school voting on stike authorization Friday
Days after teachers at one Chicago charter school voted to authorize a strike, several more could follow Friday.

CHICAGO (WLS) -- Days after teachers at one Chicago charter school voted to authorize a strike, several more could follow Friday.

Chicago International Charter School teachers say they're fed up with low pay, high turnover, huge workloads and out-of-control management salaries and fees. They are represented by the Chicago Teachers Union.

Chicago Teacher's Union educators at four Chicago International Charter School locations will take a strike vote Friday in their ongoing battle.

CTU's vice president will join educators from the Quest, Northtown, Wrightwood and Ellison campuses as they begin their day with a rally and walk-in at Northtown Academy, where the strike vote will take place. The votes will be tabulated during the day and announced at an afternoon news conference.

"The charter model of innovation has been to like pay teachers less and bust unions and line management's pockets and it's not right. It's not right for the taxpayers, it's not right for students, not right for parents, not right for our members and we're not going to take it anymore are we?" said charter school teacher Chris Baehrend.

Chicago International Charter School teachers are taking their vote days after teachers at another charter network authorized a strike amid ongoing contract negotiations.

Unionized teachers at the city's Acero charter schools voted to approve a strike amid contract negotiations with a network that educates about 7,500 predominantly Latino students.

Meanwhile, Friday's vote only means the teachers could strike, it doesn't mean they will.