In Chicago, 25,000 educators have voted overwhelmingly to authorize a work stoppage. About 94% of Chicago Teachers Union members voted in favor of the strike authorization, with demands for more staffing and lower class sizes. This is CTU president Jesse Sharkey.

Jesse Sharkey: “We need staffing in areas like nursing, for social workers and for special education services. We need enforceable caps in class size. And, yes, we need pay and benefits, too. But those things — but pay and benefits alone are not enough. We care deeply about the learning and working conditions in our schools.”

This comes as about 7,000 school support staffers with the Service Employees International Union have made preparations for a strike, as have over 2,000 Chicago Park District workers with SEIU Local 73.