Chicago Teachers Union Refuses Order To Go Back to Classrooms – By Robby Soave (Reason) / January 25 2021
District officials described the act of defiance as an illegal strike.
Members of the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) voted overwhelmingly on Sunday to continue to teach remotely—even though district officials want teachers back in classrooms beginning this week.
Chicago Public Schools Chief Executive Officer Janice Jackson described any refusal to come to work on Monday as an “illegal strike,” according to The Washington Post.
The union reported that roughly 86 percent of its 25,000 members participated in the vote, and 71 percent of teachers wanted to keep teaching remotely. “CPS did everything possible to divide us by instilling fear through threats of retaliation, but you still chose unity, solidarity and to collectively act as one,” said the union in a statement.
The union has previously claimed that the push to reopen schools is rooted in “sexism and racism,” even though the inadequacies of virtual education are disproportionately harming young people of color and forcing hundreds of thousands of women to exit the work force. And when the district decided to hire 2,000 new employees to assist students in the classroom if their teachers opt to continue with distance learning, the union objected to that plan, too.
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