Chicago Union Says Clock Has Started Toward Teachers’ Strike

The Chicago Teachers Union said on Saturday the countdown toward a possible strike had begun after it rejected the recommendation of a neutral arbitrator that it accept a contract offer from the nation’s third-largest school system.

Chicago Teachers Union president Karen Lewis speaks at a news conference in Chicago on March 23, 2016. The Chicago Teachers Union said Saturday, April 16, 2016, the countdown toward a possible strike had begun after it rejected the recommendation of a neutral arbitrator that it accept a contract offer from the nation's third-largest school system. AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh

CHICAGO—The Chicago Teachers Union said on Saturday the countdown toward a possible strike had begun after it rejected the recommendation of a neutral arbitrator that it accept a contract offer from the nation’s third-largest school system.

The union said the earliest a strike could begin is May 16, about a month before the last day of school on June 21. The union also could strike in September, when school resumes for about 400,000 students.

“The clock has started,” CTU President Karen Lewis said in a statement rejecting the arbitrator’s recommendation. “We have no choice but to prepare ourselves for a possible strike.”

The union staged a one-day walkout on April 1 to protest what it says are proposals that would cut compensation for teachers and to highlight a state budget stalemate that has hurt education and social service funding.

Teachers rally at the University of Illinois at Chicago to support a one-day strike held by the Chicago Teachers Union in Chicago on April 1, 2016. Teachers said was aimed at getting lawmakers to adequately fund schools in the nation's third-largest district. Zbigniew Bzdak/Chicago Tribune via AP