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Chicago Teacher Strike Timeline: Key Events That Led Up To Historic Walkout

Key Events That Led Up To The Historic Teacher Strike In Chicago
Joe Erbentraut
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Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis takes a break from negotiations over teachers' contracts with the Chicago Board of Education to address a rally of thousands of public school teachers on Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2012 in downtown Chicago. Teachers walked off the job Monday for the first time in 25 years over issues that include pay raises, classroom conditions, job security and teacher evaluations. (AP Photo/Sitthixay Ditthavong)

On Monday, the Chicago Teachers Union's 26,000 members headed to the picket lines instead of the classroom.

The walkout marked the first public school teacher strike in 25 years in the nation's third-largest school district and has impacted more than 350,000 of the city's youth and their families.

The teacher strike in Chicago rapidly became a national story that many, owing to Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel's ties to President Obama, say may have an impact on the November presidential election.

As of Wednesday evening, it does not appear a resolution will be coming anytime soon amid ongoing talks between the city and the union.

Just catching up on what could be a high-profile test for public employee unions nationwide? Below is a timeline of key events that preceded the teacher walkout in Chicago.

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Before You Go

Chicago Teachers Strike Timeline
FEBRUARY 2011(01 of13)
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Rahm Emanuel, former White House chief of staff, is elected as Chicago's first new mayor in 22 years on Feb. 22, 2011. The Chicago Teachers Union was leery of Emanuel's plans for the city's schools well before that date. In its profiles of then-candidates that the union distributed to its members prior to the mayoral election, the CTU wrote that Emanuel was "out of touch" and stood in direct opposition to "education issues of importance to our members."
(AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast) (credit:AP)
MAY 2011(02 of13)
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The Illinois state legislature passes a law cutting into teachers' abilities to negotiate their contracts and making it more difficult for the teachers union to move to strike. The sweeping education reform legislation, titled SB7, is signed into law in June by Democratic Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn. The bill's passage came after heavy pressure from Emanuel, and was directed largely toward Chicago's schools, which are widely perceived to be failing.
(AP Photo/M. Spencer Green) (credit:AP)
JUNE 2011 (03 of13)
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The Emanuel-appointed school board, blaming the district's massive budget deficit, voted unanimously to rescind the 4 percent annual pay raise that teachers were anticipating as part of their contract. Teachers took to the streets to protest the rescinded raises outside the offices of the Chicago Board of Education. A week later, the board approved salaries for then-newly installed Chicago Public Schools executives that were markedly higher than their predecessors' pay in most cases.
(Scott Olson/Getty Images) (credit:Getty)
JUNE 2011(04 of13)
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Amid Chicago teachers' growing frustrations, Jonah Edelman, head of the school-policy organization Stand for Children that lobbied hard for SB7, gloated at the Aspen Ideas Festival on June 28, 2011, that he had outsmarted the CTU in pushing the legislation through. Based on their research, no strike had ever passed with more than 50 percent of union members participating.
(Scott Olson/Getty Images) (credit:Getty)
AUGUST 2011(05 of13)
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As the first day of school approached last fall, Emanuel and CPS CEO Jean-Claude Brizard touted their push for a district-wide longer school day, one of the loftiest proposals the mayor campaigned on during the mayoral race. The Chicago Teachers Union is concerned with the call for a longer day amid their own compensation concessions.
(AP Photo/Paul Beaty, File)
AUGUST 2011(06 of13)
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In a radio interview that aired Aug. 14, 2011, Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis said that CTU members were "very upset" and felt "disrespected" following their rescinded raise. She further admitted that the likelihood of a strike vote was "very high."
(AP Photo/M. Spencer Green, Nov. 16, 2011 File) (credit:AP)
NOVEMBER 2011(07 of13)
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After a very long, public battle, over the length of the school day in Chicago, the Chicago Teachers Union announced they had come to an agreement on the matter with the mayor's office and Chicago Public Schools on Nov. 4, 2011. The original plan had called for a 90-minute extension to the school day without raising teacher pay, but CTU President Karen Lewis accused the mayor and CPS of leaving teachers out of the conversation. In April, Emanuel announced the specifics of the city's concessions to the union on the longer day.
(AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast, File) (credit:AP)
JUNE 2012(08 of13)
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Still, additional concerns persisted for Chicago's teachers, including objections to the new teacher evaluation models. In April, CTU President Karen Lewis said teachers were "fed up," and that teachers at more than 200 schools supported a protest that included leaving the workforce in a series of "mock strike votes." On June 6, 2012, CTU members voted overwhelmingly to authorize what ultimately became their first strike in 25 years. State law required 75 percent approval and the CTU got 90 percent approval from its 26,502 members. The vote authorized the union to move to strike in the event that contract talks broke down.
(AP Photo/M. Spencer Green) (credit:AP)
JULY 2012(09 of13)
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On July 16, 2012, independent arbitrator Edwin Benn, who had been seeking common ground between the CTU and CPS, issued his report. His recommendation of a 14.85 percent raise for teachers was, by the end of the week, rejected by both sides, paving the way even further for a strike. CPS CEO Jean-Claude Brizard had previously criticized the union for pushing for a strike authorization before Benn made his recommendation.
(AP Photo/Sitthixay Ditthavong) (credit:AP)
AUGUST 2012(10 of13)
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On Aug. 29, 2012, the Chicago Teachers Union filed the required 10-day notice of a strike. Several days later, they set their strike date at Sept. 10, the earliest day possible. The previous week, after the first crop of CPS students began classes, CTU members took to the streets and held "practice strikes" outside the Board of Education. CPS said, in response, that the city's students "can't afford to be removed from their classroom at a time when they're starting to make progress with the Full School Day."
(AP Photo/Sitthixay Ditthavong) (credit:AP)
SEPTEMBER 9, 2012(11 of13)
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On Sept. 9, 2012, after weeks of ongoing negotiations, the Chicago Teachers Union announced that they were going on strike for the first time in 25 years. "In the morning, no CTU members will be inside our schools," CTU President Karen Lewis said of the union's 26,000 educators. Mayor Rahm Emanuel, in an evening press conference, described the walkout as "a strike of choice."
(AP Photo/Sitthixay Ditthavong) (credit:AP)
SEPTEMBER 10, 2012(12 of13)
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On Monday, Sept. 10, 2012, thousands of teachers hit the picket lines citywide. Mayor Emanuel vowed to end the "unnecessary" strike and get the city's children back in the classroom as soon as possible. After GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney condemned the teachers union over the strike, the walkout became a national news story. Emanuel responded to Romney that he didn't give "two hoots" what he thought about the matter while the Obama administration stayed mostly quiet on the strike. In the evening, thousands of teachers and their supporters took to the streets of downtown Chicago for a massive really.
(AP Photo/M. Spencer Green) (credit:AP)
SEPTEMBER 11, 2012(13 of13)
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The Chicago Teachers Union emerged from Monday without a deal with the city and the strike continued into a second day. A poll released by the Chicago Sun-Times reported that 47 percent of the city's voters backed teachers in the dispute, compared with 39 percent who opposed them. U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan issued a statement that largely allowed the Obama administration to refrain from taking a side in the issue. CTU President Karen Lewis said that the union and the city still had a long way to go in coming to an agreement.
(AP Photo/M. Spencer Green) (credit:AP)
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