The Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) House of Delegates voted to suspend its strike on in-person learning late Monday night, according to tweets from the union and Chicago’s Democratic Mayor Lori Lightfoot.
Lightfoot tweeted that students in Chicago Public Schools (CPS) will return to in-person learning Wednesday, Jan. 12. Teachers are slated to return to in-person work Tuesday, Jan. 11, according to a report from ABC 7.
Alex Forgue, a delegate for CTU and a physics teacher at the Chicago Military Academy at Bronzeville, posted in the “CTU Members Only Facebook Group” that 63 percent of the union’s delegates voted to suspend the remote learning action. Forgue previously vowed to “report” union members who showed up to work at their schools, according to Fox News.
The union also announced that delegates voted “to suspend the Union’s remote work action while rank-and-file membership votes on the proposed agreement.”
The Chicago Teachers Union House of Delegates has voted tonight to suspend the Union’s remote work action while rank-and-file membership votes on the proposed agreement.
— ChicagoTeachersUnion (@CTULocal1) January 11, 2022
Lightfoot said she was “pleased” with the outcomes and vowed to return students to classrooms by Wednesday. (RELATED: New Study Finds School Closures Associated With Depression, Anxiety In Parents)
“After a productive day at the bargaining table, I am pleased to report, CTU will end their work stoppage,” Lightfoot said. “CPS put a great proposal on the table that both bargaining teams discussed in detail today. We will be able to get our children back to the classroom on Wednesday.”
Chicago’s Mayor continued by stating that children are safest “where they can learn.”
After a productive day at the bargaining table, I am pleased to report, CTU will end their work stoppage.
CPS put a great proposal on the table that both bargaining teams discussed in detail today.
We will be able to get our children back in the classroom on Wednesday. 🧵
— Mayor Lori E. Lightfoot (@chicagosmayor) January 11, 2022
The deal reportedly expands testing, expands access to PPE, crafts new metrics for staff and student absences that could lead to remote learning, and efforts to “increase testing consents for students,” per ABC 7.
CTU membership is expected to vote on the deal later in the week.
The union began its return to virtual learning after winter break as 90% of CTU members reportedly vowed to strike if the district returned students to classroom learning.