CHICAGO — Thousands of Chicago’s public-school teachers will return to classrooms on Friday, ending a strike that left more than 300,000 students out of school for 11 days, the city’s mayor announced on Thursday.
A tentative contract deal between city officials and teachers in the nation’s third-largest school district resolved a tense standoff that had upended the lives of families all over the city and represented the biggest test to date of Chicago’s new mayor, Lori Lightfoot.
The walkout by the Chicago Teachers Union, which lasted longer than any schools strike in this city since 1987, was over an array of issues, beyond traditional questions over pay. The teachers called for more social workers, librarians and nurses in schools, smaller class sizes and protections for immigrant children. Over the last few weeks, teachers marched near schools and through the city’s downtown business district, as negotiations went on with city leaders.
In the end, the city said it had agreed to $35 million to reduce class sizes and hundreds of additional staff members by 2023. The city’s offer included a 16 percent salary increase over five years.
Source Article from https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/31/us/chicago-cps-teachers-strike.html
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