By Rosalind Rossi
(From Chicago Sun-Times, June 10th, 2012)
The union concluded three days of voting Friday and a weekend of ballot counting by meeting its tougher new strike threshold “easily” and “overwhelmingly,’’ sources told the Sun-Times.
Although the vote moves the CTU one step closer to its first strike since 1987, union officials have repeatedly cautioned that they hope to use any strike authorization vote to catalyze movement at the bargaining table and resolve talks before the opening day of next school year.
In addition, before the nation’s third-largest school system goes on strike, the union’s House of Delegates would have to set a strike date.
A new Chicago-only law backed by Mayor Rahm Emanuel, Stand for Children and others switched the margin needed for any CTU strike authorization from a simple majority of all those who voted to 75 percent of all eligible CTU voters. That meant failure to vote amounted to a “no’’ vote. As a result, several schools reported 100 percent of their CTU members had cast ballots.
And although some have raised questions about the integrity of the CTU’s voting procedure, the number to be announced Monday will “lay to rest the question” of whether the CTU “got it legitimately. It’s not even close,’’ said one source.
The union concluded three days of voting Friday and a weekend of ballot counting by meeting its tougher new strike threshold “easily” and “overwhelmingly,’’ sources told the Sun-Times.
Although the vote moves the CTU one step closer to its first strike since 1987, union officials have repeatedly cautioned that they hope to use any strike authorization vote to catalyze movement at the bargaining table and resolve talks before the opening day of next school year.