Yesterday, the union and Lightfoot both expressed disappointment at the status of negotiations. The union said its hopes were dashed after receiving a letter from the mayor asking teachers to return to work before a contract was finalized.

Lightfoot and CPS CEO Janice Jackson released a statement saying “real progress” was made on “key contract issues that CTU identified, and written proposals to boost staffing and support overcrowded classrooms have been exchanged.”

Sharkey said not much was left to bargain over. “Our membership expects us to get something that is meaningful and enforceable on class size and staffing, then it’s not a super long list after that,” he said. “There’s a couple of pay issues for our lowest-paid workers, our PSRPs (paraprofessionals and school-related personnel) . . . almost all of them take second and third jobs, then for our veteran teachers. . . .Their pay stagnates for the last 20 years of their career.”

“This isn’t personal or petty,” Sharkey said. “I actually have a degree of respect for Mayor Lightfoot on a personal level, but her public statements combined with the letter which said, nothing more, no more resources are going in, that’s it, we’re done . . . when the proposal at the table has no class size relief for overcrowded classes in high school, that’s important.”

The pressure is on for lower-paid SEIU workers in particular. Howard stuck to solidarity, saying they will not reach a deal before the teachers union.

“We will not reach a deal before because there are issues we definitely want to negotiate together or at least simultaneously,” Howard said. “Those would be SECA pay, pay around teaching assistants, especially the wages both parties will be negotiating together. So one will support one another, we have a solidarity letter between the unions. We are not separate at all, we will all negotiate and we will all sign contracts at the same time.”

This is the first strike for Adrienne GodBold, a high school coach and assistant special education teacher at Crane Medical Prep High School, who said she was a third-generation CTU member. “Financially, yes, it definitely hurts me personally,” she said, but “it’s not just about the money.”

Her mother, Christel Williams-Hayes, is the union’s recording secretary. GodBold says she’s had to provide first aid and counseling for students. “I’m not a counselor, I’m not a nurse, but these kids need it,” she said. “One of my favorite students, he lost a friend last school year, he lost someone over the summer. He’s back at school and he has little to any focus on academics because of what he has to deal with without a counselor. We have to be the village that raises these children.”