On Friday, Lightfoot offered to sit down at the bargaining table personally but said the district needed “partners on the other side of the table.” The city has offered a 16 percent raise over the next five years and a hike in health care contributions from employees, and it says its offer would make CTU teachers among the best-compensated nationwide.



The union says Lightfoot is falling short of her campaign promises. It wants dedicated nursing, social worker and librarian staffing as well as caps on class size.

On Friday, CTU Vice President Stacy Davis Gates said the district is attempting to roll back protections won in the past two contracts, describing the other side of the bargaining table as trying to "hustle" them.

“They may call that negotiating, but on the South Side of Chicago, where I live, it’s called a hustle,” she said. “Plain and simple, it’s a hustle, and I am offended by the rhetoric coming off the fifth floor of this city, because when she was a candidate, she was very clear about every contract proposal that we have put forth.”

Lightfoot and the CPS face another potential strike from SEIU Local 73 members—roughly 7,500 special-education classroom assistants, bus aides, security officers, custodians and parent workers. While the district has offered a similar 16 percent, five-year deal and a boost for custodians, the union says the district’s offer on wages, hours, benefits, holidays and blackout days falls short. They could walk out as soon as Oct. 17.

Teachers represented by the CTU at Passages, a charter school with just under 500 students operated by Asian Human Services, are also taking a strike vote Monday over sanctuary protections and wages. If a vote is successful, they could walk out at any time, the CTU’s Chris Geovanis says.