Chicago teachers threaten to stop working

After defying an order to return to schools Wednesday to prepare for in-person learning next week, Chicago teachers threatened to stop working altogether if the district retaliates.

This report produced by Emma Jehle.

Classrooms were empty Wednesday in the nation's third largest school district, after the Chicago Teachers Union voted to defy an order to return to in-person learning.

Now, teachers are threatening to stop working altogether if the district retaliates against any of those who failed to report to school buildings Wednesday.

The Chicago Teachers Union, which represents the city’s 25,000 school educators, has been locked in negotiations with Chicago Public Schools for months over the gradual reopening of schools for the system’s 355,000 students.

The labor dispute came to a head on Sunday when the union membership voted 71% in favor of a resolution not to return to the classroom and to remain teaching remotely until a stronger health and safety agreement is reached.

Despite the vote, the district ordered some 10,000 teachers to report to work on Wednesday, instead of Monday as initially planned.

Some 70,000 elementary and middle school students who opted to take classes both in-person and online are due to return at the beginning of next week.

As of early Wednesday afternoon, it was unclear how many teachers reported for work at their schools.

Chicago Public Schools CEO Janice Jackson warned on Sunday that if teachers did not report to schools on Wednesday, it would be construed as an illegal strike.

In a message to teachers on Tuesday night, the union said that if the district takes action against teachers who did not report, members will stop working altogether on Thursday and picket, the Chicago Tribune reported.

Similar labor battles have unfolded across the country, pitting teacher unions against district officials over conditions for reopening, almost a year after the virus shut down schools for 50 million students nationwide.