Teachers union feeling ‘confident’ on strike vote
BY ROSALIND ROSSI Education Reporter rrossi@suntimes.com June 9, 2012 1:04AM
Updated: June 9, 2012 10:06AM
The Chicago Teachers Union Friday concluded its third day of voting on whether to authorize a strike if necessary in the future.
CTU Vice President Jesse Sharkey said late Friday that from the early vote tallies, “it’s going well,” and that early numbers left the union “confident” it would meet a new 75-percent approval threshold for a strike authorization.
NBC-Chicago on Friday night reported multiple sources were telling the station that more than 90 percent of teachers gave the OK for a work stoppage.
Sharkey said the report was nonfactual. By late Friday night, the union was only “60 to 70 percent of the way through the count,” the union official insisted.
Union officers said they would be counting votes manually, and then entering them into a computer, over the weekend. Results could be released as early as the beginning of the week.
“We’ll give you a real count on Monday,” Sharkey said.
To actually go on strike, the union’s House of Delegates must vote on setting a strike date.
