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Chicago Teachers Union Tabulating Strike-Authorization Ballots

(CBS) -- The ballots are being counted after Chicago Teachers Union members voted whether to authorize a strike.

The tallying is taking place at CTU headquarters, with union officers, clergy and members of the CTU's Rules & Election Committee doing the counting.

The last time, in December, 88 percent of teachers said "yes" to a strike authorization vote. Jim Storas, a union representative, collected the votes at King High School, where he teaches government.

"The board hasn't significantly changed what they offered before. There's not been much movement at all, except they laid off another 1,000 people, so it seems really unlikely it's going to be different from before," he tells CBS 2's Dorothy Tucker.

Members of the union's 40-member bargaining team spent much of the day at headquarters in a meeting. Sources say they talked about a possible strike date, a strike timeline and next week's emergency meeting by the House of Delegates. Storas will be there.

Will they set a strike date on Wednesday? "They definitely could make the decision there. I don't know if they would or not, but I don't see any reason why they wouldn't," Storas says.

If the union leaders set a strike date, they will have to file papers giving the school board a 10-day notice. Technically, that would be Sunday Oct. 9, and Monday Oct. 10 is Columbus Day. So, the first possibility of a strike would be Oct. 11.

"That doesn't mean we strike on that day; that means that after that point we would be able to walk," Storas says.

He adds: "We're not looking forward to a strike. ... We have to go forward and fight for what's necessary. You have to stand up to a bully sometimes."

Ballots were expected to be tabulated by late Friday, with announcements of the results given early next week.

 

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