Chicago teachers locked in protracted labor negotiations with the city have voted overwhelmingly to authorize their union to launch a strike against the third-largest U.S. public school district as soon as next month, the union said on Thursday.
A tally of ballots showed that 94% of some 25,000 dues-paying members of the
Chicago Teachers Union supported giving their leaders the discretion to call a strike starting on Oct. 7 at the earliest, the union said in a statement.
The outcome of the vote far exceeded the three-quarters majority required by union rules to authorize a strike, which would be the third by Chicago teachers since 2011.