It's Not April Fools Day in Chicago - The Next Great Chicago Strike

All the world's a stage and today that stage is set in Chicago where our colleagues in CORE and the CTU are staging a one day work action. I believe a bunch of MOREs are heading to Chicago today as a show of support and also for the Labor Notes conference over the weekend. There will be fellow unionists from around the nation coming together.

Jacobin mag has an article:

The Chicago Teachers Union is going on strike tomorrow — and the stakes couldn’t be higher.

....this time they have joined other unions and community groups in calling for a citywide “general strike” on April 1, demanding not just a strong contract but new, “progressive” sources of revenue — taxing the city’s financial district, for example, and ending the state’s flat income tax — to fund public goods and services throughout Chicago and Illinois. The CTU and the groups allied with them are looking to win not just a moral victory against austerity, but a tangible one. The strike will only last a day, but it’s the kind of mass political action that rarely seen in American labor history. It’s also one that isn’t without risks; CPS has declared the strike illegal.

https://www.jacobinmag.com/2016/03/chicago-teachers-union-strike-core-karen-lewis/

James Eterno is on the case over at the ICE blog:

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  ICEUFT Blog

  HIGHLIGHTS OF CHICAGO TEACHER ACTIVIST SARAH CHAMBERS INTERVIEW - The Chicago Teachers Union is engaging in a one day strike today. For a look at what is at stake both in the windy city and nationally, Jacobin interviewe...
  

  And here is more stuff to read.
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  Undernews

  Big action day in Chicago -

  Chicago Teachers Union - On Friday, the solidarity of Chicago Teachers Union sisters and brothers, along with the solidarity of more than 50 union and community organizations, will be on full display . In this unprecedented strike for political demands and state funding that encompass the entire state...we are in a battle with powerful forces that want to privatize schools, permanently reduce our livelihoods and divest from struggling neighborhoods.
  
  The CTU is directing schools to start picket lines at 6:30 a.m. to get the line established early, bring attention to our fight for school funding in the community and lock down school activity...

Something you will never, ever see here in NYC as long as Unity Caucus is in control. I know, I know, the Taylor Law strike penalties, etc. But to quote Brian Wilson ...wouldn't it be nice?