The Chicago Teachers Union is scheduled to hold its monthly House of Delegates meeting behind closed doors Wednesday evening, exactly one week before union members are expected to take a vote on a teachers strike.
The meeting, which is only open to CTU members and delegates, is scheduled for 4:30 p.m.
On Sunday night, CTU sources told NBC Chicago they planned to take a strike vote on Dec. 9 amid ongoing contract negotiations and the threat of up to 5,000 layoffs next semester.
A practice strike vote was taken in early November, but the word "strike" did not actually appear on the ballot. The vote, nonetheless, was considered a preview for what's to come. In that vote, 97 percent of CTU members said they would vote to authorize a strike if needed.
In a real strike vote, the union needs 75 percent of their membership to agree to a strike before they take action.
The teachers strike in 2012, which was the first strike in the Chicago Public Schools district in 25 years, canceled classes for seven days.
CPS CEO Forrest Claypool announced in September that the district could potentially cut 5,000 jobs by February due to the ongoing Illinois budget stalemate. CTU President Karen Lewis said the layoffs would require reprogramming nearly 700 schools, and they would affect between 175,000 and 300,000 students, depending on how the layoffs are structured.
