IN CITY LORE, the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) is a mighty beast. Its 25,000 members have frequently shut down America's third-largest public-school system. The most recent strike, late in 2019, doubly pleased the 84-year-old group. An 11-day shutdown helped to get teachers a generous five-year pay deal and dealt a blow to Lori Lightfoot, the recently elected mayor. She had vowed that her debt-ridden city would never fund such a "bail-out" for teachers, yet the union forced her hand. Ms Lightfoot is a Democrat, but she has little love for militants at the CTU. The union had endorsed her rival in the run-off to be mayor. Its members snipe that she and her school director, Janice Jackson (who earlier served Rahm Emanuel, who was even more reviled by many teachers), are "neo-liberals" who supposedly do the bidding of wealthy Chicagoans. Suspicion has only grown since the epidemic abruptly ended in-class teaching in March. The city first tried to order a partial reopening of schools in September, only to be blocked by the union, which called it unsafe for its members to return to their workplaces.
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