Portside

The contract is the CTU’s first without a strike or a strike vote in 15 years. The agreement sets lower class size limits, gives pay raises and could add hundreds of new staff members.

In a major labor victory, the Chicago Teachers Union reached a tentative agreement with Chicago Public Schools Monday night that reaffirms sanctuary school protections, protects the ability to teach Black history, and gives veteran teachers a raise.

The seeds of our strike were sown 10 years ago. In the 2013–2014 school year, school district leaders demanded more than 75 concessions, including bigger class sizes, fewer workload protections, and cuts to healthcare benefits.

For the US there is much to learn from the Chilean experience about relationships between left government, movements, and popular protagonism and the importance of political clarity, socialist strategy and organization.

We have gone from the dynamic of opposition to the dynamic of a campaign and now to the dynamic of working with our comrade in office, all within a few short months.

Brandon Johnson’s mayoral victory is a first step toward transforming the deeply unequal city. If he’s going to undertake radical reform efforts in Chicago, Johnson needs protests and strikes to fend off the inevitable capitalist attacks.