Chicago teachers strike moves to second week

CHICAGO -- The teachers union decided yesterday to continue its weeklong strike, extending an acrimonious standoff with Mayor Rahm Emanuel over teacher evaluations and job security provisions central to the debate over the future of public education across the United States.

Emanuel said the strike is illegal under state law and he would seek a court order to end it.

Union delegates declined to formally vote on a proposed contract settlement worked out over the weekend with the nation's third largest school district. Schools will remain closed today.

"Our members are not happy," said union president Karen Lewis. "They want to know if there is anything more they can get." She added: "They feel rushed." She said the union's delegates will meet again Tuesday, and the soonest classes are likely to resume is Wednesday.

"We felt more comfortable being able to take back what's on the table and let our constituents look at it and digest it. We can have a much better decision come Tuesday," said Dean Refakes, a physical education teacher and a delegate.

The walkout, the first in Chicago in 25 years, canceled classes for 350,000 students and forced tens of thousands of parents to find alternatives for idle children, including many whose neighborhoods have been wracked by gang violence in recent months.

The walkout was the first for a major American city in at least six years and poses a high-profile test for teachers unions, which have seen their influence threatened by a growing reform movement.

Unions have pushed back against efforts to expand charter schools, bring in private companies to help with failing schools and link teacher evaluations to student test scores.

The strike carried political implications, too, raising the risk of a protracted labor battle in President Barack Obama's hometown at the height of the fall campaign, with a prominent Democratic mayor and Obama's former chief of staff squarely in the middle.