CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- As more Chicago Public School teachers are set to return to classrooms next week, the Chicago Teachers Union is standing firm in demanding more safety measures and a strike could be imminent.
The rhetoric has gone from outrage to a thawing recently from union leadership and talks with the administration. But some teachers and staff have refused to work, in what they believe are unsafe conditions.
Now the discussion of what could be called a modified strike is being put to members.
The 700-member House of Delegates is meeting Wednesday to discuss a resolution, and if the plan moves forward, it would be put to full membership - the 25,000 rank-and-file members of the CTU - to vote on as early as Thursday.
Three-quarters of CTU members would have to vote in favor for a strike to occur, and that's uncertain.
If they do, the Sun-Times reported, they would refuse to return on Monday when CPS officials expect thousands of kindergarten through eighth grade teachers and staff to report in-person to work ahead of a Feb. 1 reopening for elementary and middle schools.
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As part of the resolution, teachers would collectively refuse to report to work in-person but continue to teach remotely. If they are locked out, as CPS has done with those refusing to return so far, that would trigger a full-blown strike.
It is unclear whether CPS would lock out all those teachers, as it has done with about 90 preschool and special education cluster program teachers and staff who refused to return in-person this earlier month.
Chicago Teachers Union might take strike vote this week, sources say