CHICAGO—The Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) is calling on city officials to declare May Day as an “official day of civic action” for students and educators to protest against what it describes as President Donald Trump’s “rising authoritarianism.”
The CTU announced last week that its House of Delegates passed a resolution to join other organizations in calling for May 1 to be a day of protest and civic engagement. The union is encouraging its members to sign an online petition to Mayor Brandon Johnson and the Chicago Board of Education.
“Across the country, thousands of unions and community organizations are marking May Day as a day of action to demand a government that invests in our schools, not in attacking our neighbors,” the CTU said in a statement. “The history of our union teaches us that when we fight, we win. And our students and coworkers need us to fight for them now.”
May Day, or International Workers’ Day, celebrates the struggles and gains made by organized labor. The holiday traces its origins back to the nationwide protest movement of 1886, in which American workers protested for an eight-hour workday, including 80,000 workers who marched down Michigan Avenue in Chicago. These events culminated in the Haymarket Affair on May 4, 1886, where police shot and killed four people and injured dozens while attempting to disperse a rally at Chicago’s Haymarket Square, after an unidentified person threw a dynamite bomb at police.
In its petition, the CTU demands that Chicago’s city and school leadership declare May Day as a “Day of Civic Action” centered on “political education, civic engagement, labor history, mutual aid, immigrant justice, and civil rights.” The petition asks that schools be able to close so students and their families can participate in citywide events and protests.
The union said Trump is “using our school budgets for his illegal wars and kickbacks to his billionaire friends” and that this calls for students and educators to “show up and show the power of labor and community in coalition.”
“Teaching our students what civic action looks like requires more than textbooks when the President sends federal agents to occupy our cities and the Governor chooses to continue giving tax breaks to billionaires instead of giving our students the school day they deserve,” said CTU Vice President Jackson Potter.
“If we still want to have democracy in the midterms this November, public schools that provide our students with quality education, and unions to defend workers’ rights, then it is up to every Chicagoan to stand up for what we believe in and show the authoritarian billionaire in Washington that when he breaks every rule, we will not go along with business as usual,” Potter said.
The petition also calls for age-appropriate civic learning events, including know-your-rights education, election protection preparation, and community safety training.
The union’s petition coincides with recent calls by Mayor Johnson for “democracy zones” near Chicago polling stations intended to protect voters from federal immigration agents. Named the “Reverend Jesse L. Jackson Sr. Fair Access to Democracy Ordinance”, it would “establish boundaries extending 100 feet beyond the existing campaign-free zones codified under state law, and seek to issue fines against federal agents who violated them” ahead of the general election in November, according to a draft obtained by the Chicago Tribune.
The CTU is also calling on city officials to reject calls for school voucher programs that the union says aim “to hand tax breaks to the ultra-rich while diverting scarce public school resources to private institutions that are not held to the same standards of transparency, accountability, or civil rights protections.”
The CTU will host a teletownhall at 6 p.m. on Monday, March 16, to answer any questions union members may have.
Chicago educators interested in signing the petition can do so by clicking here.
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