First-hand accounts of the 1987 Chicago teacher strike

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I thought the Chicago Tribune would have published a reminiscence of the 1987 teacher strike, but I found nothing in the Tribune archives (which date back to the mid-'80s) for 1997, 2002, or 2007. However, Charles W. Johnson at ChicagoNow.com was a Chicago Public School student in the '80s and has this first-hand account:

I remember in the 80’s there were strikes or threats of strikes every year or two. The only lengthy strikes were in 1983 and 1987, but there were some one or two day strikes as well, I believe in maybe 1985.

(The Tribune has an account of the three teacher strikes of the '80s.)

In the past, the deal that was agreed on was usually not a whole lot better than the initial deal on the table and it seemed that younger teachers often were sacrificed to pay for the benefits and or raises that were agreed on with the post strike deal.

But for us kids, the stability we lost, days that never got returned, those ever important early days of the school year to get into a routine and get the brain learning were just stolen.

I can remember a strike or two like this one where we went to school for a hot minute then out on the street.

And it was after that last strike in 1987 that local school councils were born and other significant changes came with it.

I was out of CPS schools the very next year but I was fortunate, I had the chance to leave my inner city public school and attend a suburban parochial school and the difference was night and day.

Johnson also wrote about the strike in a June blog post at Chicagonow.com:

I remember that strike well for I was in 6th grade in a
CPS school (Paul Revere), and we went 21 days without school, yes a whole month. My mother home schooled me through the strike. But we truly never made up that lost time and the teachers never got back that lost pay.

That strike led to the creation of Local School Councils and
not long after that, strikes were not allowed, thus the labor peace that has
been in place for 25 years.

(Johnson's mother was a CPS teacher from 1965 to 2000 who went on strike 10 times during her career.)

I found this comment at the end of an article on substancenews.com:

Our union was led by a iron willed woman named Jackie Vaughn who hated the leader of the board Manfred Byrd.

Our mayor Washington choose to fly off to Japan on some junket rather than stay home and deal with the strike. Personally I walked the line outside the district office at Harlan high school (there were three high school "districts" and 20 elementary districts then) where a person was found murdered in their car out on the street.

The issues were the same, sweat a little more out of the teachers so the Board could have more to throw at their friends .It was a long bitter strike. Most of us did not know Jackie had terminal cancer and this was her last job action.

The results are still with us because this strike prompted the 1988 bill that brought us Local School Councils. Word got out that this would be our last strike because we held together like glue, and embarrassed the sainted Mayor.

The next time we called a strike in 91 or 93 the board got some parent to appeal to the Federal Court on the grounds the schools can’t be integrated if they are not in session.

We won the battles but lost the war. If Jackie Vaughn had lived I feel things would be different. No reporter ever got away with any bull when she was president.

Finally, for those who were listening to rock during the '80s, here's a fitting song from '87, "Here I Go Again" by Whitesnake: