As Chicago teachers enter into their third day of striking, tensions between the leader of the union, Karen Lewis and Mayor Rahm Emanuel are drawing attention. With 350,000 students not in school, some say that the bad relationship between Lewis and Emanuel helped to push teachers to strike. A union representing about 1,500 school janitors said that on Friday some workers may not cross the picket lines to go to work. Negotiations between the two groups are ongoing, but both sides say that they remain apart on key issues. The city says that it is expanding the number of places for children to go during the day while the strike continues.
See "Teachers' Leader in Chicago Strike Shows Her Edge", Monica Davey and Steven Yaccino, The New York Times, September 11, 2012