Chicago teachers to end strike Chicago public schools will reopen on Wednesday, after representatives of the city's teachers' union voted to return to work after a seven-day strike that revolved around job security and the way instructors are evaluated. However, the vote ends only the strike and the union's 30,000 members still need to vote to ratify their new contract with the Chicago Public Schools authority. The strike had caused chaos in President Barack Obama's home town and the home of his education secretary, with parents forced to make alternative arrangements for more than 350,000 public school students. About 800 delegates met on Tuesday afternoon to discuss a tentative contract before agreeing to return to work. "We said we couldn't solve all the problems ... and it was time to suspend the strike," Karen Lewis, the union president, told a press conference after the vote, according to the Chicago Tribune. "The issue is, we cannot get a perfect contract," Ms Lewis said, adding that the delegates agreed they could not stay on strike indefinitely until every demand was met. I'm so thrilled that people are going back. All of our members are glad to be back with their kids. It's a hard decision to make to go out, and for some people it's hard to make the decision to go back in," she said. In a separate news conference, Mayor Rahm Emanuel welcomed the decision. This settlement is an honest compromise. It means returning our schools to their primary purpose, the education of our children," said Mr Emanuel, who was previously chief of staff to Mr Obama. It means a new day and a direction for the Chicago Public Schools. In this contract we gave our children a seat at the table. In past negotiations taxpayers paid more but our children got less. This time our taxpayers are paying less and our kids are getting more," he said. Chicago teachers walked off the job on Monday last week and refused to return to work this week even though they had reached a tentative deal with the authorities. That prompted Mr Emanuel to request a court order forcing them back to work, but the judge hearing the matter declined to consider the request until Wednesday, by which time he said the issue could be resolved. Mr Emanuel had said the stoppage was illegal because it revolved around issues that were outside the parameters for a strike under state law. Chicago teachers are some of the best paid in the US, earning an average salary of $76,000 a year. The tentative deal allows for annual pay increases but below the 4 per cent level that had been in an offer that Mr Emanuel scrapped last year. The mayor wants the proportion of teacher evaluations that rest on student performance to rise to 35 per cent within four years, but the union says this does not allow for the impact that external factors, including poverty and violence, have on students. The union also wanted teachers who had lost their jobs to be given priority for new vacancies, but the schools authority said that principals should be able to hire the most qualified teacher for the job. Additional reporting by agencies