Chicago judge sets hearing on teachers strike As teachers union delegates prepared to vote again on ending a strike that has put more than 350,000 students out of class for six days, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel went to court Monday contending the walkout was illegal. A Cook County judge set a hearing for Wednesday - a day after the union's governing body was expected to vote again on the proposed contract. Union delegates had refused to approve it Sunday, as had been expected so classes in the nation's third-largest school district could resume. Delegates told union negotiators they needed more time to review the details. That prompted Emanuel and Chicago Public Schools officials to seek court intervention. But Cook County Circuit Judge Peter Flynn said he would not hold a hearing until Wednesday, if the strike had not ended by then. Union delegates were to meet again Tuesday, after the end of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish new year. The strike - the nation's most significant for teachers since a Detroit walkout six years ago - has been closely watched by labor leaders and education observers nationwide. More than 26,000 Chicago teachers and school staff walked off their jobs Sept. 10 in the city's first teachers strike in 25 years. Contentious issues include the role of student test scores in evaluating teachers as well as job security in light of expected school closings and the possible creation of more charter schools. About 50,000 students in the district are in charter schools and unaffected by the strike. In seeking a temporary restraining order, lawyers for the city argued that state law prohibits teachers from striking over anything other than economic issues and that the key unresolved matters involved teacher evaluations and layoff policies. The city also argued that the strike endangered public safety because about 4 of every 5 students receive meals at school. The Chicago Teachers Union called the Chicago Public Schools action groundless and lashed out at Emanuel. "CPS' spur-of-the-moment decision to seek injunctive relief ... appears to be a vindictive act instigated by the mayor," the union said in a statement. This attempt to thwart our democratic process is consistent with Mayor Emanuel's bullying behavior toward public school educators. When the union entered contract talks last fall, it demanded a nearly 30% salary increase over two years, largely for working a significantly longer school day this year. An arbitrator later bolstered the union's argument, suggesting teachers deserved a 19% salary bump this year. The report acknowledged that such a steep wage increase was unrealistic given the district's anticipated $1-billion deficit next year. The union had at least hoped to win back the 4% raise the district revoked last year after budget problems. But the proposed contract includes a 3% base salary raise for next year and 2% raises after that, with an option to extend it a fourth year with a 3% raise. Now union President Karen Lewis must cope with members' disillusionment and a challenge: Can she and fellow union leaders curb the anger stoked during months of bitter contract negotiations? "From knowing how labor relations works, being good at firing up the base and coming out and being forceful and strong, that's probably the easiest thing to be good at," Zev Eigen, professor of law at Northwestern University, told the Chicago Tribune. The biggest risk is setting unrealistic expectations. If you're responsible for shepherding your members, you are tasked with making sure their expectations are realistic and firmly grounded. Leaflets calling Lewis a "sellout" were distributed at Sunday's meeting, the Tribune reported. That phrase surfaced again from frustrated delegates, who said they didn't feel comfortable ending a strike with an incomplete contract and pressed Lewis about why they had only a 27-page summary. Some delegates saw nefarious motives in the limited information. "This was done to allow the CTU [leadership] sufficient time to 'package' the sellout, and the membership insufficient time to consider it," according to commentary handed out to delegates at Sunday's meeting. But Jackson Potter, a union staff organizer, told the Tribune on Monday that the union was "headed in the right direction." "There's disagreement, but those never detract from our ultimate goal," he said. We are all of the same mind that there's no alternative to organizing together to fight privatization and moving the union forward. Noreen S. Ahmed-Ullah, Bill Ruthhart and Joel Hood in Chicago contributed to this report.