Karen Lewis

"Delegates just didn’t trust Chicago Public Schools not to try to slip one over on them if they called off the first CTU strike in 25 years without more study and discussion of the offer. Please write ‘trust’ in big giant letters because that’s what the problem is.’’

 -- Sun-Times

Alex Kotlowitz

It’s been too easy to see this dispute as one between two hotheaded personalities — Mr. Emanuel and Ms. Lewis, or as a play for respect. Rather, as I spoke with teachers on the picket lines last week, it became clear that it was about something much more fundamental, and something worth our attention: top-notch teaching can’t by itself become our nation’s answer to a poverty rate that, as we learned the other day, remains stubbornly high: one of every five children in America live below the poverty level.-- N.Y. Times

Delegate Kevin Hough

“I think everybody wants to be back in the classroom, but I think everyone is nervous about a bad contract. In the end I think it’s wise for members to have a day to review the contract." -- N.Y. Times

St. Paul union prez

"We had just been working toward these things in St. Paul and here they were erupting in Chicago," said Mary Cathryn Ricker, the president of a teachers union in Minnesota who attended the Chicago rally, adding that workers across the country are watching this city's negotiations closely. -- TruthOut

Best blog headline 

Democracy breaks out in Chicago. Many surprised, not having seen it before. -- Fred Klonsky