The Chicago Teachers Union intends to launch what amounts to a one-day strike on May 1 and is asking the mayor and school board for their official support so students can miss school to participate.On Wednesday the union’s 730-member House of Delegates approved a resolution to join a national move ment calling for a day of “no school, no work, no shopping.” Participants plan to call for higher taxes on the wealthy, better-funded schools, protections for immigrants and other reforms.Union leaders cited several reasons for participating, including to “demand ICE out of our cities,” referring to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, and “tax the rich to support our schools and vital services,” according to the resolution. It also says public education is facing attacks from “MAGA politicians” who support the policies of President Donald Trump and “corporate interests.”That day, the union wants members and students to take part in “age-appropriate” civic education, labor history programming, voter registration and know-your-rights training, as well as rallies and marches.“Teaching our students what civic action looks like requires more than textbooks when the President sends federal agents to occupy our cities and the Governor chooses to continue giving tax breaks to billionaires instead of giving our students the school day they deserve,” CTU Vice President Jackson Potter said in a statement.The union wants Mayor Brandon Johnson and the school board to make May 1 “an official day of action,” saying the mayor can draw upon a state law that allows middle and high school students one excused absence per year to attend a “civic event.”CTU encouraged its members to sign a petition calling for the mayor to take action.In a statement, Johnson said he would “work with our partners at CPS and in our school communities to find solutions which ensure there is no loss of instruction time.”But he indicated support for the broader movement, saying the effort to organize on May 1 “offers working people across the country the opportunity to make their voice heard through direct action.”Chicago Public Schools didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.Kevin Moore, a CTU member and social studies teacher at George Washington High School, said it's important for the union to participate in the action because “public education is under attack” and “we shouldn't stand for that.”Moore added that though students may not be in school that day, they will still learn something.“We’re teaching our students how to use their voice,” Moore said. “We're teaching our students that they have a very powerful role in defending democracy and that they have a role in building the country that we need, in the future they deserve.”The CTU has engaged in similar one-day actions before. In 2016, teachers staged a rare one-day strike in support of higher wages and more state funding. That action led CPS to cancel school for the day and set up contingency sites where parents who needed to work could drop off their children. CPS filed a charge with the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board alleging the strike was illegal.Staging actions on International Workers’ Day, also known as May Day, has a long history. The holiday’s origins date back to Chicago’s Haymarket Affair of 1886, a workers’ rights strike where several demonstrators, police and civilians died. In the mid-2000s, hundreds of thousands of people participated in May Day marches to support immigrant rights.On May 1 last year, the CTU participated in rallies and marches, too. Though it was a regular school day for students, the union said about 500 students participated in the march. ...read more read less