Chicago Teachers Lead May Day ‘Shutdown’: Can This Spark a General Strike?

Chicago is gearing up for a May 1 International Workers’ Day shutdown, and the Chicago Teachers Union is leading the charge. CTU president Stacy Davis Gates joins Breakthrough’s Amanda Yee to explain why the union is calling for a national day of action under the banner of “no work, no school, no shopping” to protest Trump and ICE “terrorism.”

Davis Gates discusses how Trump’s cuts to SNAP, Medicaid, and education — while funneling billions into ICE and wars abroad — are already hurting Chicago’s students and families. She connects the fight for sanctuary schools, the legacy of enslaved Africans’ general strikes, and why unions must go beyond “bread and butter” to defend democracy, reproductive rights, civil rights, and LGBTQ+ communities — and why collective action is the only answer.

Chicago is set to shut down on May Day, and the Chicago Teachers Union is leading the charge.

CTU president @stacydavisgates calls ICE raids “terrorism” and says only mass action can fight back: “Workers make it happen and everything else follows.”