CHICAGO (AP) -- Seeking to mount a show of strength, thousands of union workers staged a rally Monday, September 3rd to support the Chicago Teachers Union in its contract talks with the city's school district.
The demonstrators, wearing red shirts, packed into downtown Daley Plaza on Labor Day, one day before the start of classes for most public school students and a week before a threatened teachers strike.
The Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis told the crowd that Mayor Rahm Emanuel was a "liar and a bully.''
The mayor's office said Monday that the two sides met all weekend and are scheduled to meet every day this week.
Unresolved issues include pay and rehiring laid-off teachers.
Lewis called the talks "a fight for the very soul of public education.''