Emanuel: If teachers strike, they choose disrupting children's education over pay raises

If Chicago teachers strike, they will have chosen to turn down raises to deliberately disrupt the education of children and the daily routines of parents, Mayor Rahm Emanuel said Thursday as he sought to ratchet up pressure amid talks for a new union contract.

Emanuel's message marked his first public comments since the Chicago Teachers Union set an Oct. 11 strike date raising the prospects of the second walkout of his time as mayor.

"This notion of taking a strike ... it's one of choice, not of necessity. Because you have a 13 percent pay raise on the table," Emanuel said during an afternoon appearance at Skinner North Classical School in the Goose Island neighborhood.

The "strike of choice" line is the same one he used in 2012, when teachers picketed for seven school days, though the mayor's overall rhetoric hasn't been as confrontational this time. Still, Emanuel sought to draw a distinction between the union's position and the sacrifices made by Chicago residents who are getting hammered by his property tax increases to help shore up Chicago Public Schools.

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