*** UPDATE *** Wow…

Chicago Teachers Union officials revealed Monday that nearly 90 percent of their members have authorized a strike — giving them the largest such mandate in the union’s history.

The 89.73 percent vote to authorize a strike easukt surpassed the 75 percent margin required under a new state law — a margin that some backers of that law once considered virtually insurmountable.

[ *** End Of Update *** ]

* The education reforms passed by the General Assembly last year were mostly teachers’ union reforms. One of the most highlighted of those reforms was setting the strike authorization bar much higher for the Chicago Teachers’ Union. Well, the CTU surpassed that threshold, with some to spare…

A spokeswoman with the Chicago Teachers Union says the organization has “well surpassed” the 75 percent threshold to authorize a strike, with 100 percent of teachers and staff in some school networks throwing their support behind a possible strike.

Union spokeswoman Stephanie Gadlin said the vote tally will allow the teachers union to call for a strike next fall if contract negotiations break down. While the union has not decided whether a strike will be needed, the authorization by its members will give the union added leverage at the bargaining table, Gadlin said.

The teachers union will discuss the details of the vote at a 1 p.m. press conference today at its downtown headquarters.

In a released statement this morning, Chicago Public Schools chief Jean-Claude Brizard accused union officials of pressuring their members to authorize a strike. The school district had urged the union to hold off on a strike authorization vote until an independent fact finder could complete his review of the two proposals and issue his recommendations next month.

The last Chicago teacher strike was in 1987.

The unions warned everyone that teachers went out on strike a whole lot more back when it was illegal. This time around, the higher bar apparently just made them more organized.

* More…

A new Chicago-only law backed by Mayor Rahm Emanuel, Stand for Children and others switched the margin needed for any CTU strike authorization from a simple majority of all those who voted to 75 percent of all eligible CTU voters. That meant failure to vote amounted to a “no’’ vote. As a result, several schools reported 100 percent of their CTU members had cast ballots.

And although some have raised questions about the integrity of the CTU’s voting procedure, the number to be announced Monday will “lay to rest the question” of whether the CTU “got it legitimately. It’s not even close,’’ said one source.

The action defies predictions of one force behind the law that created the new threshold. Jonah Edelman of Stand for Children bragged last year that “the union cannot strike in Chicago. They will never be able to muster the 75 percent threshold needed to strike.’’

Oops.