Jesse Sharkey (born 1970) is an American former schoolteacher and labor leader in

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

. From 2010 to 2014, he was the Vice President of the

Chicago Teachers Union The Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) is a labor union that represents teachers, paraprofessionals, and clinicians in the Chicago public school system. The union has advocated for improved pay, benefits, and job security for its members, and it has ...

(CTU). In October 2014, he became acting President of the CTU after

Karen Lewis Karen Lewis ( Jennings; July 20, 1953 – February 7, 2021) was an American educator and labor leader who served as president of the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU), Chicago's division of the American Federation of Teachers, from 2010 to 2014. Fo ...

stepped down as president due to illness. In May 2019, he and other members of the Caucus of Rank and File Educators (CORE) were re-elected to their leadership positions with approximately two-thirds of the vote. Sharkey grew up in rural Maine. He was raised by his mother, who was an elementary school teacher at the local school. He won a

National Merit Scholarship The National Merit Scholarship Program is a United States academic scholarship competition for recognition and university scholarships. The program is managed by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC), a privately funded not-for-profit ...

and attended

Brown University Brown University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. It is the List of colonial colleges, seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the US, founded in 1764 as the ' ...

where he majored in modern American history. After graduating, he took an organizing job with the

United Steelworkers The United Steel, Paper and Forestry, Rubber, Manufacturing, Energy, Allied Industrial and Service Workers International Union, commonly known as the United Steelworkers (USW), is a general trade union with members across North America. Headqua ...

in North Carolina. He returned to Brown and earned his Master of Arts in Teaching. He then met his wife while teaching high school social studies in the

Providence Public School District The Providence Public School Department is the administrative force behind the primary public school district of Providence, Rhode Island. As of July 2022, it serves about 21,700 students in pre-K through 12th grade. It has 21 elementary school ...

. The two moved to

; his wife was an associate editor of the progressive magazine

In These Times In These Times may refer to: *In These Times (magazine), ''In These Times'' (magazine), an American monthly magazine of news and opinion *In These Times (Peter, Paul, and Mary album), ''In These Times'' (Peter, Paul, and Mary album), a 2004 album b ...

before taking a job with left-wing publisher

Haymarket Books Haymarket Books is an American non-profit, independent book publisher based in Chicago and emphasizing works on left-wing politics. History Haymarket Books was founded in 2001 by Anthony Arnove, Ahmed Shawki and Julie Fain, all of whom had ...

. Sharkey taught at Chicago Vocational Career Academy (CVCA). During his first year of teaching, he suffered a brain hemorrhage at school and was taken to the hospital. After a 12-hour surgery, he eventually recovered to near full strength and returned to the classroom. After three years at CVCA, he transferred to

Senn High School Senn High School is a public four-year high school located in the Edgewater neighborhood on the North Side of Chicago, Illinois, United States. Senn is operated by the Chicago Public Schools system and was opened on 3 February 1913. The school ...

. In 2004, Sharkey became actively involved with the Chicago Teachers Union when his school was slated to become a military academy. Sharkey was a member of the

International Socialist Organization The International Socialist Organization (ISO) was a Trotskyist group active primarily on college campuses in the United States that was founded in 1976 and dissolved in 2019. The organization held Leninist positions on imperialism and the role ...

(ISO) prior to its dissolution. On February 2, 2022, Sharkey announced that he would not seek re-election as president of the Chicago Teachers Union and that he planned to return to the classroom after his term as president would end in June 2022. Sharkey backed the union's then-vice president Stacy Davis Gates to succeed him as president.

References

1970 births Living people Chicago Teachers Union people Schoolteachers from Illinois Brown University alumni Members of the International Socialist Organization Illinois socialists 21st-century people from Maine {{Chicago Teachers Union