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

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

. 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 consistently fought for improved pay, benefits, and job security for its members, an ...

(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 administered by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC), a privately funded, not-for-profit organizati ...

and attended

Brown University Brown University is a private research university in Providence, Rhode Island. Brown is the seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, founded in 1764 as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providenc ...

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. Headquar ...

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 December 2017, it serves over 23,000 students in 43 schools, 3 annexes, 2 charter schools, and 2 cent ...

. The two moved to

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

; his wife initially was an associate editor of

In These Times ''In These Times'' is an American politically progressive monthly magazine of news and opinion published in Chicago, Illinois. It was established as a broadsheet-format fortnightly newspaper in 1976 by James Weinstein, a lifelong socialist. ...

, a leftist magazine before taking a job with leftist publisher

Haymarket Books Haymarket Books is a left-wing non-profit, independent book publisher based in Chicago. History Haymarket Books was founded in 2001 by Anthony Arnove, Ahmed Shawki and Julie Fain, all of whom had previously worked at the '' International Sociali ...

. 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 plans to return to the classroom after his term as president ends in June 2022. Sharkey is backing current Chicago Teachers Union Vice President Stacy Davis Gates for president in the union's upcoming election.

References

1970 births Living people Chicago Teachers Union people Schoolteachers from Illinois Brown University alumni Members of the International Socialist Organization Illinois socialists People from Maine {{worker-activist-stub