The Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) strike today is not primarily about increased school funding, pensions for teachers, or even corporate taxation, though the union is fighting for all of these. It is a strike about democracy — about who owns our society’s resources and how decisions about those resources are made.

The CTU has shown us, once again, what real democracy looks like. Under an Illinois law designed to undercut teachers’ right to withhold their labor, 75 percent of the union’s active members must authorize a strike. The CTU met and surpassed that bar in December, with 92 percent of members voting on the issue and more than 96 percent of those casting a ballot endorsing a walkout. Then on March 23, the CTU’s representative body, the house of delegates, voted 486-124 to call a one-day strike.

Is it democratic for a union to demand that all members respect the decision to strike? Insisting on solidarity in action after a vote is taken is unusual in our society. In contrast to the cutthroat competition and dog-eat-dog individualism that capitalism cherishes, unions are based on the idea that one’s own well-being is bound up with the fate of others. Collective action depends on trust and a strong sense of shared interest, ideals that underlie democracy.