CHICAGO (MCT) — Delegates for the Chicago Teachers Union voted Tuesday to call off their seven-day strike, sending 350,000 public schools students back to class Wednesday morning and ending the daily scene of teachers dressed in red picketing their schools.

The overwhelming vote by the union’s 800 delegates paves the way for CTU’s entire membership to approve a contract in the coming weeks that will secure them a double-digit salary increase over the next three years, including raises for cost of living while maintaining other increases for experience and advanced education.