Oregon: Portland teachers strike over class sizes, pay and lack of resources

Schools closed for 45,000 students in strike union says is first ever walkout in Portland school district

Teachers in Portland walked off the job on Wednesday for the first day of a strike that will shutter schools for some 45,000 students in Oregon's largest city.

Concerns over large class sizes, salaries that have not kept up with inflation and a lack of resources prompted the strike, one of the latest signs of a growing organized labor movement in the US that has seen thousands of workers in various sectors take to the picket lines this year.