The citys new mayor, Lori Lightfoot, campaigned on issues aligned with the union but since her election has pushed back on its demands. Lightfoot has said the teachers contract is not the appropriate place for the city to legislate its affordable housing policy, according to the Chicago Tribune . She has also suggested the teachers demands are simply too expensive.

I also must be responsible for the taxpayers who pay for everything that goes on, Lightfoot said .

Since the strike began Thursday, union members and their allies have put many of these issues on full display in the form of biting, playful and heart-wrenching protest signs.

Some have pointed to the economic struggle many teachers experience and referenced the casual ways educators are often condescended to and undermined.

Bake sales wont cut it! one sign read.

Many of the signs called out Lightfoot directly, asking why her campaign promise to support teachers appears to have gone out the door. Some also reference the apparent feud between Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner and former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel over control of the citys school system.

One teachers sign proclaimed he was present as an infant during Chicagos historic teachers strike in 1987 a 19-day protest that is, to this day, the longest in the citys history.

Scroll down to see some of the most poignant signs from the protest: