Chicago Teachers Union seeks transparent negotiations and extensive contract upgrades amid CPS's $391M deficit.
April 26, 2024
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Chicago Teachers Union seeks transparent negotiations and extensive contract upgrades amid CPS's $391M deficit.
As bargaining gets underway between the Chicago Teachers Union and the Chicago Public School District for a new contract, the union has unveiled some of their contract demands. The current contract will expire on June 30th of this year. The union has gone on strike several times over the last decade in what were hard-fought and often contentious negotiations.
Chicago Teachers Union President Stacy Davis Gates has stated her hopes for the negotiations to occur “in the front yard” rather than behind closed doors, suggesting livestreaming the process to the public and having relevant stakeholders like students and families in the room as it happens. The idea behind this is to have the bargaining be as transparent as possible to build trust in the community that what is being asked for is in the common good. Davis Gates specified that this could only happen with permission from the Chicago Public School District.
The union is hopeful, too, that it will have the mayor firmly on their side this time around. Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson is a former middle school teacher and teachers’ union organizer. He has participated in contract negotiations in the past, and the union believes this is an asset to their cause in this round of bargaining. Additionally, the union invested heavily in his campaign for mayor, causing increased optimism among the members as they entered the talks.
The teachers’ union has included demands in their contract proposal that go beyond what has been asked for in the past. There are more than 700 demands, which include staffing improvements and raising the salary floor for paraprofessionals; increased dual language learning programs; sports and fine arts programs; more Sustainable Community Schools, an initiative which provides things like more after-school programs and services for families; and assistance for students facing homelessness.
During the Covid pandemic, federal relief funds were crucial to keeping school districts afloat, with Chicago being no different and benefiting greatly. This money is now running out, and the school district must overcome a $391 million deficit. The school district, teachers’ union, and Mayor Johnson are all in agreement that state funds should be increased, though that is a significant challenge given the financial issues the state is dealing with as well. The school district is greatly underfunded, and the demands from the union will add financial stress to an already thinly stretched budget.
The National Labor Relations Act provides for the right to bargain collectively with your employer via a representative chosen by you and your coworkers. This is the basis for professional unions. Both sides are required to bargain in good faith and can negotiate wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment. These negotiations can go on until an agreement is reached or the sides are deadlocked. If there is no path forward, the employer may impose terms and conditions, but only if they have been offered before the impasse.
According to the National Education Association, there are five stages of collective bargaining. They are preparing for bargaining, conducting negotiations, ratifying the contract, resolving a contract dispute, and changing or clarifying the contract.
For the teachers’ union and the school district to reach a legally binding contract, there must be mutual assent, expressed by a valid offer and acceptance, adequate consideration, capacity, and legality. There is no indication that the capacity to bargain is missing in this case, nor that any potential agreement would stretch the limits of the law, so those requirements will surely be met; a valid offer and acceptance, and adequate consideration will likewise not pose a problem; but mutual assent is what may cause some bumps in the road for this process.
Sources
https://news.wttw.com/2024/04/16/chicago-teachers-union
https://www.wbez.org/stories/chicago-teachers-union-has-ambitious-contract
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