The Chicago Teachers Union has walked out on Chicago’s kids once again. It’s the fifth time in the last ten years.
As the CTU/CPS stalemate enters a new week, it’s important to understand where the teachers union’s power to disrupt the lives of 300,000 children and their parents comes from: state bargaining laws, a long history of appeasement by CPS, generous compensation and political clout.
The unions have made a mess of Chicago, but it’s the politicians who are more to blame. They are the ones that either surrender to the union’s demands or grant them even more powers.
It should be easy for every Chicagoan – and each Illinoisan who ends up paying in some way for Chicago’s problems – to tie the many crises created by the CTU to his or her local legislator. Every lawmaker who voted last year to increase the CTU’s bargaining power and/or to put Amendment 1 on the November ballot effectively endorses the union’s actions.
For those Illinoisans looking to hold their elected officials accountable, here are six ways lawmakers are complicit in the CTU’s accumulation of immense power:
1. The CTU is empowered by some of the most union-friendly collective bargaining laws in the country. Illinois lawmakers not only make it compulsory for governments to bargain with the public sector unions over a host of issues, not just pay, but they also make teacher strikes legal – one of just 13 states to do so (See Appendix 1). That’s in sharp contrast to states like North Carolina, which ban collective bargaining with teacher unions altogether.
The CTU gained even more bargaining powers just last year when Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed HB2275 into law, expanding the number of employment issues that can be negotiated by the union.
2. The CTU is emboldened by its long history of striking. The union has a long history of successful strikes and walkouts: 1969, 1971, 1973, 1975, 1980, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1987, 2012, 2016*, 2019, 2021*, 2022* (See Appendix 2). *walkouts
3. Chicago leaders have consistently appeased the union. Mayor Rahm Emanuel gave in twice to the union’s demands. First in 2012 after a week-long strike and then again in 2016 after a one-day walkout. Mayor Lightfoot has appeased the union several times, too. Just two years ago her starting contract offer, the “most generous” in CPS history, was met with an 11-day strike. And in January 2021, when Chicago teachers refused to show up for work in defiance of a directive to return to classrooms, Lightfoot moved the school start date back again and again instead of confronting the union.
4. The union has strong support from its well-compensated members. A vast majority of Chicago teachers consistently agree with the union’s actions. In 2016, 95 percent of voting union members were in favor of a strike. In 2019, 94 percent of teachers voted to strike. And last week, 73 percent of CTU members voted to return to remote learning.
At stake for members is some of the nation’s most-generous compensation. Chicago Public Schools pays teacher salaries that are among the highest when compared to the country’s 148 largest school districts, according to the National Council for Teacher Quality. For new teachers with a BA, CPS pays $60,000 in salary, the highest in the comparison group. For most other levels of education and experience, Chicago consistently ranks in the top five (See Appendix 3).
The average career CPS educator retires at the age of 62 with a starting pension of $74,000 and can expect to collect more than $2.3 million over the course of her retirement.
5. The union exercises its clout through millions in political spending and lobbying. Beyond the picket line, the union collects millions in member dues that are then spent on lobbying, legal issues and political campaigns. Prior to its two-week strike in 2019, for example, the union spent in the prior 15 months $1.5 million on lobbying and other political activity. It also spent $1.2 million on PACs for allied candidates and groups.
6. Politicians have encouraged the union by putting Amendment 1 on the November ballot, signaling they favor even more power for public sector unions. That amendment, if approved by Illinois voters, will enshrine collective bargaining rights in the constitution, denying any chance at future labor reforms and subsequent property tax relief.
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This walkout is just the latest example of the union trampling parents rights. And it’s happening all over Illinois, whether it’s CRT, mask mandates or forced remote learning.
Teacher unions have excessive power and it’s the politicians who give it to them. But that power can be challenged if parents demand it, like they recently did in Virginia.
Fed up Illinois parents should do the same.