Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s top negotiator has sent the Chicago Teachers Union a letter accusing the group of not responding to key proposals and asking that they reach a deal in the next two weeks.
The union fired back Sunday when Vice President Stacy Davis Gates criticized the letter, calling it disingenuous and accusing Chicago Public Schools officials of “being absolutely dishonest.”
Lightfoot first offered to raise teacher pay by 14 percent over five years, then increased the offer to 16 percent, but the union wants a deal with contract language addressing school staffing concerns.
Earlier this month, the union announced that its House of Delegates agreed to set dates for a strike authorization vote. Union members will vote Sept. 24-26 on whether to walk off the job.
If at least 75% vote in favor, they could go on strike as soon as Oct. 7.
The letter from Lightfoot’s top negotiator, attorney James Franczek, looks to pressure the union to reach an agreement before that happens.
“We are committed to negotiating a fair contract that reflects our mutual belief in the importance of the work of your members and for the benefit of the students and the parents of CPS and the taxpayers of Chicago. We expect that the CTU would approach these negotiations with the same urgency,” Franczek wrote. “We have not seen that sense of urgency from CTU. We respectfully request that CTU advise us whether CTU shares our goal to conclude these negotiations by September 27 and is willing to devote the time, energy and commitment to achieve that goal.”
In the letter, Franczek said the union hasn’t responded to the offer of a 16% raise over five years and other proposals, including deals on teacher evaluations, special education, teacher preparation, substitute teachers and grading practices that the administration submitted “in an effort to respond to CTU concerns and we have received nothing in return on these issues.”
The letter takes issue with a Sept. 5 proposal from the union that Franczek said included “a revised staffing proposal demanding that CPS hire 4,025 employees in nine positions at a cost of over $800 million over three years.”
“In making that proposal, CTU appears to have ignored hours of discussions at the bargaining table where we described the challenges of hiring nurses, librarians, social workers and other similar staff professionals,” Franczek wrote. “Even if money were no object, the job market would not permit CPS to deliver on the staff levels in your September 5 offer. Indeed, you admitted at the bargaining table that you knew CPS could not agree to such a proposal.”
Davis Gates said the letter’s suggestion that the union is stalling is “insulting and offensive” and attempted to link the school district under Lightfoot to her predecessor, former Mayor Rahm Emanuel.
“After the mayoral election was decided, we thought that the negotiating table would change. As a candidate, Mayor Lightfoot campaigned on virtually every single contract proposal that we have put forward,” Davis Gates said. “Instead of seeing a shift at the negotiating table, we have been confronted with the same leadership that has presided over 50 school closings, the dismantling of the special education program and that’s overseen the tragic sex abuse scandal.”
Lightfoot met CTU President Jesse Sharkey in her City Hall office last week and afterward said it was “a good start in getting to know each other better.”
But later that day, Sharkey released a more combative statement saying it’s “unclear if (Lightfoot) is willing to listen to the needs of classroom educators and the families of our students. She added that she doesn’t ‘bend to pressure’ and has yet to commit to being accountable for the commitments that she made as a candidate."
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On Sunday, Davis Gates suggested the union wants its staffing demands in a contract because the district’s leaders aren’t trustworthy.
“How do you trust leadership at CPS that is under state monitor, that is under federal monitor?” Davis Gates said, referring to state and federal oversight over special education and student safety. “You can’t trust these people. That’s why we’re saying, put it in writing.”
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