CPS, teachers bargain past midnight, but deal elusive
A flurry of activity saw top officials from the Chicago Teachers Union and Chicago Public Schools huddle behind closed doors well past midnight to try and hammer out a deal to bring the 25,000 striking teachers back to work, but no agreement was announced after hours of intense negotiations.
It was unclear how late talks would continue, but the union issued a press release shortly after 11 p.m. Monday saying “the CTU bargaining team remains at the table and does not plan on leaving until they’ve managed to get a tentative agreement with CPS.”
CPS officials had earlier made a similar pledge to stay “as long as it takes” to get a deal during talks at Malcolm X College on the Near West Side.
The lack of an agreement by Monday afternoon had led CPS to cancel Tuesday classes, meaning the district’s 300,000 students would miss their ninth day of school and the longest teachers strike in three decades would continue.
Big bargaining team returns
Monday evening, CTU president Jesse Sharkey and vice president Stacy Davis Gates said that they called their big bargaining team back to negotiations to “put some pressure on CPS and the mayor to settle this tonight.”
“We want them to take this seriously,” Davis Gates said of CPS negotiators. “Come to the table with something that makes sense to move our schools forward, to give our students what they deserve, to make sure that our members are treated fairly and to make sure that we’re in school as soon as possible.”
Sharkey noted that CPS brought its general counsel, Joe Moriarty, to the table late Monday, possibly in an effort to strike a deal. Moriarty was part of negotiations in 2012 and 2016.
“They brought in one of their most experienced labor relations people who’s also their head lawyer, and we expect an offer from them,” Sharkey said, adding the CTU was “prepared to bring our House of Delegates if there’s something on the table that shows seriousness.”
If a deal was struck overnight, union members could review the terms early Tuesday and the union’s governing body, the House of Delegates, could vote to end the strike Tuesday evening. That would put kids back in school by Wednesday.
“We’re looking to get classes resumed, but right now the ball is firmly in their court, and if they can find the resources and the will, we think we can get an agreement,” Sharkey said.
Far apart on prep time, costs
Earlier in the night, CPS officials didn’t paint a promising picture.
”We have been negotiating all day and we still have many key issues on the table,” LaTanya McDade, the district’s chief education officer, said during a brief break from bargaining.
She said the two sides remained “far apart” on the key issues of teacher preparation time and the overall cost of the contract.
The CTU is asking for 30 minutes in prep time at the beginning of the elementary school day for teachers to be able to grade homework, plan lessons, coordinate with other teachers and talk to parents.
Union leaders say the day can be restructured to create the prep time. CPS officials say they haven’t been able to find a way to reschedule the day to do so, and the only way to accomplish what the union wants would result in less instructional time for students — which the district refuses to allow.
Costs detailed
As for the cost of the contract, the district says its offer will cost $485 million by the fifth year of the deal. That would mean the current contract, which includes all teacher pay and costs $2.6 billion annually, would ramp up to $3.1 billion by the end of the five years.
CPS’ offer includes an additional $375 million for pay and benefits for teacher and support staff, $34 million for a full-time nurse and social worker in every school by the end of the five-year contract, $25 million to address overcrowded class sizes and $19 million for more special education case managers.
CPS has also offered $10 million for high-need schools to be able to pick between hiring a librarian or a social justice coordinator. But the union has said it doesn’t want schools in low-income communities to be forced to pick between two necessary positions. Instead, the CTU wants a librarian in every school, the same as what’s now going to happen for nurses and social workers.
Union leaders maintain that the additional costs they’re demanding on top of the district’s offer total $38 million per year. But CPS officials said the added costs would be closer to $100 million.
Union officials said their estimate is what it would cost to meet their additional staffing and class size demands.