Prospects of teachers reaching a deal hits snag
Teachers union and city still face most challenging contract matters to resolve
The odds of striking Chicago teachers reaching a tentative contract deal Saturday took a hit when a top school district official said she had “serious concerns” about resuming negotiations following a “breach of trust.”
It wasn’t clear if the matter would derail hopes of reopening classrooms Monday. The two sides remained at the bargaining table into Saturday evening.
The union and the city have reached consensus on many contract matters but have gotten down to the biggest and most challenging ones to resolve, both sides have indicated.
The prospects of striking Chicago teachers reaching a tentative contract deal on Saturday hit a snag when a top school district official said she had “serious concerns” about resuming negotiations following a “breach of trust.”
It wasn’t clear if the unspecified matter would derail hopes of reopening classrooms Monday. But while talks did continue, the chances of landing a tentative deal on Saturday to end the walkout, which has lasted 10 days, including seven school days, appeared to be waning.
The Chicago Teachers Union and the city have reached consensus on dozens of contract matters but have gotten down to the biggest and most challenging ones to resolve, both sides have indicated.
CTU spokeswoman Chris Geovanis said Saturday afternoon that the union was focused on its contract priorities of smaller class sizes and ensuring all students have daily access to nurses, social workers, librarians and other “critical frontline staff.”
“We’re now trying to land the issues that are most critical to our students and families,” she said.
Geovanis sidestepped a question about the “breach of trust” claim made by CPS Chief Education Officer LaTanya McDade earlier in the day.
McDade had said Friday evening she was hopeful a deal could be reached over the weekend. But Saturday, she released a statement, saying in part: “We left last night determined to bridge the divide on some of the key remaining issues, with the goal of getting our students back in school on Monday. Following the close of negotiations yesterday evening, there was a breach of trust that gives us serious concerns as we come back today. We intend to address this at the table first thing today.”
Despite the apparent stumbling block, the two sides remained at the bargaining table into Saturday evening. Elsewhere, the union continued what has been its daily schedule of rallies, canvassing and other action, though the numbers were smaller than at many recent union events on a waterlogged Saturday.
About 100 striking CPS teachers and support staff members, along with supporters, rallied Saturday morning at Union Park, where speakers blared “Sweet Home Chicago,” and an inflatable figure of Mother Jones wearing a purple dress towered above the crowd.
CTU’s Latinx Caucus set up an altar for Día de Muertos with gravestones that said “RIP bilingual education.” Signs asked CPS to focus on bilingual education in elementary school, showing student quotes including: “I’m forgetting my Spanish.”
The event was pitched as a family-friendly rally, with balloon animals and snacks. It was co-sponsored by the Chicago Federation of Labor.
“Let’s acknowledge this is a labor fight and it’s also a civil rights fight,” said Dan Montgomery, president of the Illinois Federation of Teachers.
Montgomery referenced CTU’s push for smaller class sizes. He decried classes of more than 40 students to a loud chorus of boos from the crowd.
Chicago Teachers Union President Jesse Sharkey told the crowd they will stay at the table until they get a deal that is a “clear win.”
“I’ll be happy if we can end this strike soon, but if we cannot get a deal that is a clear win, we will be back at it again Monday,” Sharkey said.
Sharkey was the last of a long list of speakers at the Near West Side rally that also included current and former CPS students Sara Nelson, president of the Association of Flight Attendants and Bob Reiter, president of the Chicago Federation of Labor. He spoke before returning to Malcolm X College for negotiations with CPS.
Repeating an oft-cited union complaint, Sharkey lambasted the city’s use of tax increment financing to subsidize developments, like the planned $6 billion Lincoln Yards megadevelopment.
“We are literally robbing the poor to line the pockets of developers,” he said.
He said no one becomes a public school teacher “to be rich.”
“We have a responsibility to do what’s right for your children,” he said.
Union officials have apologized to CPS athletes who have had to forfeit games and in some cases are missing postseason competition because of the strike.
And on Saturday, a group of CPS boys and girls cross country runners who were not allowed to take part in postseason races attended the Class 3A Regional in Lincoln Park and had a run of their own after the official competition.
Parents of runners from Jones College Prep filed a lawsuit Thursday seeking to force the Illinois High School Association to allow runners from Jones and elsewhere in the city to compete in regional meets, but on Friday a judge refused their request for a temporary restraining order.
Elsewhere Saturday afternoon, Chicago Board of Education President Miguel del Valle met with special education teachers and staff members at Blackhawk Park on the Northwest Side. He spoke to them after they canvassed his neighborhood to ask for support for their students.
As rain fell, a small group of teachers and teaching assistants huddled with del Valle under a tent, telling him about work weeks of 50 to 60 hours for low pay and a lack of resources to support disabled CPS students.
They also talked about the need for special education case managers, said teacher Erin Young. Increased staffing of those provide so-called “wraparound” services, like case managers, nurses and social workers, has been a major priority of the CTU.
Del Valle acknowledged that CPS has cut back services over the years, and said he is committed to working toward restoring them.
“We have to undo that,” he said. “But it’s going to take a while.”
CTU leaders said Friday evening said that they don’t have a deal yet to end the strike but that they were getting down to the final issues left to be negotiated.
The union has reached tentative agreements on dozens of issues with the city and CPS, but the parties are stalled on some of the union’s highest priorities, according to an internal bargaining summary sent to members Friday afternoon and obtained by the Tribune.
Of the likelihood of teachers and students getting back to their classrooms this week, Sharkey said: “It’s what we want; obviously, our members want to be back with our students.”
CPS Chief Education Officer McDade on Friday evening also said she was “hopeful” a deal could be reached over the weekend.
“The big items that we’ve been talking about” include class size and staffing, she said. “And those (are the) kinds of things that require some give and take.”
CTU educators at Passages Charter School won a deal late Friday after going on strike Tuesday. The strikers won “decent wages, better working conditions and real protections for immigrant, refugee and special needs students,” a CTU news release said.