Ariana Ascencio, Staff Reporter
February 4, 2016 The Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) took action and protested in front of the Bank of America on LaSalle street at 4:30 p.m on Thursday, February 4, 2016. According to abc7chicago.com, there were as many as 1,000 teachers marching and 16 who were arrested for entering Bank of America trying to protest inside. That same day, CTU symbolically withdrew $726,000 and closed their account from Bank of America, one of many banks that profited from “toxic” investments made by Chicago Public Schools (CPS). On Thursday, January 28, CPS offered a contract to the CTU. According to Chicago Sun Times, CTU President Karen Lewis stated that certain things in the contract were “great.” Some of the promises included a freeze on charter schools, the promise of a raise (which teachers haven’t voluntarily received since 2012), and no layoffs due to the economy. However, the 40 member CTU bargaining team unanimously rejected the 4-year contract offer on Monday, February 1, citing “a lack of trust in the district’s promises.” For example, the “charter freeze” isn’t valid because the IL Charter Commission has the final say in opening charter schools, not CPS. According to troylaraviere.net, a blog written by a CPS principal, the contract does not address underlying financial problems caused by CPS and blames teachers, not banks which allegedly “lured [CPS] into loan agreements that cost them hundreds of millions in fees penalties and interest.” According to Catalyst Chicago, an independent education news and watchdog group, only one day after the contract was rejected, Mayor Rahm Emanuel appointed CPS CEO Forrest Claypool sent a letter stating his disappointment with the rejected offer and announced $75 million in cuts to school budgets, the planned layoff of up to a thousand teachers, and a 30 day notice that would force teachers to pay 7% out of their paychecks to pay for pensions, a cost previously picked up by the city, all of which would save CPS over $100 million. During the last strike in 2012, CTU made a deal with CPS to suspend raises which has saved CPS $500 million dollars to date. The threatened massive teacher layoffs have not occurred as of print but over 200 CPS administrative positions were cut in January and an additional 1,000 staff are to be laid off within the next 30 days, according to the Chicago Sun Times. Teachers voted on a strike authorization on December 7-9, 2015 due to the lack of progress in contract negotiations. 88% of teachers, out of 24,752 eligible members, voted “Yes” for the strike. If a contract agreement is not made, this may be the second strike in 3 years. However, the earliest they can strike is in May because they have to go through “fact finding” phase which takes months. Mr. Benjamin Coyle, Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) delegate for Hubbard High School and a bargaining team member, said teachers have been working all year with no contract and are currently in the negotiation process, but they have not yet reached an agreement. Regarding the possibility of a strike, Mr. Coyle said, “The teachers will continue to refuse the unacceptable choice being offered by the mayor and his handpicked Board of Education. Teachers are being asked to accept deep cuts to their salaries and health benefits now or choose massive layoffs and larger class sizes in the weeks to come.” “Either way, it is detrimental to teachers and students,” Mr. Coyle stated. “The Board of Education has made terrible financial investments that they do not want to accept responsibility for. They would have teachers and students suffer so they can continue to pay their “bankster” buddies at the Mercantile Exchange. If and when we strike, we will be teaching the most important lesson of all: Injustice towards society’s most vulnerable people will not be tolerated.” Mrs. Sharon Quattrin-Campagna’s opinion on this strike is that “[n]o one wants a teacher’s strike because ultimately many suffer during the strike: students, teachers, administrators, families. That being said, the Board of Education is clearly not willing to fix their financial problems. We, the teachers, and the Chicago Teacher’s Union who represent us, have gone to the bargaining table NUMEROUS times to work through these problems.” She added, “The Board of Ed. does not want to budge. It is very frustrating for all and we cannot let them take so many things away from us any longer. We are already working daily in good faith without a current labor contract because we care about our students and our jobs, but the Board won’t even honor the past contract. I hope that a fair contract can be reached and we can avoid a strike.” Mr. Coyle added that Hubbard’s administrators, who are not a part of the CTU, are behind the teachers. “Ms. Wiley, Mr. Newman, and Ms. Phillips have all been very supportive of all the teachers here during this time. Not many schools have the great support system that they offer here at Hubbard.”
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