Chicago teacher’s unions call on city to ‘shut it down’

Amelia Hamilton   

March 11, 2016 

Strained relations between Chicago Public Schools and teacher’s unions became even more so this week when educators were informed they would need to take three unpaid days off this year, one in March and two in June. CPS CEO Forrest Claypool said this would “chip away at our budget gap,” saving the school district $30 million. Unions are up in arms about the decision, but lack the negotiating power they once had.

While school districts once had to tiptoe around unions, this is becoming less so. With right-to-work laws lowering levels of unionization and school districts which, quite simply, don’t have any more money to spend regardless of union action. Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner has said that bailing out the school system would require crippling tax increases. Some have suggested a CPS bankruptcy would be preferable.

The Chicago Teacher’s Union, on the other hand, wants to raise taxes and is calling to “shut the city down” on April 1 in protest. Pickets will take place outside of schools and the public is invited to join, including a boycott of The Magnificent Mile shopping district. “We can’t get a budget out of the governor, we can’t any attention,” union vice president Jesse Sharkey said. “I don’t think [Mayor] Rahm [Emanuel] and the powers that be are going to solve this crisis for us. We are going to have to take matters into our own hands.”

The CTU is supported by an organization known as the Chicago Teachers Solidarity Campaign, which says the city is “broke on purpose.” At a recent event, speakers delivered the usual cant, that thee budget crisis was manufactured by the Republican governor and his allies at the expense of the working class, teachers (who, in Chicago, have an average salary of around $75,000), minorities and immigrants.

A CTU statement reads:

The Chicago Teachers Union has called for an April 1 job action and joins a coalition of labor organizations, community groups, faith-based institutions, students, activists and others in a “Shut It Down” protest to highlight the growing inequality, injustice and ill-conceived fiscal policies that have strangled Illinois and starved citizens of Chicago, particularly children, low-income families and workers.

As for CPS, Claypool says schools will be business as usual on April 1. “I want to make it clear,” he said, “April 1 is a school day. It’s a regular school day. And we expect that our students and our teachers will be there as always.”