CHICAGO — Chicago Public Schools and Mayor Lori Lightfoot say they have have made their “last, best, and final offer” to the Chicago Teachers Union over a plan to reopen schools as the coronavirus pandemic continues.
Lightfoot and CPS CEP Janice Jackson sent a joint statement announcing Friday morning that after receiving the CTU’s latest counter proposal Thursday afternoon, they had responded with the last offer they will be making.
“We expect a response from CTU leadership today,” Jackson and Lightfoot said. “We will be making further statements later today about school on Monday.”
The latest ultimatum sets up potentially more conflict with the powerful union, but doesn’t guarantee a deal can be reached.
Lightfoot has spent days insisting that a deal must be made or else, without any consequence to the union when her deadlines come and go. CTU has been clear it considered her timetable for reopening elementary schools by Feb. 1 to have been arbitrary and treated it as such. When both sides couldn’t reach a deal over the weekend, she instituted a “cooling off” period but still wasn’t able to land an agreement.
On Thursday, the mayor held a news conference to declare her patience had dissipated and a deal must be reached by end of day. In this latest standoff, Lightfoot has not followed through on any of her disciplinary threats.
Union members have backed a resolution to walk off the job if the city instigates widespread lockouts or other disciplinary actions against the large percentage of teachers who have so far refused since January to comply with district expectations that they work in school buildings.
After a similar ultimatum was given leading up to the 2019 teachers strike, CTU President Jesse Sharkey said it wasn’t clear to him if the city had thought through the effect of such a statement on bargaining.
“That’s a line in the sand, that’s a take it or leave it, and today they tried to walk that back,” Sharkey said at the time.
Friday is a nonattendance day for students.
