April 17--The Chicago Teachers Union rejected proposed contract terms recommended by an independent fact-finder, creating the possibility of a strike before the school year ends.
The union had been expected to reject the findings of Steven Bierig, a Highland park attorney who has been involved since February in talks to replace a contract for roughly 27,000 CTU members that expired June 30.
"The clock has started," CTU President Karen Lewis said in a statement on Saturday.
"CPS has created this fiscal mess and refuses to go over hundreds of millions of dollars in existing revenue that is already out there. Our wacked-out governor isn't helping. Hand in hand, both will wind up hurting our members and our students in the long run. We have no choice to prepare ourselves for a possible strike," she said.
A union spokeswoman took to social media hours before Bierig's findings were released to the public to make clear the union's stance
"CPS teachers stay strong. Prepare for the zombie budget apocalypse. That Fact Finder's report is D.O.A.," CTU spokeswoman Stephanie Gadlin said in a Twitter post early Saturday afternoon.
Lewis is scheduled to address a City Club luncheon on Wednesday, as the CTU planned to send some of its members and "1,100 union and community allies" to Springfield during the school system's spring break to "demand education and public service funding."
"We will highlight budget-progressive revenue options, lobby individual legislators and continue to build our influence," the union said in communications to its members.
Before the CTU's 2012 strike, the union's governing House of Delegates voted to reject the fact-finder's report. This year, the delegates gave union officers authority to immediately reject the report if its conclusions offered "no substantial breakthrough in terms of class-size limits, reasonable economics or the closure of devastating loopholes."
"An immediate rejection would ensure that the union will have its strongest weapon, a strike, at its disposal as soon as possible -- May 16 -- whether or not we choose to use it at that time," the CTU told members Friday.
Bierig's report revealed new details of contract negotiations and final offers both sides submitted after months of talks to replace a contract that expired June 30.
Under state law, the CTU must wait at least 30 days after the report is published before moving toward a strike. The union must give at least 10 days' notice to Chicago Public Schools before a walkout could occur. The district and union have declined to comment prior to the report's release.
On April 1, the union staged a one-day walkout, a move that's been challenged by school system attorneys and is due for an initial hearing Thursday by a state labor board.
The threat of a open-ended union strike before the end of the school year is tempered by what both sides agree is a need to pressure state lawmakers into launching a financial lifeline to Chicago Public Schools.
That has left the union considering whether to extend its contract fight through the summer and into next school year. Union leaders have suggested that while a strike this year could pressure CPS to respond so students could graduate, a late May or early June walkout also could alienate the public.
The fact-finding process began in February after a CTU bargaining team rejected a district proposal.
A 2011 state law that governs talks between the union and school district give the fact-finder a number of duties and powers. The arbitrator can have both sides submit a "statement of disputed issues" and determine which of those issues center on money. The arbitrator also presides over trial-like proceedings where the union and school system present their cases.
jjperez@tribpub.com
