April 20--Chicago Public Schools on Wednesday asked the teachers union to enter a round of binding arbitration in an effort to avert a potential strike, a proposal that was quickly dismissed by the union as a "publicity stunt."
CPS CEO Forrest Claypool, in a letter to Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis, asked the union to agree to "final and binding interest arbitration in lieu of a strike" and wrote that the district is "at a loss as to how a strike would solve or even advance a solution to the considerable challenges that CPS faces.
"In our view a strike whether in May or in August or in September would be devastating to our students and parents," Claypool wrote.
While a teachers union spokeswoman called Claypool's proposal a publicity stunt, the union did not dismiss the idea outright.
"We can't say we're interested in this until we know the rules of arbitration and under what terms," union spokeswoman Stephanie Gadlin said in a statement. "Binding arbitration puts our fate in the hand of a single person rather than our nearly 30,000 rank and file members."
The union on Saturday rejected the recommendations of an independent arbitrator, opening the door to a strike under the timeline set by state law. Before that, a mediator was involved in talks between the CTU and the school board, an effort that also proved fruitless. The two sides have been in negotiations for well over a year to replace a contract that expired last June 30.
In his letter to Lewis, Claypool notes that arbitration "has been used in Chicago for our police and fire contracts for decades."
His proposal also reflects state legislation pushed by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, which has been unable to reach an agreement in contract negotiations with the administration of Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner. That bill would prevent a lockout or strike if talks with AFSCME and other unions reach an impasse, instead sending talks to binding arbitration.
Rauner has already vetoed the legislation once, but lawmakers have since sent him a duplicate bill that's on his desk.
Rauner has asked the Illinois Labor Relations Board to determine whether his administration and AFSCME have reached a stage in negotiations that would allow him to bypass further talks and impose his own terms on the roughly 38,000 state workers the union represents.
That review could take months, and Rauner and the union have agreed to keep workers on the job in the meantime. But if Rauner ultimately succeeds in putting a stop to the talks, the union will have to decide whether to go on strike for the first time.
jjperez@tribpub.com
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