CTU Holds Town hall Phone Meeting

By Jim Vail

Second City Teachers

Chicago Teachers Union president Karen Lewis and vice president Jesse Sharkey held a town hall meeting over the phone with concerned CPS teachers about the current situation Wednesday, June 19th.

Several teachers and aides asked questions about the pension crisis, with one asking why is the union negotiating with the board of education over the teachers' pensions.

"If we don't," Lewis replied, "then they'll give us whatever they want."

While the CTU and CPS had agreed to provisions in the Madigan bill (with "guns pointed at their heads," according to one source), including a 2 year freeze for CPS paying into the pension fund, the bill did not pass.

Lewis made it clear that the devastating budget cuts - due to the new per pupil funding formula (Burley Elementary School is projecting to lose 5 teachers and held a protest earlier today) - are tied to the pension "reform" talks.

"The budget cuts indeed are tied to the pension negotiations," Lewis told the callers.

Lewis said the board of ed does not want to work with the CTU on retiree health care issues.

"All (CPS) wanted to do was talk about what will we give up," she said.

Lewis said the board would like teachers to pay 8% of their pension costs (today teachers put in 2% and CPS picks up 9%, which resulted from the previous teachers strike in 1987).  

One teacher called in to complain about the new IB program being implemented in high schools that has resulted in layoffs of regular teachers.

Sharkey said the union filed an unfair labor practice grievance and now the board wants to make a deal.  There will be an emergency meeting at the union offices at the Merchandise Mart this Monday and all teachers affected are welcome to attend, Sharkey said.

Another caller said he was laid off as a probationary teacher and told he had to apply to be in the teacher quality pool.

Sharkey responded that all tenured teachers with proficient or higher ratings are automatically in this pool.  Other teachers need to apply by providing two recommendations from administrators or instructional coaches, and complete an interview (a similar process for principals).

The CTU negotiated to have 50% of the reassignment pool hired by displaced teachers.  About 850 teachers lost their jobs due to the school closings and turnarounds, and more teachers are being cut due to the budget cuts.

Lewis again stressed that the CTU is looking at potential revenue sources to shore up the CPS budget deficit.  Among those are a stock trade tax, taxing the rich and putting TIF surplus funds back into the general operating budget.