Chicago Teachers Pass Budget in Last Delegates Meeting
By Jim Vail
The Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) delegates passed a budget in which $5 million was drained from the reserves, forcing the union leadership to tighten its belt as it heads into rocky waters.
"Look we spent beyond our means and we need to correct that," VP Jesse Sharkey explained to the delegates during the Q&A period after the vote to approve the budget was passed overwhelmingly at the June 6 House of Delegates (HOD) meeting.
According to the Revised April 23, 2018 Budget Committee Proposal, the union cut $689,500 from salaries under program services (some union employees retired and one returned to the classroom), trimmed $200,000 from conferences, workshops and 'defense,' cut another $441,023 in salaries and $398,702 in employee benefits under Admin. & General and sliced $131,000 from professional fees.
One form of reckless spending has been in the political arena where the union loaned the political action committee $1 million for the Chuy Garcia mayor campaign, along with its contract fight.
The budget states that almost $3 million was trimmed, although it is confusing when it comes to a CTU budget and a CTU foundation budget that was set up after the Fewkes Tower was sold and the current union headquarters on Carroll Street was bought and renovated. The union appears to be transferring funds back and forth between the two entities.
It is especially important that the union safely protects its budget as an upcoming Supreme Court ruling that will allow CTU members to no longer pay dues and the continued attacks on the union - with two anti-union billionaires in the governor's race (IFT endorsed JB Pritzker may say he's pro-union, but his family has a history of extreme anti-unionism).
The beginning Q&A period took some heavy shots at the leadership with one delegate questioning nepotism in the union because the CTU staff coordinator - who will return to the classroom to teach next fall - is Jackson Potter, and his mother is an attorney for the union. VP Sharkey said Potter's mother does good work for the union and didn't see a problem. The Chicago Public Schools (CPS) has a policy against nepotism which does not allow principals to hire family members. The charter schools have gotten around this rule, and some like Aspira have flaunted it by hiring many family members of the principal at one of its schools in Albany Park.
The next delegate asked about the increased health care costs where some medicines increased from $40 to $160. Sharkey said the union is continuously negotiating with the board over health care costs throughout the year.
Delegate Frank McDonald from Members First asked why the union did not publish its annual audits like it should, and he was surprised to discover that the CTU took out a $4 million loan to buy furniture at the current interest rate. Sharkey said this happened after the union lost its financial director in the middle of the year, the year before.
"The last several years we've been spending more money than we've been bringing in," he said. "It was an oversight that it didn't get published."
Sharkey said he remains in regular contact with CTU President Karen Lewis, who attended her first delegates meeting the last month in a wheel chair. He said the newspapers incorrectly stated Lewis is due for 'brain surgery' and instead said she has a "planned medical procedure."
"We need to claim the legacy of Karen Lewis as our own," Sharkey stated. Nothing more was revealed about her condition.
The CTU said this year only 156 teachers and 106 teacher assistants lost their jobs. In the past CPS has laid off thousands of teachers at the end of the school years because of the budget.
Sharkey asked teachers if anyone knows a Noble Charter School teacher because they are trying to organize a union for the teachers.
Newly elected in the democratic primary for Cook County Commissioner Brandon Johnson who works for the union and was a middle school teacher took the podium to give his rah, rah speech about the difficulties of teaching and the problems of the students while he taught in Cabrini Green. His payback to receiving almost $100,000 from the CTU for his campaign was a pro-CTU speech that once again cited the 'historic' 2012 teachers strike that has galvanized the nation. "You see a sea of red across our country inspired by the CTU," he thundered. One wonders if the CTU is pouring money into political candidates who will in turn support the CTU leadership when election time rolls around.
The CTU leadership addressed the issue of salaries and benefits for the next contract after it's been taking heat from rival Members First for agreeing to a contract that has frozen salaries for many CTU members.
CTU Staff Coordinator Jackson Potter - who is heading back to the classroom in Back of the Yards and said he hopes to be replaced by Jenn Johnson from the Quest Center who is also an original Core member - made a speech in which he noted that the union had to focus its efforts on fending off the attacks on the pension, and that is why salaries and benefits took a hit.
"They wanted to turn CPS into New Orleans," Potter said, where after Hurricane Katrina most of the public schools were privatized and turned into charter schools. Actually one Chicago Tribune female editor wrote that she wished a hurricane would hit Chicago so the same thing could happen here. "We backed off a precipice," he said.
"We're due big increases!" Sharkey bellowed out. He pointed out that the union got an important clause in the contract called 'just cause' where teachers cannot be suspended for ordering a sandwich during testing, which happened to one teacher. In fact, the union just emailed its members a YouTube video entitled 'Our Wages and Salary History' about the CTU's 40-year fight for fair pension funding, adequate pay and better schools, with Sharkey and CTU education policy analyst Pavlyn Jankov.
By Jim Vail
 |
| CTU staffer Brandon Johnson spoke at the June HOD after winning the democratic primary to the Cook County Board of Commissioners. |
The Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) delegates passed a budget in which $5 million was drained from the reserves, forcing the union leadership to tighten its belt as it heads into rocky waters.
"Look we spent beyond our means and we need to correct that," VP Jesse Sharkey explained to the delegates during the Q&A period after the vote to approve the budget was passed overwhelmingly at the June 6 House of Delegates (HOD) meeting.
According to the Revised April 23, 2018 Budget Committee Proposal, the union cut $689,500 from salaries under program services (some union employees retired and one returned to the classroom), trimmed $200,000 from conferences, workshops and 'defense,' cut another $441,023 in salaries and $398,702 in employee benefits under Admin. & General and sliced $131,000 from professional fees.
One form of reckless spending has been in the political arena where the union loaned the political action committee $1 million for the Chuy Garcia mayor campaign, along with its contract fight.
The budget states that almost $3 million was trimmed, although it is confusing when it comes to a CTU budget and a CTU foundation budget that was set up after the Fewkes Tower was sold and the current union headquarters on Carroll Street was bought and renovated. The union appears to be transferring funds back and forth between the two entities.
It is especially important that the union safely protects its budget as an upcoming Supreme Court ruling that will allow CTU members to no longer pay dues and the continued attacks on the union - with two anti-union billionaires in the governor's race (IFT endorsed JB Pritzker may say he's pro-union, but his family has a history of extreme anti-unionism).
The beginning Q&A period took some heavy shots at the leadership with one delegate questioning nepotism in the union because the CTU staff coordinator - who will return to the classroom to teach next fall - is Jackson Potter, and his mother is an attorney for the union. VP Sharkey said Potter's mother does good work for the union and didn't see a problem. The Chicago Public Schools (CPS) has a policy against nepotism which does not allow principals to hire family members. The charter schools have gotten around this rule, and some like Aspira have flaunted it by hiring many family members of the principal at one of its schools in Albany Park.
The next delegate asked about the increased health care costs where some medicines increased from $40 to $160. Sharkey said the union is continuously negotiating with the board over health care costs throughout the year.
Delegate Frank McDonald from Members First asked why the union did not publish its annual audits like it should, and he was surprised to discover that the CTU took out a $4 million loan to buy furniture at the current interest rate. Sharkey said this happened after the union lost its financial director in the middle of the year, the year before.
"The last several years we've been spending more money than we've been bringing in," he said. "It was an oversight that it didn't get published."
Sharkey said he remains in regular contact with CTU President Karen Lewis, who attended her first delegates meeting the last month in a wheel chair. He said the newspapers incorrectly stated Lewis is due for 'brain surgery' and instead said she has a "planned medical procedure."
"We need to claim the legacy of Karen Lewis as our own," Sharkey stated. Nothing more was revealed about her condition.
The CTU said this year only 156 teachers and 106 teacher assistants lost their jobs. In the past CPS has laid off thousands of teachers at the end of the school years because of the budget.
Sharkey asked teachers if anyone knows a Noble Charter School teacher because they are trying to organize a union for the teachers.
Newly elected in the democratic primary for Cook County Commissioner Brandon Johnson who works for the union and was a middle school teacher took the podium to give his rah, rah speech about the difficulties of teaching and the problems of the students while he taught in Cabrini Green. His payback to receiving almost $100,000 from the CTU for his campaign was a pro-CTU speech that once again cited the 'historic' 2012 teachers strike that has galvanized the nation. "You see a sea of red across our country inspired by the CTU," he thundered. One wonders if the CTU is pouring money into political candidates who will in turn support the CTU leadership when election time rolls around.
The CTU leadership addressed the issue of salaries and benefits for the next contract after it's been taking heat from rival Members First for agreeing to a contract that has frozen salaries for many CTU members.
CTU Staff Coordinator Jackson Potter - who is heading back to the classroom in Back of the Yards and said he hopes to be replaced by Jenn Johnson from the Quest Center who is also an original Core member - made a speech in which he noted that the union had to focus its efforts on fending off the attacks on the pension, and that is why salaries and benefits took a hit.
"They wanted to turn CPS into New Orleans," Potter said, where after Hurricane Katrina most of the public schools were privatized and turned into charter schools. Actually one Chicago Tribune female editor wrote that she wished a hurricane would hit Chicago so the same thing could happen here. "We backed off a precipice," he said.
"We're due big increases!" Sharkey bellowed out. He pointed out that the union got an important clause in the contract called 'just cause' where teachers cannot be suspended for ordering a sandwich during testing, which happened to one teacher. In fact, the union just emailed its members a YouTube video entitled 'Our Wages and Salary History' about the CTU's 40-year fight for fair pension funding, adequate pay and better schools, with Sharkey and CTU education policy analyst Pavlyn Jankov.
No comments:
Post a Comment