Special HOD

Report on the Special Meeting of the House of Delegates to deal with outside interference in CTU elections held on February 16, 2022

By George Milkowski

The meeting was called to seek approval of a resolution from the Executive Board titled “Resolution Condemning Outside Interference in CTU Elections”.  The resolution was developed because of an ad last week on social media from “Chicago Teachers United” supporting one caucus in the upcoming Union election in May.  There was also support expressed for that one caucus by the Democratic Party of DC, (whatever that is).  The ad was traced back to a Lisa Schnieder Fabes, a woman from Wilmette who had supported Lori Lightfoot for mayor.  Schneider Fabes had a job in the early days of the Lightfoot administration but quit when it was discovered that she was not a Chicago resident as required by law for her position.  Once the source of the ads was exposed, the ads were pulled.

Jesse made it clear that there is no evidence that would indicate collusion between Chicago Teachers United and any caucus in the Union but he said the Executive Board felt action was needed to stress and maintain the democratic nature of CTU elections.

Thad Goodchild, CTU lawyer, said the ads apparently violated federal law – the Labor Management Reporting and Disclosure Act – and State law- the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Act.  Both laws prohibit interference in union elections from outside sources whether the interference is via cash or in-kind contributions.  

In the discussion that followed Mary Esposito (Executive Board) argued the resolution didn’t go far enough; the CTU logo was used illegally by a caucus or individual and that was not addressed in the “resolves”.  She wanted to amend it.  Jesse agreed that Union personnel, money, or other resources, including the CTU logo, cannot be used in a partisan way in CTU elections but he ruled her out of order as she wanted it to be amended but did not have an amendment to present to the House.  Deborah Yaker – Hanson Park – asked what can be done to those who do use the CTU logo.  She specifically named Jackson Potter of Back of the Yard High School as having done so.  Jesse said that the Union can ask the person not to do it again; that many people at Union meetings have hats, shirts, and so on with unauthorized Union logos on them.  Karen Soto – Waters School – favors the resolution.  The actions taken to date to get involved in our election indicates that the powers that be are worried about the strength of the CTU.  Terra Sinkevicius – Bright School – wondered why we needed a special meeting for this.  Vice president Stacy Davis Gates responded that we need to protect the Union from Lightfoot if she or her surrogates attempt to interfere again.

There was a motion to extend debate but it failed, 65-44% so we voted on the Resolution itself, which then passed 94-6%.  I voted in favor of it.

Then we entered Question and Answers.  I wanted ask if State and federal law have been violated, what can be done to get those responsible.  However, I motion to adjourn was proposed and passed 83-17% so I never had the chance to ask.