CTU Election!

Chicago Teachers Union Election Looms Large

By Jim Vail

The CTU will elect a new union President. From left to right
MF Mary Esposito-Usterbowski, CORE Stacy Davis Gates
and REAL Darnell Dowd.

The Chicago public schools teachers will elect a president to lead a union that has battled the city and business class.

The Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) members will choose between the incumbents CORE who have led the union the past dozen years, Members First that is focused on teachers in the classroom and REAL, a group made up of many former CORE executive board members who are critical of CORE.

The CTU has led a courageous fight that included implementing school closing and charter school moratoriums, passing an elected school board, and restoring collective bargaining rights and the pension levy to protect teachers pensions.

The Members First opposition group has criticized the political focus of the union and has appealed to teachers classroom priorities such as increasing supplies reimbursements to $750, making all work pensionable and changing the residency requirements where most teachers have to live in the city.

The REAL caucus has vowed to fight on similar issues of CORE including making sure every school has a delegate, fully-staffed special education, nurses, clinicians and case managers on the first day of school and tackle bully administrators and toxic work environments.

In terms of media exposure, many believe that CORE and Members First will get the most votes.

Members First has been an opposition caucus for the past several years. They were the first caucus to build a strong online presence with a Facebook page with about 6,000 followers.  

CORE is the incumbent, and they have used their position as leaders of the union to also push their campaign. They filed several lawsuits against outside interference that MF and REAL believe were politically motivated.

Members First has put money where their mouth is. They led all caucuses in mailing out a whopping six slick large postcard flyers. 

Their first two mailers focused on President candidate Stacy Davis Gates with the headings: With a toxic relationship with city leaders How can we expect Stacy Davis Gates to deliver for us? and Is it personal or does she just want her job? Insiders say that these type of mailers were too toxic themselves against our current CTU VP who is already under fire from the Mayor and the opposition caucus decided to take a different direction. 

(I saw Stacy's picture and thought it was a mailer to vote for her and CORE if I did not read the fine print carefully.)

MF then focused on its next mailers with their 2 bread and butter issues - $750 for supplies for every teacher and bring back the 30 min. morning prep. Another mailer cut out Stacy's head and read: We can deliver so much more for all CTU members with fresh leadership. 

Their rhetoric toned down considerably.

CORE sent out 4 similar slick postcard mailers that focused on themselves, touting what they have won (elected school board, secured pensions and Covid sick days), while noting the other caucuses were funded by Mayor Lightfoot's suburban donor and undermined contract negotiations by posting sensitive information online.

CORE focused in the mailers on their bread & butter issues - confronting 'relentless challenges from privatizers and politicians who sought to destroy our communities' and that CORE is a 'diverse and experienced slate of proven leaders Founded by Karen Lewis. Endorsed by Jesse Sharkey.'

REAL mailed out one postcard that read: 'Is working in CPS easier now than 3, 6 or 10 yrs ago? Is is easier to deliver the rewarding experience your students deserve? Is your position more secure with Student Based Budgeting & Reach? If you said 'NO' to any of these, it's time to get REAL!

They also promised to bring back a large grievance department with a staffed hotline, defend members from crony contracts like Skyline, Aramark and Tech Co., and insure transparency by giving members easy access to all major expenditures including officer salaries and political donations.

MF would most likely cut back the union's political spending which they believe is too high and said they would not have agreed to stop work or strike when the Covid virus was raging in January. 

Will teachers agree to this? A majority voted to stop working because of the virus, but the mayor and the democratic party were adamant that teachers could not teach remote and forced teachers back to the classrooms.   

Will there be a runoff? Most likely there will be, and if so, then who will it be. I would predict that CORE will either win in the first round, or go to a runoff with Members First. The question would then be who would REAL support in the runoff? Their platform in many ways mirrors CORE but critical.

Happy CTU elections!