CHICAGO (AP/WBBM NEWSRADIO) — Chicago's mayor on Tuesday accused leaders of the city's powerful teachers union of using its "political agenda" to hold up a contract agreement to end a strike that will keep students from classrooms for at least 10 days.
Chicago Public Schools canceled classes for Wednesday after the Chicago Teachers Union's House of Delegates met to review the latest offer from the Chicago Public Schools and didn't vote on it.
Mayor Lori Lightfoot said the teachers union's bargaining team demanded "at the eleventh hour" that she support state legislation to elect rather than appoint the district's school board, as well as changes to state law governing what the union can strike over.
"Are we really keeping our kids out of class unless I agree to support the CTU's full political agenda wholesale?" Lightfoot said at a news conference. "If the CTU wants a deal, there's a deal to be had right now on the table."
During a second press conference hours later, Lightfoot said she met with the union's president and vice president during the day to present a sweetened offer, putting more money toward reducing class sizes and increasing long-time teachers' pay.
Lightfoot said the union officials left her office without a deal.
The offer, labeled a “proposed tentative agreement,” includes: A five year-deal with 16 percent pay raises over that term, a nurse and social worker in every school by July 2023 and millions more than previously offered to address overcrowded classes.
“CPS is willing to invest $35 million in class size supports, $10 million above the last offer set forth above, and provide an additional $5 million for pay increases for teachers on Steps 14 and higher, along with its current offers above and all of the tentative agreements reached, in exchange for the CTU dropping its remaining outstanding proposals,” the document reads.
The Mayor asked the union to drop its remaining demands on teacher preparation time and two items in Springfield: Her support on the CTU’s bill for an elected school board and amending a decades-old bill that rolled back the union’s collective bargaining rights.