Chicago Teachers Union contract demands about politics, bosses’ power

A 142-page leaked document contains hundreds of Chicago Teachers Union contract demands, from 100% abortion coverage to pay for surrogates, from housing students in old schools to a fleet of electric school buses. Then there are 180 more of the union’s favored, failing schools.

The Chicago Teachers Union’s goal was clear when it hand-picked Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and bankrolled his way into office: get everything it wanted during 2024 contract negotiations.

With a beholden former employee sitting across the bargaining table, CTU appears to be going for broke. That is, Chicagoans will be broke if the mayor hands CTU everything it wants.

A 142-page leaked set of demands shows CTU President Stacy Davis Gates might not have been joking when she told a packed house at the City Club of Chicago last month the contract would cost “$50 billion and 3 cents.” The document details only those provisions of the current contract CTU wants to change or add. Any untouched – and also costly – provisions in the current 381-page contract will also remain in place.

Below are some of the costliest new demands, along with examples of demands that fall outside the normal scope of bargaining for wages, benefits and working conditions. The full list of demands is here.

Salary and other pay hikes:

• Extensive pay hikes: bargaining unit members to receive at least 9% wage increases each year through fiscal year 2028 (Pages 85, 120).
• Stipends for certifications: teachers, clinicians, paraprofessional and school-related personnel (PSRPs) and social workers with particular certifications in their areas to receive stipends equal to 15% of salary each year of the agreement (Pages 120, 59).
• Additional stipends: among many other stipends in the demands, teachers and counselors to be paid a stipend of $1,000 per student per semester when they are assigned a number of students above contractual limits, which in turn have been decreased (Pages 81, 58, 75).
• $2,500 retirement bonus: bargaining unit employees with 30 years of service to receive a pensionable $2,500 bonus in their last year (Page 85).

Increased union positions in schools, including parent members:

• Mandated positions at every school, regardless of enrollment (with ratios for higher numbers of some positions depending on school enrollment), including the following: librarian; librarian assistant; social worker; newcomer liaison; case manager; restorative justice coordinator; reading specialist and interventionist (elementary schools); three elective teachers (middle schools); technology coordinator; “Climate Champion”; and gender support coordinator and/or LGBTW+ lead/specialist and option to  expand LGBTQ+ faculty support teams at each school (unpaid but receive stipends); in total, the contract adds at least 25 position titles to the list of bargaining unit members (Pages 46, 59, 112, 118-119, 120, 113, 116, 137-138).
• Additional teacher assistants: an additional 1,500 for elementary schools and an additional 1,000 for high schools (Page 120).
• 100% increase in Career & Technical Education teachers: must increase the number of CTE teachers by no less than 100% by final year of contract (Page 50).
• Adds parents to the union: parent ambassadors (presumably working with family engagement coordinators) shall be added to the union’s bargaining unit (Page 48).

Additional/increased leaves of absence:

• Surrogacy leave: up to eight weeks of paid leave for recovery, meaning a teacher could get paid a contract-mandated salary while out for eight weeks while simultaneously earning an average of $58,000 for the surrogacy contract (Page 84).
• Compensation and medical benefits for absences related to verbal assault: assault redefined to include verbal assault (including incidents occurring off grounds and on social media), meaning employees paid full salary and benefits with no deductions for sick days when he or she misses school for the “assault”; removes coordination with workers comp benefits (Page 40).
• Leave added to work for Chicago Teachers Union Foundation, mayor’s office: teachers were already granted leave for CTU or other union offices, elected offices, etc., without pay, in 12-month increments; this adds CTU Foundation and appointed offices (i.e., Johnson appointments and other political appointments) to the list of leaves; leave can be extended in 12-month increments; health care/dental continues if teacher pays full amount; seniority continues to accrue; teacher permitted to pay pension contributions “to ensure that full credit for retirement purposes is granted for time spent on such leaves of absence” (Page 3).
• Sick leave days added as pension sweetener: for teachers hired after Jan. 1, 2011, sick leave will be credited at the beginning of each school year (increased from 12 days/year):
  • Years 1-10: 15 sick days
  • Years 11-20: 20 sick days
  • Years 21-30: 25 sick days
  • Years 31+: 30 sick days

Sick leave accumulation is unlimited (increased from a total of 244 days accumulation); sick leave not used to enhance retirement shall be paid out no later than 6 months after retirement (Page 117).

Housing:

• Program to help new teachers purchase homes: Board will institute a program that financially helps new teachers purchase a home (Page 106).
• Board support for housing policy and rent control: Board to advocate for city housing policy that creates affordable housing at a rate greater than or equal to the creation of market-rate housing and to support legislative efforts to enact rent control (Page 106).
• Use of TIF funds, corporate head tax, millionaire’s tax, real estate transfer tax for affordable housing: Board to ensure city TIF funds and revenue from real estate transfer taxes, corporate head tax and a millionaire’s tax are used to fund affordable family housing units within the enrollment boundary of sustainable community schools; Board also to fully fund Section 8 voucher programs and expand Air BnB housing rehabilitation to properly house 15,000 homeless students by 2025 (Page 107).
• New housing with priority for CPS families: Board to partner with city to create 10,000 new affordable housing units, with priority given to CPS students and families (notably not designated explicitly for homeless students) (Page 107).
• $30 million for rental assistance: Board to secure at least $30 million from the city and county to be offered through an equity-based formula for CPS families for multi-year rental assistance; may be expanded to $60 million (Page 108).
• Creation of dormitories for unaccompanied youth: Board and union to identify schools with vacant, unused floors, to be converted into dormitories for unaccompanied youth; programs to be operated by CPS partner community organizations; Board to develop access to school building shower and laundry facilities (Page 108).
• Use schools as sheltering places with night-time custodial staff: Board, union, city and organizations shall identify functioning schools with separate entrances to be used as non-congregate temporary sheltering for CPS families experiencing homelessness; shall have a night-time custodial team of two custodians plus social service provider staff (Page 108).
• $20,000 annually for task force to assist housing insecure families: creates citywide task force to assist CPS families experiencing housing insecurity, opposing abusive landlords, and other housing-related tasks; Board shall provide task force with no less than $20,000 annually (Pages 107-108).

Schools and curriculum:

• Creation of 180 new “sustainable community schools”: numbers shall be increased to 200 (from 20, which are underperforming district averages) during the term of the agreement (Page 37).
• At least two fewer student attendance days: the first day back after winter and spring break shall be a non-attendance day for students, assumedly meaning there would be two fewer academic days for students (Page 52).
• Teacher autonomy over curriculum that could override state law: teachers will not be “forced” to adopt a district-mandated curriculum and can choose what works best for their students regarding Common Core and state mandates on Black history, genocide, holocaust, LGBTQ contribution, culturally responsive teaching, reparations won, antiracist curriculum and other curricula (Page 102).
• Multiple provisions undermining charter schools: Board shall adopt resolution on charter school union neutrality and recognition (i.e., employer gag order and near automatic recognition of union at charters); require charter and contract schools to spend no less than 90% of their budgets on direct-service spending on students; Board shall adopt clear procedures for charter and contract school closures and reabsorption, including severance pay ($2,000 for each year of service at the school), health insurance coverage and benefit payout time for affected teachers; innovations implemented at unionized charter schools that exceed working and learning conditions at district-run schools will be adopted by the board at district-run schools at the request of the union (Page 141).
• Provisions watering down the teacher evaluations: changed from annually or biennially to once every three years; tenured teachers rated excellent or proficient will be on three-year schedule, all other tenured teachers on annual rating schedule; number of observations per cycle is lowered from three to two, with a third observation conducted only if the observer and the teacher agree (Pages 91, 95).

Safety at school:

• Removes police from schools but adds security guards: prohibits staffing school resource officers or other police personnel at any schools, dispersing the funds allocated for officers to other safety measures; but each school must have adequate staffing, including security guards (Pages 42, 45).
• Creates union-run safety committees to create “safe practices”: every school will have a school safety committee chaired by the union delegate or the delegate’s designee, plus the principal, building engineer or other delegate, up to four additional CTU members, and a “reasonable number of employees represented by other unions”; it shall develop safe practices; if the committee confirms any violations of applicable safety protocol at their school, they can make recommendations for resolution to the principal “who shall resolve the issue as quickly as possible, preferably within 24 hours” (Page 41).
• A number of seemingly COVID-related provisions regarding hazardous conditions, prohibiting punishment for walkouts, and dictating the handling of school re-openings: employees shall not be required to work under “unsafe or hazardous conditions” or “perform tasks that endanger their health, safety, or well-being”; no employee shall be retaliated against for “participating in any health and safety activity meant to rectify unsafe or hazardous conditions that pose a threat to members of the school community”; no school will reopen until all necessary supports, both physical and emotional, are in place (no definition of what constitutes a traumatic event); establishes a committee for the purpose of identifying and rectifying issues that affect safety of students and staff, including monitoring and enforcing implementation of and compliance with COVID-19 measures; in the event of public health emergency or governor-declared state of emergency, the Board must abide by all laws and regulations and shall further bargain with the union over affected employee working conditions; committee designees shall be permitted to inspect any CPS school building (Pages 42, 44, 104).

“Climate justice”:

• 100% electric bus fleet and fuel-efficient drivers education vehicles: implementation of 100% electric bus fleet driven by unionized employee drivers, plus fuel-efficient fleet of drivers education vehicles that are in service for fewer than five years (Pages 114, 37).
• Installation of solar panels and other facilities upgrades: installation of solar panels or arrays at 50 schools, windows that open at every school regardless of building utilization, heat pumps at 50 schools (along with moratorium on gas HVAC purchases), rainwater collection systems at schools, and composting practices at every school (Page 114).
• Carbon neutral by 2035: establishes pilot program to retrofit five schools (using federal funds), with plan to be fully carbon neutral district-wide by 2035; Board to build at least three new carbon-free fully green schools to replace the most outdated schools, including George Washington High School; committee to form with objective to convert no less than half of all district school facilities to clean and renewable energy by 2033 (Pages 114, 104).
• Creation of clean energy jobs/green tech CTE program: Board to establish program in every neighborhood school, but first in schools located in “environmental justice communities”; includes electric vehicle battery manufacturing, solar installation and carbon zero HVAC (Page 50).

Other social justice provisions:

• LGBTQ+ safe schools (i.e., keeping parents in the dark): must “respect students’ privacy, especially if parents or family members do not know how students identify or express their identity”; Board will adopt policies “that explicitly assert the confidentiality of information pertaining to students’ sexual orientations and gender identities”; “No bargaining unit member will be required to reveal a student’s sexual orientation or gender identity without the student’s permission – even to the student’s family”; Board shall use bargaining unit members’ personal pronouns at all times; Board will encourage all staff to use students’ personal names and personal pronouns, “specifically distinguishing student preference in the classroom versus when communicating home to families in order to respect students’ privacy”; employees encouraged to ask students how staff should refer to the student when interacting with family members before all events that include family members (Pages 115-116).
• Queer competency training/job descriptions: Board shall ensure all clinicians, social workers, psychologists, and other wellness staff/clinicians are queer competent and trained annually on LGBTQ+ issues as a qualification of their job description (no exceptions outlined for current and future hires who do not agree with the training, meaning it is potentially discriminatory to some of CTU’s own members) (Page 116).
• Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) pension investments: Board shall collaborate with Chicago Teachers Pension Fund and Municipal Employees’ Annuity Benefit Fund of Chicago to identify and move away from any investments that are contributing to climate change and other forces harming students and communities; will put money toward financially sound investments that further an equitable transition to a green future; includes investments in “green social housing that allow our students, their families and our members to live in our city” (Page 87).
• Pronouns: pronouns he/she and his/her changed to “they” and “their” throughout contract.

Increased union power:

• Codifies CTU’s recent political rally during school: Board, in collaboration with the union, “shall designate a day of civic action to assist students who are of age to register to vote and cast votes” (Page 13).
• Increases union access to employees, providing captive audience: CTU allowed 45 minutes annually to meet with employees at the start of the school year “for the purpose of presenting information about the union”; requires union time with new employees hired during the school year within two weeks of start date; no mention of it being voluntary for employees who want to opt out of union meetings; CTU also gets up to 10 minutes during every principal-directed professional development day to “discuss union/board business with CTU members” (Page 4).
• Other agreements added to CBA: the substitute teacher handbook and grading guidelines are incorporated into the agreement, meaning any future changes must be negotiated (Pages 74, 101).

Health care:

• Addressing “disparities” in health care: Board to create a pool of resources to address maternal care needs (including fertility care and embryo storage) and racial health care disparities, including 1) reduction of co-pays/out-of-pocket maximums/annual contributions; 2) automatic access to higher quality care and therapeutic supports; and 3) no restriction on additional cost associated with accessing abortion or related health services (Page 81).
• 100% coverage of infertility and abortion: 100% coverage benefits for fertility including full coverage for storage of embryos and any other frozen storage needs; 100% coverage benefits in connection with the cost of “abortion care”; further 100% coverage up to $1,000 for out-of-state travel costs in the event Illinois law is amended to restrict access (Page 82).
• Removes co-pays for physical therapy, mental health services: co-pays on physical therapy through Athletico eliminated on all plans; co-pays for mental health services removed on all plans (Page 140).
• Bariatric surgery and weight-loss drugs: all offered health plans must include access (Page 140).

Additional costly demands:

• $5 million to reduce employee work: Board to commit $5 million (up from $2.5 million) per year of the agreement to fund costs associated with workload reduction; numerous other provisions also decrease/limit employee time spent on core duties (Page 103).
• CTA passes for all students/employees, parking passes, off-street parking and bus pilot program: free CTA fares for all CPS students and employees, while also demanding off-street parking adjacent to every school, neighborhood parking permits, citywide parking passes for all itinerant teachers, and a student bus pilot program with CTA (Pages 68, 98, 108, 114, 117).
• Removal of asbestos, mold, toxins and lead pipes in all school buildings, including in under-utilized buildings: Board to remove all asbestos, mold and other toxins from all school buildings; Board to remove lead pipes by the last year of the contract (Page 113).
• $2,000 per student for asylum seekers: $2,000 for each newcomer student (Page 107).