Chicago Teachers Union wants leave so teachers can work for CTU Foundation, Mayor Johnson
CTU’s contract demands include leave time for Chicago Public Schools employees to work for the union’s non-profit organization and accept city government appointments, including from former CTU staffer Mayor Brandon Johnson.
Leaked documents show the Chicago Teachers Union is making incredibly costly demands of Chicago Public Schools – and therefore of taxpayers – in its upcoming contract negotiations.
In addition to $51,000 average teacher pay raises, 45 days off each school year and handing cash to asylum seekers, CTU also wants teachers to be able to obtain extended leaves from school to go work for its own purposes.
First, it’s demanding leave time for teachers to go work for its non-profit, the CTU Foundation.
It’s also demanding teachers be allowed to go on leave to take appointed offices, such as those given by Mayor Brandon Johnson, CTU’s former employee who it bankrolled into office. That creates a conflict of interest in certain situations, such as contract negotiations, when both sides of the bargaining table are CTU affiliates.
Both demonstrate CTU is not demanding what’s best for students, but what’s best for its own leaders.
CTU wants 12-month leaves for teachers to work for its own foundation
CTU’s current contract already provides 15 different types of leave for CPS employees, but CTU is demanding at least nine additional or extended leaves.
Among those: 12 months off to go work for CTU’s own non-profit, the CTU Foundation.
In other words, teachers could be granted time off from their CPS positions to go work for the union, in increments of 12 months. If the teacher comes back at the end of 12 months, he or she can return to the original position in the original school or unit. If teachers return after 12 months, they are assigned an equivalent position.
And while not paid, they do accrue seniority within CPS and can even contribute to the pension system to obtain teacher pension credit for the time they work for the union. That adds liability to a pension system with only 46% of what it will need for retirees – $13.8 billion short this fiscal year.
Notably, the Illinois Secretary of State lists CTU Foundation as in “not good standing.”
The Secretary of State’s website does not list why CTU Foundation is not in good standing, and it could be as simple as failing to file its annual report on time.
But the CTU Foundation’s failure to maintain a certificate of good standing is no surprise, given the union itself runs a deficit budget, spends member money on politics and has failed to release its own mandated audits for at least four years.
CTU wants 12-month leaves for teachers to work for Mayor Brandon Johnson
CTU is also demanding 12-month leaves for teachers appointed to municipal, county, state or federal office.
The clear implication of such leave is elected leaders – such as Mayor Brandon Johnson – who are bankrolled by the union into office can then appoint union friends to office without those friends having to permanently step away from their CPS jobs. In the meantime, those friends can continue to accrue teacher pension credit while working other jobs.
The leave would work the same as outlined above. Approved leave would be in 12-month increments. If the teacher comes back at the end of 12 months, he or she can return to the original position in the original school or unit. If teachers return after 12 months, they are assigned an equivalent position. Seniority continues to accrue, and teachers who contribute to the pension system while working outside of CPS will continue to obtain teacher pension credit.
These demands and many others fall outside typical contract negotiations and show the union’s priority isn’t doing what’s best for students. It’s all about advancing its own progressive social agenda.