The Chicago Teachers Union said an independent arbitrator found that Chicago Public Schools officials have more money to offer in contract negotiations than they’re letting on — representing an unexpectedly positive outcome for the union. But CTU leaders said they would reject the neutral fact-finder’s report because it fell short in other areas — a move that could take the school district closer to a teachers’ strike.
CTU leaders said they were stunned by the report’s findings on financial issues, calling it the most favorable the union has received in the 15 years since a state law was created allowing for a neutral arbitrator to weigh in on CPS-CTU negotiating disputes.
The report was publicly released late Wednesday. CPS did not say whether it would accept the arbitrator’s findings. In a statement late Wednesday, it said it is “carefully reviewing all of the recommendations, including the financial, operational and educational implications, to determine the most effective course of action for advancing negotiations.”
CPS noted that the report commends the district for academic progress and “underscores the financial obstacles faced by the District, a sentiment that was corroborated by an independent review by the Civic Federation.” But CPS’ statement does not mention the areas where the arbitrator sides with CTU.
CPS CEO Pedro Martinez said last week that he hoped the report would provide a “mutual set of facts to move forward in a productive way” that would to help settle the contract. Martinez also has said that the two sides are close to a deal and he can’t “imagine a need for a strike.”
The third-party report submitted to CPS and CTU Tuesday night comes after weeks of examination of the two sides’ proposals and is meant to offer an assessment of ways in which they could compromise.
In reality, the fact-finding report, as it’s called, has proven to be merely a step in the legal process toward a work stoppage. The CTU has routinely rejected the findings and long complained that the exercise is stacked against the union because state law limits the issues that can be considered for recommendation.
The process was established in 2010 at the urging of former Mayor Rahm Emanuel. This is the fourth time fact-finding has been used; the previous three times ended in a strike.
In a first, Stacy Davis Gates, the CTU president, said the report gave her “renewed optimism” that a deal could be reached with CPS. The CTU as recently as Tuesday had set the stage for a very unfavorable report.
“I’m just as dumbfounded reading through it myself because I did not expect to read some of the things that I read,” Davis Gates told reporters at a media briefing Wednesday. “We’ve never had one that has read like this before — the specificity in which the fact-finder is pushing the things that we believe needs to happen.
“We don’t agree with everything in it, [but] there are things in it that make a lot of sense in terms of moving this thing ahead.”
The union said the report pointed out that CPS officials in 2012, 2016 and 2019 publicly claimed they couldn’t afford the CTU’s demands but later acquiesced and managed to balance the school district’s budget.
CTU said the report made recommendations for phasing in staffing increases over the next four years, as the union has called for. Thad Goodchild, the CTU’s deputy general counsel, said the report “exploded the myth that CPS can’t afford to put more into schools.”
But the arbitrator only made recommendations on two of 15 key areas of contention, the union said, choosing to send the rest back to CPS and CTU for continued negotiations.
Calling the findings “incomplete” for that reason, the union said it would reject the report.
The arbitrator was only charged with considering what the school district can afford based on its current resources. Martinez and his team have insisted that they have already offered the union more than what they technically can afford.
Ben Felton, CPS human resources chief, has said the 16% cost-of-living raises across four years are more than has been offered in past contracts.
“We didn’t want to nickel and dime our teachers,” Felton said. “We wanted them to understand that we value them and that they deserve fair compensation. This is what the district can afford. At this point, we cannot afford more than that.”
The union and school district are not far apart on raises. But the union also is seeking additional increases for veteran teachers, who they say fall behind their peers. And the CTU wants more staffing in schools.
The rejection is part of the legal process toward a CTU strike. Once either side rejects the fact-finder’s report, state law requires a 30-day “cooling-off period” before the union can strike.
While it always seemed unlikely the CTU would ever strike against Mayor Brandon Johnson — its staunch ally and former union organizer — the prospects of a walkout have greatly increased as the tension between the union and CPS and Martinez has escalated in recent months. Johnson’s appointed Board of Education fired Martinez in December, but Martinez’s contract allows him to stay on the job for six months since he was dismissed without cause.
CTU leaders said Wednesday that they didn’t feel a labor stoppage would be necessary, though Davis Gates didn’t rule one out. She didn’t announce a strike authorization vote.
“Parents are not going to read this fact-finding report and even think [a strike] makes sense to them,” Davis Gates said. “They’re going to read this fact-finding report and they’re going to question why the CEO continues to give doomsday reporting vis-a-vis the budgeting.
“We’re not crazy. We know the state of Illinois does not fund our schools in the way that it needs to. … We’re not even going to let them off the hook, either,” she said. “What we want is a contract that is fair, that is reasonable, that is just. And that’s all we have ever asked for. And they have room to provide that, and we have to get there.”
