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BILL WOULD
ALLOW CHICAGO PUBLIC SCHOOLS PRINCIPALS TO GO ON STRIKE
Illinois Policy Institute/
Mailee Smith
A bill that passed the Illinois House and
is now in the Senate would allow Chicago principals to unionize and
strike, creating an even more unstable environment for the city’s school
children. |
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 Illinois is already an outlier when it comes to granting public
school employees the right to strike. Every state surrounding Illinois prohibits
teachers from walking out on students when union leaders call for strikes.
Likewise, strikes are prohibited in eight of the 10 largest school districts in
the nation – Chicago being one of the two exceptions.
Now the Illinois General Assembly is considering making the school environment
even more unstable for students by allowing Chicago Public Schools principals to
unionize and go on strike.
House Bill 3496, which applies only in Chicago, would expand the definition of
public school employees who can unionize to include supervisory employees who do
not 1) have a significant role in negotiating collective bargaining agreements
or 2) formulate or determine employer-wide management policies and practices. It
is up for a third reading and a vote in the Illinois House.
That includes school principals.
Unfortunately for students, the ability to unionize is accompanied by the
ability to strike under the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Act.
Strike threats are not uncommon in Chicago. In fact, the Chicago Teachers Union
prides itself on pushing the boundaries of its power through strikes.
The union went on strike nine times between 1969 and 1987. More recently, the
union went on strike three times within seven years:
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In 2012, students missed seven days of instruction.
The strike also contributed to longer-term cuts: higher costs forced
CPS to close 50 schools and lay off thousands of teachers.
In 2016, the union went on a one-day strike that was later
determined likely illegal by the Illinois Educational Labor
Relations Board.
In 2019, the union went on strike for another 11 school days.
In fact, the union’s actions earned two spots on a 2017 list of the
top 10 largest labor strikes in the past decade.
Recently union members nearly walked out in February to protest the
reopening of elementary schools for in-person learning after nearly
a full year of closed classrooms because of COVID-19 concerns. Then
there was another possibility of a labor action during negotiations
over reopening high schools for in-person learning, which began
April 19 after more than a year.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker recently gave CTU more opportunities to strike.
House Bill 2275, signed by Pritzker on April 4, repeals a portion of
the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Act that limited
negotiations between CPS and CTU to issues related to wages and
benefits.
Going on strike is already a go-to weapon of unions representing
workers in Chicago Public Schools. Instead of providing parents
relief from relentless strike threats, HB 3496 would make a
politically volatile situation even worse.
While it passed the Illinois House, for the sake of Chicago students
and parents HB 3496 should die in the Illinois Senate.
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