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 The Chicago Teachers Union and Chicago Public Schools engaged
in a caustic negotiation over returning to in-person learning, with the deal
finally winning approval from 25,000 rank-and-file union members Feb. 9.
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot acknowledged the cost to families of the prolonged
dispute: “This has been a very tough process for everybody in the CPS ecosystem,
notably our students and their parents. I will do everything I can to make sure
that they have a seat at the table on anything that relates to their education
and the education of their children.”
But the reality is parents and students don’t have a say.
The Illinois Educational Labor Relations Act protects unions’ rights. And those
unions don’t represent the interests of parents or students. They aren’t
receiving dues or fees from parents. They exist solely to represent teachers.
If union members approve, the proposal would have preschool and cluster students
return Feb. 11 with subsequent K-8 grades returning on a tiered basis between
Mar. 1 and March 8. High school students are not currently scheduled to return
to in-person learning.
CTU’s worry that classrooms are unsafe is not shared by most in the scientific
and education communities.
“Vaccination of teachers is not a prerequisite for safe reopening of schools,”
CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said Feb. 2. Both the CDC and UNICEF, which
gathered evidence from 191 countries, report school reopenings cannot be linked
to COVID-19 infection spikes.
Seven of the nation’s 10 largest school districts have resumed classroom
instruction at some point during the school year, with an eighth poised to
follow. In Chicago, 40,000 parochial, charter and public school students have
been safely in class since fall.
“Other Catholic schools have been open. Suburban schools have been open or
recently opened… to know that a school a few blocks away from my house has
in-person learning saddens me as to why my children cannot participate in
in-person learning also,” CPS parent Al Molina said.
A number of parent groups have emerged during the crisis, raising the issue of
Illinois parents lacking rights during a labor dispute. Here is what parents
should know:
The state’s collective bargaining laws are about unions – not parents
The Illinois Educational Labor Relations Act governs the relationship between
teachers’ unions and educational employers. It states, “It is the purpose of
this Act to regulate labor relations between educational employers and
educational employees, including the designation of educational employee
representatives, negotiation of wages, hours and other conditions of employment
and resolution of disputes arising under collective bargaining agreements.”
Nowhere in the section laying out the purpose of the Act does it mention the
wellbeing of either parents or students. The injury that can be caused to the
“public” by unresolved labor disputes is mentioned only once.
What’s more, the Act includes a section on the rights of the employee and union,
as well as a section on the employer’s rights.
There is no section protecting parents’ or students’ rights.
When it comes to bargaining, only the employer and the union have a place at the
table
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The Act designates the teachers’ chosen union as
the “exclusive bargaining representative.” Only the “educational
employer and the exclusive bargaining representative have the duty
to bargain collectively,” another section provides. Collective
bargaining itself is defined as “the performance of the mutual
obligations of the educational employer and the representative of
the educational employees to meet at reasonable times and confer in
good faith….”
It could be argued that the employer is at the table on behalf of
parents, students and taxpayers. But that claim ignores the conflict
of interest inherently present during negotiations between public
employers and public-sector unions.
Public-sector unions pour millions of dollars into
the election campaigns of their employers.
In essence, public-sector unions hire their own bosses – i.e., those
government leaders sitting opposite them at the bargaining table.
Parents and their children are hardly on the same level. They can’t
compete with the money unions pour into candidates’ campaigns.
The union represents the teachers alone. No one is at the table
speaking solely for the interests of students and parents.
The collective bargaining laws favor unions over parents
Other aspects of the state’s labor laws compound the helplessness
parents are feeling. School districts in most of the state are
required to bargain over “wages, hours and terms and conditions of
employment.” Virtually any subject can be negotiated and put into a
teacher union contract.
Currently, the law includes a restriction holding that CPS is not
bound to negotiate with CTU over some subjects, such as hours and
places of instruction. But that could change soon if Gov. J.B.
Pritzker signs House Bill 2275, which repeals the current
restriction.
That’s a problem for the children within CPS, where CTU prides
itself as the vanguard of a rash of nationwide teachers’ strikes in
recent years.
After all, the more subjects there are over which to bargain, the
more room there is for disagreement. And the more room there is for
disagreement, the more possible issues over which to go on strike.
That’s bad news for children in a district where the union has been
poised to go on strike for the fourth time in just nine years.
And finally, there is no transparency in the negotiation process.
Bargaining happens behind closed doors. The Act explicitly excludes
collective bargaining negotiations from the Illinois Open Meetings
Act.
In other words, parents and other members of the public have no idea
– and no right to know – what goes on when an employer and union are
negotiating. They don’t find out what is in a contract until the
contract is a done deal. By then, it is too late for parents or the
taxpayers who will fund the contract to react.
If CPS parents are feeling left out of the process, there is a
reason: they are.
“Do I feel cast aside? Yes.” CPS parent Sarah Sachen said.
If parents want a seat at the table, the law must be changed
The law must be changed if parents want someone at the table
representing their interests.
Until that or other reforms are enacted to the state’s labor laws –
such as limiting the subjects over which unions can negotiate or
breaking down barriers that keep bargaining sessions a secret –
students and their families will always take a back seat to
teachers’ unions.
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