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 The Chicago Teachers Union might gain significant leverage in
their effort to continue their 10-month absence from the classroom.
The Illinois Senate on Jan. 11 passed House Bill 2275, which already passed the
Illinois House in 2019. It would end the limits in place for 25 years on what is
open to contract negotiations with Chicago Public Schools and the unions
representing its workers. Gov. J.B. Pritzker has not indicated whether he will
sign the bill into law.
CTU and the other staff unions were limited to negotiating over wages and
benefits, but the bill would open negotiations to issues such as class sizes.
The union has been contending, without data or specifics to back the claims,
that it is not yet safe to reopen schools closed since March 2020.
The bill passed during the lame duck session would make it simpler for CTU to
keep teachers out of schools by eliminating steps that must be taken before
going on strike. Even with the restrictions in place, the union went on strike
three times within seven years, the most recent in 2019 lasting 11 days in the
nation’s third-largest school district.
Chicago Public Schools special education students were slated to return Jan. 11,
with elementary students returning Feb. 1. Approximately 5,000 CPS teachers were
set to return to their buildings Jan. 4 to prepare for the Jan. 11 return of
pre-kindergarten and special education students. But half stayed home amid
claims by the CTU that schools weren’t safe.
In fact, CTU encouraged its members to “take action” against CPS’s plan to
re-open schools and push local school councils to pass resolutions “vowing to
stay remote.” What’s more, CTU hasn’t ruled out the possibility of a strike.
That possibility will become more likely if Pritzker signs HB 2275.
But going on strike while under a contract is illegal in Illinois, meaning
teachers who follow CTU’s lead risk loss of pay – or even their jobs.
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Illinois Federation of Teachers, the state
affiliate of CTU, has demanded for months that school districts
continue or return to remote learning.
But the science is not on IFT or CTU’s side.
“New information tells us that opening schools does
not significantly increase community transmission of [COVID-19],
however it is critical for schools to closely follow guidance
provided by public health officials,” according to Dr. Lee Beers,
president of the American Academy of Pediatrics.
For example, a UNICEF report reviewing evidence in 191 countries
found “no consistent association between school reopening status and
COVID-19 infection rates.”
There is also evidence coming out of Chicago itself, where 90-plus
Catholic schools – which educate approximately 20,000 students –
have not seen any significant outbreaks since starting school
in-person last fall.
Importantly, Chicago already meets the metric health officials put
in place for school reopenings.
As such, CTU has neither international nor local health data to
support its insistence on continuing remote schooling.
There’s a lot at stake for the more than 340,000 CPS students who
haven’t been inside a school since March 2020, with too many unable
to access remote learning. Illinois’ limits on strikes are in place
to protect the children and families in a school district.
HB 2275 may erode that protection – and help CTU keep students out
of school buildings even longer.
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